The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...
It’s that time of year again! Funshine East!
I LOVE Funshine because many of the travel upgrades are announced during Funshine East, and often times, I get to put a face to a name or a voice that I’ve been either reading via e-mail correspondence or via the Thursday and Saturday training calls. I was blown away by Ann Sedgwick two years ago when Ronda and I did a Seminar @ Sea with her on Carnival just before Funshine. I also remember getting my first taste of American Destinations, Inc. that year, and have been promoting that business ever since.
It’s odd to me that our list of vendors and suppliers keeps growing. I’ve been told that suppliers and vendors don’t like us. Yet, the bigger we get the more suppliers take the time to not show up but want to be part of the largest Travel Trade Show in the industry. Last year, YTB had more than 6000 in attendance, compared to another Orlando show this week, which estimates only 2000 travel agents world wide.
Money talks.
It’s also nice to have industry leaders like Marc Mancini and Davidoff Associates seeing the value of YTB and stepping up to the plate to offer their experience and knowledge of the industry. When the best our critics can come up with is that these industry leaders are paid, that speaks volumes. Not because our critics don’t understand what it means to be “in business”, but because that’s the best complaint they can come up with. I’ve researched Marc Mancini extensively and have taken the E-Campus courses he’s designed for YTB, and there’s a reason why he’s so well respected in the industry.
I guess he can live with the asterisk next to his name – “Bought and paid for by YTB” as he’ll be at Funshine with his industry famous “Geography Bowl”, which I hear is extremely challenging.
Davidoff Associates seemed to have liked what they saw at the 2008 National Convention, and are providing their services with a Seminar @ Sea with 3 courses taught while at Sea.
More than 17 new suppliers and vendors will be on hand this year, and the opportunities to expand our travel business have increased dramatically. I just saw a snippet in our Travel Compass, (the one that focuses on travel) concerning a new addition to our booking engine with Wyndham Worldwide & RCI e-certificates, found under the Hotels Tab of our booking engine for 7 Night Resort Vacation Certificates starting a $379.00.
Ultimate 5 Adventures will also be there, and I’ve got to tell you, while the sky diving scares the daylights out of me, the Indy Car offering looks mighty appealing.
I also saw a snippet on Modern Agent this week from Branson Online, who will also be at Funshine this year. Personally, I’ve never had an interest in Branson, Missouri, but the heart of our country (or is that Canada?) sure is making quite a name for itself the last couple of years.
But the vendor or supplier that has caught my eye more than any other, are the private sailings in the Abaco Islands, complete with crew and chief. (Although I need to find out which one!) It’s not uncommon for our entire family of 15 to 20 to get together for a family vacation, and this puppy sounds like one heck of a family vacation!
If you get my free Newsletter you might have listened to the call we had last week with Gregg Fritsch and David Lash. Gregg and David came on board last year, and are the ones responsible for the Mancini and Davidoff trainings, and these new vendors. I know it’s been said by others that we don’t have anyone at the home office that has any travel industry experience. Honestly, it’s just another myth being thrown out there and I’m okay with letting our critics believe what they want. If you however, haven’t listened to the call, you need too. I loved what David had to say about YTB being “competitive” in this industry.
I believe the exact quote was, “We have no desire to be competitive; we want the rest of the industry to eat our dust”.
After little more than a years worth of work from these two, looks like we are well on our way, but you know as well as I do that the best products in the world don’t mean diddly if nobody knows about them. That’s why we need to open our mouths and tell someone about it!
PS – I’ll be back to regular posting again starting next week. As a matter of fact, I’ll be doing a special series on Coach next week. I heard that people can’t seem to find anything positive about Coach on the internet. Took me all of 5 minutes to find several news articles that will fill up the week, so be sure to check back.
I may even post an update on Funshine. ;-P
I LOVE Funshine because many of the travel upgrades are announced during Funshine East, and often times, I get to put a face to a name or a voice that I’ve been either reading via e-mail correspondence or via the Thursday and Saturday training calls. I was blown away by Ann Sedgwick two years ago when Ronda and I did a Seminar @ Sea with her on Carnival just before Funshine. I also remember getting my first taste of American Destinations, Inc. that year, and have been promoting that business ever since.It’s odd to me that our list of vendors and suppliers keeps growing. I’ve been told that suppliers and vendors don’t like us. Yet, the bigger we get the more suppliers take the time to not show up but want to be part of the largest Travel Trade Show in the industry. Last year, YTB had more than 6000 in attendance, compared to another Orlando show this week, which estimates only 2000 travel agents world wide.
Money talks.
It’s also nice to have industry leaders like Marc Mancini and Davidoff Associates seeing the value of YTB and stepping up to the plate to offer their experience and knowledge of the industry. When the best our critics can come up with is that these industry leaders are paid, that speaks volumes. Not because our critics don’t understand what it means to be “in business”, but because that’s the best complaint they can come up with. I’ve researched Marc Mancini extensively and have taken the E-Campus courses he’s designed for YTB, and there’s a reason why he’s so well respected in the industry.
I guess he can live with the asterisk next to his name – “Bought and paid for by YTB” as he’ll be at Funshine with his industry famous “Geography Bowl”, which I hear is extremely challenging.
Davidoff Associates seemed to have liked what they saw at the 2008 National Convention, and are providing their services with a Seminar @ Sea with 3 courses taught while at Sea.
More than 17 new suppliers and vendors will be on hand this year, and the opportunities to expand our travel business have increased dramatically. I just saw a snippet in our Travel Compass, (the one that focuses on travel) concerning a new addition to our booking engine with Wyndham Worldwide & RCI e-certificates, found under the Hotels Tab of our booking engine for 7 Night Resort Vacation Certificates starting a $379.00.
Ultimate 5 Adventures will also be there, and I’ve got to tell you, while the sky diving scares the daylights out of me, the Indy Car offering looks mighty appealing.
I also saw a snippet on Modern Agent this week from Branson Online, who will also be at Funshine this year. Personally, I’ve never had an interest in Branson, Missouri, but the heart of our country (or is that Canada?) sure is making quite a name for itself the last couple of years.
But the vendor or supplier that has caught my eye more than any other, are the private sailings in the Abaco Islands, complete with crew and chief. (Although I need to find out which one!) It’s not uncommon for our entire family of 15 to 20 to get together for a family vacation, and this puppy sounds like one heck of a family vacation!
If you get my free Newsletter you might have listened to the call we had last week with Gregg Fritsch and David Lash. Gregg and David came on board last year, and are the ones responsible for the Mancini and Davidoff trainings, and these new vendors. I know it’s been said by others that we don’t have anyone at the home office that has any travel industry experience. Honestly, it’s just another myth being thrown out there and I’m okay with letting our critics believe what they want. If you however, haven’t listened to the call, you need too. I loved what David had to say about YTB being “competitive” in this industry.
I believe the exact quote was, “We have no desire to be competitive; we want the rest of the industry to eat our dust”.
After little more than a years worth of work from these two, looks like we are well on our way, but you know as well as I do that the best products in the world don’t mean diddly if nobody knows about them. That’s why we need to open our mouths and tell someone about it!
PS – I’ll be back to regular posting again starting next week. As a matter of fact, I’ll be doing a special series on Coach next week. I heard that people can’t seem to find anything positive about Coach on the internet. Took me all of 5 minutes to find several news articles that will fill up the week, so be sure to check back.
I may even post an update on Funshine. ;-P
PPS - If you’d like to keep up to date with all the latest news, acquisitions, and developments with YTB feel free to sign up for my FREE Newsletter. Just like here, it’s loaded with food, water and sunshine to grow your YTB business.
Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812
Learn How To Become A Travel Agent
Book Your Travel & Vacations With
Travel Reservations: 1.800.243.4450
RTA #24635
Doug & Ronda Bauknight
AKA: TravelPro
Travel Agent / Networker
Phone: 678.458.5812
Learn How To Become A Travel Agent
Book Your Travel & Vacations With
Travel Reservations: 1.800.243.4450
RTA #24635
Labels: Davidoff Assoicates, Dr. Marc Mancini, Funshine, RCI, Travel MLM, Travel Trade Show, Travel Training, Ultimate 5, YTB E-Campus, YTB Travel Network
