TRUE's Hotel Partners
by Melody Fee

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Over the last several months, suppliers are regularly validating your TRUE codes at CheckATRUECode.com, and they are also placing their own company information into the appropriate area of the SUPPORTING SUPPLIER section of that same site. If you go to www.checkatruecode.com and then click on the SUPPORTING SUPPLIER “bar” on the left hand toolbar, you will be taken to the following page:

www.checkatruecode.com/supporting_suppliers.asp

From this page, an OSSN member can click on a list of categories, including Tour Operators, Cruise Lines, Hotels, Car Rentals, and Amusements. You will now note that, once you click on any of these categories, you must enter your user ID (that is, your email address that is in OSSN’s database for you) and your password. At that point, you will be able to see very important information to assist you with establishing new agency sign up accounts with all of these major travel industry suppliers! This is the place that every OSSN member needs to know how to use effectively!

Of course, we already knew that cruise lines and tour operators are great supporters of TRUE. Now, it is such a great accomplishment that we are working towards to get all major hotel chains to have the agency information for each agency that holds a TRUE code downloaded into their systems.

Presently, there are thousands of hotel properties available for TRUE Code holders to book and receive commission. At the same time, we are keeping up our complete resolve to bring on all of the major hotel chains in the next several months! We know that so many of them are very excited to have your business - and for that, we will just say, it is great that these chains recognize how very important you are in the distribution system!

We also recognize that some of the major chains are really working towards downloading the TRUE codes, but they may have a few “internal technology” challenges to work out as they download the codes into their system. Overall, we have been truly excited about the complete interest and action taken by so many chains, including Starwood, Omni, Carlson, Concorde, Fairmont, Hilton, Kimpton, Outrigger, Preferred, Raffles, Utell, Travelbound World Hotels, Swissotels, TAJ, International, Endless Vacations (Wyndham), Epoque, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, and more!

Of course, we also cannot overlook the importance of our Allied Supplier partners at CCRA or Hotel Rewards, who have excellent booking tools whereby TRUE ID holders can receive an commission booking hotels that may not be in our TRUE Hotel Partner list yet.

One very important fact for an agent to remember is the following: To do business with a new hotel chain, there may be different and unique features they need to get familiar with as they begin to handle their bookings at the hotels’ branded websites. Many of these hotel chains’ websites are set up in such a way that you actually go into the site and make the booking BEFORE you are asked to identify yourself as the agency that is handling the booking. Then, at the point when you are ready to confirm the reservation, the site will finally ask you for your agency information. Sometimes, it can be a bit frustrating to figure out how to complete those first few bookings, and that is why OSSN is going to continue to provide information and tools to help you do just that! We are going to make sure that we continuously update that “SUPPORTING SUPPLIER” page to be sure that you know the method to use to work with each of these hotel companies, for example. In fact, in the near future, it is our goal to have many of these hotel chains host a webinar that we will record for you, to explain their branded websites and the “booking process” for each brand.

I learned a long time ago (from one of my favorite suppliers, Celebrity Cruises) that you must be ETDBW (Easy To Do Business With)! Now, it is our goal at OSSN to make sure we find a way for our members to have a great experience when they strive to set up new accounts with Allied Suppliers. This includes our new TRUE hotel partners! They are excited to do business with you, and it is our goal to make it easy for you and easy for them to accept your business!

In the months ahead, there will be more excellent hotel partners coming on board, as they are beginning to understand just how valuable your revenue is to their economic needs! They want your groups, your loyalty, and your support overall. So, stay tuned for our OSSN ongoing updates regarding these great hotel companies that are working towards accepting more of your business!

In the meantime, let’s let these suppliers that are already accepting TRUE (all major cruise lines, tour operators, many excellent hotel chains, and amusements including Disney and Universal Studios) know that we are steering our business their way! OSSN’s 20th year anniversary will be kicked off in October at the Home-Based Agent Show in Atlantic City, NJ on Oct. 6-9 with a special event hosted by Celebrity and Azamara Cruises called “Right Time, Right Now." We will also be hosting a special reception for OSSN member conference attendees on the evening of Oct. 7th! It promises to be a great show, and we sure look forward to seeing you there. You can go to www.HomeBasedAgentShow.com for more details.

Melody Fee serves as vice president of the Outside Sales Support Network (OSSN). You may reach her at melodyfee@ossn.com.