Trafalgar revitalises with Letter to the Editor new products

TRAFALGAR has
been busy. The tour
operator has launched
several initiatives in the
last couple of weeks,
including an incentive for
‘newbie’ agents.
To help newbies get a
start up the travel ladder
of success, Trafalgar has
introduced its VIP Novice
Incentive. The initiative
is designed to encourage
travel agent novices
to attend one-on-one
training, launch events,
Trafalgar Travel Talk (with
clients) and, of course, to
attain a certain level of
Trafalgar bookings across
the spread of brochures
available.
At each step of the
process, agents are
monitored and mentored
by Trafalgar’s area sales
managers, who will provide
marketing collateral to
help capture potential
clients and invitations
to launches and events.
New agents are also
given priority training
and support through the
sales team, as well as
priority notification of
deals, promotions and new
brochures.
The VIP Novice Incentive
runs over a period of 12
months and, once all the
milestones have been
reached, agents can take
a Trafalgar guided holiday
of their choice.
Trafalgar has also
launched ‘single friendly’
deals. For 2015 the
operator will waive or
reduce single room
supplements in many of
its packages, “usually by
about 50% but the waiver
can be as much as 100%”,
the tour operator says.
The deals will be valid on
selected departures for 17
of the popular itineraries.
Also available for 2015,
Trafalgar is taking the
sting out of tipping with
the introduction of pre-paid
gratuities.
Trafalgar takes care
of tipping for guests,
including hotel tips,
charges and local taxes
and tips for porters and
restaurant gratuities for
included meals. New for
2015 is the option to prepay
gratuities for the travel
director and driver, allowing
guests to pay upfront in
their local currency and
negate the effects of forex
fluctuations.
For example, on
Trafalgar’s seven-day
Italian Holiday, prepaid
gratuities amount to
R700pp – less than R100
per day for both the travel
director and the driver. Prepaid
gratuities on the nineday
Best of Switzerland
package amount to R900
per person.