MOORESTOWN, N.J. -- The Caribbean Tourism Organization, in
conjunction with Performance Media Group, will launch an incentive
program for agents called CaribRewards Dec. 15.
The program will track individual travel agent bookings and
reward those agents -- who sell a CaribRewards participating
property -- with "Agent Miles" that can be redeemed for
merchandise, vacations from participating Caribbean suppliers,
client gifts and/or gift certificates found at www.caribrewards.com.
Mark Murphy, PMG president and CEO, said "CaribRewards is not a
booking engine ... [but] an agent loyalty program whose goal is to
drive more bookings to the Caribbean by rewarding individual agents
for selling participating (or featured) hotels."
Murphy said the program is open to any property that signs up by
Nov. 30 for a 12-month period and agrees to the pay formula, which
ranges from $15 per three- or four-night booking to $35 for a
seven-night booking. In return, the hotel gets data on each agent
who sells the featured property and "gains market share against
non-participating hotels," Murphy said.
More than 34,000 agents and 25 boutique and chain hotels on 16
islands already are enrolled in the program.
Caribbean countries, which pay a program membership fee from
$2,000 to $5,000 based on the number of on-island hotel rooms, have
access to the same agent database and will be able to track agent
sales down to the reservation number, product sold, wholesaler or
booking method used, room nights booked and travel dates.
Hugh Riley, CTO's director of marketing for the Americas, said
the "financial commitment for a member country to participate is
minimal, while the return is likely to be substantial and the data
can be used for targeted marketing initiatives."
For details, visit the Web site at www.caribrewards.com or call (877) 727-0035.
To contact reporter Gay Nagle Myers, send e-mail to [email protected].