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Find what is right for you
understand your own base of business and target host agencies that provide
what you need. Are you strictly leisure ? If so is it upscale leisure or
budget? Are you a corporate agent? If so what GDS system do you need, and
do you need management reports, 24 hour service, etc.? Not all hosts
provide these.
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Specialization - find a Host
Agency that SPECIALIZES in Independents. Agencies that mix salaried
employees with dabbling in Independents can result in conflicts of interest
and headaches in general if their systems are not set up to cater to
Independents.
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Length of time in business Check
it out, newcomers to Hosting may not have the systems in place and the bugs
worked out. In addition, if the return on their investment is not what they
expected, you may find the doors closed at some point in the future and no
way to collect commissions owed to you.
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Up Front Money A large amount of
cash required up front should send signals that the company is not
particularly interested in fostering a long term and mutually beneficial
relationship with you.
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Ease of Access how difficult is
it to get in touch with someone there? Do you have to wait for a callback?
Can you talk directly with someone in management? Inaccessability can be a
sign that the Host organization will consider you a small fish in a big
pond.
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Sizzle vs. Steak Beware of
expensive to produce, slick marketing pieces that give the appearance of a
Hollywood production. Dig deeper and find out what the real meat of the
program is.
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Commission levels Is the Host
Agency large enough and well connected enough to get you higher level
commissions further do they share the amounts over and above the base
commission with the Independents?
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Systems that Work Ask questions
about specific procedures, how things work and how long they take. Unclear
answers may indicate a lack of system or lack of ATTENTION to an issue that
may be very important to you.
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References Ask the Host Agency
for references of their CURRENT users as well as any FORMER users. When you
talk to the references, ask them for OTHER people you can check with, whose
names have NOT been provided by the host. You may get a different
perspective.
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Realistic Expectations Host
agencies are just that they are meant to HOST your business endeavor.
They provide the incubator for your business egg to grow. Dont count on
tons of business coming your way just because of the particular Host. Your
business is still YOUR business and as all small business owners know - you
have to work at it for it to be successful.
