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Review of Uniglobe Travel CenterWe call ourselves a family, and I really feel very close to the travel advisors in UTC. We exchange ideas, advice, problems, and insights through a private Facebook page, and this works well. I post a question and am guaranteed some responses within hours. I sometimes can believe how generous the TAs are with their time.
One great thing about this host agency is it has a mix of brand new TAs (newbies we fondly call them) and seasoned travel advisors who have been in the business for 10, 20, over 30 years. The yearly conference becomes a gathering of all these people – each one inspiring others. Even the newbies inspire with their enthusiasm and creativity. We get to meet with suppliers and the staff, and get to know each other.
Admission into the host agency is not automatic. I believe the management go through applicants and accept only those who are serious in their desire to be travel advisors. There is a mentoring period with regular meetings with the assigned mentors, going over business practices, marketing, travel information, and suppliers – cruise lines, tour providers, hotel chains, etc.
After the formal period of mentoring, members of the staff are always available for mentoring. In addition, there is a group called the advisory board. They are members who are seasoned and experts in their various fields – group bookings, legal matters, marketing, social media and others.
There is a weekly zoom meeting highlighting one or two suppliers to provide in-depth knowledge of what they have to offer and the online systems they make available to us. These suppliers are part of a long list of preferred suppliers which are among the best. UTC has deep and long relationships with them, and they provide a BDM (business development manager) who are available to us for advice, guidance and special deals. They would also bend over backwards to help us and/or our clients when they encounter problems. A lot of this is due to our fearless leader – Betsy Geiser – who cultivates these relationships with our suppliers.
The accounting and support teams are the most helpful and approachable people. They provide very timely help when we have problems. We are also provided tools, reports, statistics and accounting to assist us in our business. Most importantly UTC is a member of Virtuoso, so we are all Virtuoso members. As such, we get leads, educational materials, marketing support and the reputation of a well-respected consortium.
The commission and fee structures are fair. I wish they were better for the new struggling TAs, but we can get better rates as we grow our business.
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