'INDEPENDENT' ARREST: A 70-year-old Wisconsin
woman who was operating as an independent travel agent was arrested
Dec. 10 and charged with theft by fraud, after she allegedly
collected about $30,000 in cruise fares but failed to return the
money after the group cancelled the trip, police said. Maureen R.
Radtke pleaded not guilty, according to a spokeswoman for the
Outagamie County Jail, and posted $1,000 bail. Police in Appleton,
Wis., seized Radtke's financial records and said 14 people were
bilked out of about $2,200 each. Radtke allegedly collected the
cash for a June 2003 cruise to Alaska. The money, which was given
to Radtke in personal checks made out to her, has not been
recovered, according to police reports.
MEANWHILE, POLICE SAID Radtke told the group
she was a member of Tampa, Fla.-based Prestige Travel, an
organization of independents that also operates CruiseBrokers.com,
an Internet cruise company. Ron LaScala, Prestige president, told
Travel Weekly that while Radtke applied for membership about a year
ago, she never completed the training and, as a result, had no
affiliation with the company. "In any case, our agents always would
have the customers' checks payable to Prestige or the cruise line,"
said LaScala. Prestige is a member of ASTA, CLIA and Vacation.com.
A court date for Radtke has not yet been scheduled.
NEWS FROM ATHENS: Two Royal Olympic Cruise
Lines subsidiaries, which own the line's newest ships, the Olympia
Explorer and the Olympia Voyager, filed for Chapter 11
reorganization. Royal Olympic said normal operations would continue
at the Athens-based cruise line, and noted that the line itself had
not filed for bankruptcy protection. Royal Olympic said it is in
discussions with lenders of the two ship-owning subsidiaries
regarding a restructuring of $250 million in loans.
IN DEMAND: Agencies that were forced to cut
staff in recent years finally are seeing a steady rebound in
business, and they're looking to independents to help them expand,
according to Marty Robinson, president of Travel Career Network, a
placement agency in Boston. As a result, placements of independent
travel sellers with host agencies is up 50% this winter compared
with the winter of 2001, Robinson said. Additionally, the company
told Travel Weekly that agencies still experiencing lower revenue
from business travel clients are particularly interested in
affiliating with independents who have strong leisure
followings.
MEANWHILE, ROBINSON, who launched Travel Career
Network in 1988, said "a lot of (host) agencies are anxious to find
people." She said the opportunities are not with the mega-agencies,
but rather with midsize, local ones. To lure the right
independents, Robinson added, host agencies will negotiate to
determine the commission split. "The larger the agent's following,
the higher the percentage split," she noted. The standard she
noted, is 60/40, with 60% going to the agent. But with a large
following, an independent these days can garner up to 75%.
DATEBOOK: The Midwest Chapter of NACTA changed
the date for its NACTA Immersion Day event to Feb. 10. The location
is the same, at the Doubletree Club Hotel, 920 E. Northwest
Highway, Palatine, Ill. Reserve a spot by calling Midwest Chapter
director Nancy P. Nosal at (847) 577-7930.