With more than 35 years as a travel agent specializing in cruises under his belt, Craig Satterfield has filled a book with the insights he's gained. Now living in Las Vegas and a home-based employee of New Hampshire-based Cruise Travel Outlet, Satterfield earlier this year self-published "Confessions of a Cruise Scholar," part memoir and part how-to book for agents.
"When I first started, the cruise industry was a baby. It was long before the internet," he said. "Someone would call you, you'd talk about ideas for a trip, you'd send them a brochure. Then they'd call back, and you'd call the cruise line to make the booking. They'd send you a check, which you'd send to the cruise line. You'd type out a confirmation. It took two weeks to do a booking that today takes five minutes."
Satterfield took all the available CLIA training, rising to Cruise Scholar, a level above Elite that the trade organization no longer offers. He used the designation for the title of his book, which is available for $24.95 on Amazon or, with a $5 discount, on his website.
One of the biggest changes in selling cruises, he said, has been the rise of noncommissionable fees (NCFs), "which just seeped into the industry at some point," making selling cruises less profitable for agents. Cruises were once an excellent source of revenue, clients were more loyal because there wasn't the internet to lure them away from agents and there wasn't rampant discounting of fares as there is today, he said.
As a result of the NCFs, he said, many agents who specialize in cruises have expanded to more profitable land products and instituted service fees, following the lead of agents who specialize in FIT vacations that involve complicated itineraries.
Satterfield, who leads a weekly agent forum for the Travel Professional Community, said service fees for cruise bookings make sense in many situations, although he personally does not charge such fees.
"It can be a tough thing to implement, and each agent has their own idea about it," he said. "Some charge a $50 research fee to come up with various cruise options, and if you end of buying the cruise, they refund it. Some agents don't feel they want to spin their wheels on shoppers or people who they feel might not be loyal to them."
Some agents charge fees on a case-by-case basis, he said, charging those who are new to their business and whom they suspect may be a shopper and not charging regular clients who return to them again and again.
One of the reasons he wrote the book, Satterfield said, is to help home-based agents who may feel isolated.
"I wanted to give people an incentive to move forward with their business and not get distracted by things, like doing the dishes, which can happen when you're working from home," he said. "It's a feeling you have to fight. The whole point is that, even when there are down times and you get distracted, you keep developing your brand."
Next week: Satterfield's tips on developing your brand.