Getting in the groove

The Internet is a tool for agents, not their competitor, in the view of Shelly Houser, a travel educator who owns and operates Travel Career Options in Ramsey, Minn.

Its greatest value for the trade, she said, is the information it offers that agents need to see both to save time and to be on the same wavelength with many clients.

Of course, clients can look at the same sites, but "information overload is common, and the public cannot be sure information is good," Houser said.

In remarks made during a seminar at the recent Minneapolis Star Tribune Travel Trade Show, she said, "Remember there is a lot of misinformation as well as good information.

"We have experience that your clients don't. We have relationships that they don't."

Therefore, she said, agents are better equipped to judge the sponsor of a Web site. And if the source is an unknown, "we use the sources to do the research that we always could. We can go direct to our sources' Web sites" to verify or disprove questionable data from sites with unproven sponsors.

Houser said agents "are not into how the rest of the world uses computers," and their biggest obstacle to getting there is time.

So, she said, she "took that time for them" and created, "The Internet Address Book for Travel Professionals." It is a kind of starter kit for agents needing to get up to speed fast and needing to find the best sources of information to do their jobs.

It is a listing of 1,450-plus sites that Houser believes agents will find useful in their businesses. They are organized by industry segments or theme for easy use, and the notebook-style book leaves room for agents to add site addresses.

And, she said, the book becomes a handy place to maintain a hard copy of all favorite Web sites and thus avoid bookmarking so many sites on the computer that the bookmarking mechanism becomes too cumbersome to use.

The book appeared in September and was revised this year. Houser updates the material monthly at www.travelcareeroptions.com and aims to move to twice-monthly updates.

The book is $30 plus $1.95 tax and shipping charges. To order, call (888) 326-8422 or order on line at the Web site above.

Educator Shelly Houser urged agents at the Minneapolis Star Tribune Travel Trade Show to visit the www.TripQuote.com Web site.

This site submits travelers' requests to agencies, and agencies pay a fee to be listed there.

Anyone whose curiosity was piqued would have found these words:

"Never pay too much for your travel services again, or waste hours shopping the Internet!

"TripQuote is a free, easy-to-use system by which you can find the right agent for your needs ... You can choose the most informative agent with the best price ... no hassles!

"You're probably wondering why TripQuote is not using one of the immediate response booking engines. To quote Smart Computing magazine (May 1999), 'Web sites can't match the personalized service of travel agents.'

"The article goes on: 'First, users need some expertise to do efficient comparison shopping on line ... Second, the Net can't ask about your needs and provide better options. [Agents ask] about money-saving options, including using different airports, adjusting schedules slightly.'

"Need more convincing as to the value of a travel agent?

"Ask Cheap Charlie of www.ticked.com."

Minneapolis attorney Todd Wind outlined "10 ways to stay out of court" during a seminar at the Minneapolis Star Tribune Travel Trade Show. The seminar was part of an series co-sponsored by Travel Weekly.

His 10 pointers follow:

Do terminations yourself, with a witness. Be cautious in handling later references. Defamation is not hard to prove.