Inglés Profesional Para el trabajo de recepción

Ingls Profesional Para El Turismo

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UNIT 1. MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING OF TOURIST SERVICES IN ENGLISH

1. TOURIST SERVICES PRESENTATION: CHARACTERISTICS OF GOODS OR SERVICES, MEASUREMENTS, QUANTITIES, ADDED SERVICES, PAYMENT TERMS AND AFTER SALES SERVICES, AMONG OTHERS.

Tourism:

According to the World Tourism Organization, United Nations, tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for a period less than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes.

Tourism itself is born in the nineteenth century as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution, with displacements for relaxing, leisure, culture, health, business and family relationships as primary intention.

Tourist Enterprises:

Tourist Enterprises are those related to tourism. There are two main groups: Those producing goods and services (production), and the ones distributing them (distributors). All provide tourist service.

Tourist companies need not to be purely dedicated to, say, accommodation or catering. The boundaries are invaded, the services are mixed and a single company can offer different types of services. Thus, a hotel may have a restaurant and a travel agency may offer transfer service or provide hostess for a convention.


1.1. PRODUCTS OR SERVICES CHARACTERISTICS.

Tourist services are considered those which are related to the provision of services related to the tourism industry and they can be classified as follows:

Hosting service, when accommodation is provided to tourists, with or without provision of other complementary services.

Catering service, when providing food for consumption in the same establishment or outside facilities.

Brokerage service in the provision of any travel services that may be demanded by users of travel services, including transport services.

Information service, where users are provided information on tourism services, tourism resources, with or without provision of other complementary services.

Welcome service: for congress, events, conventions or similar.

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1.1.2. CATERING SERVICE.

They are catering establishments whose principal activity is to provide, regularly and by price, meals and drinks for your consumption in or outside the spot. Although these establishments are considered of public use, owners may establish rules or considerations on the course of their services and facilities, including a law reserving admission, making exclusive services to a particular segment.

Catering establishments are divided into two types:

COMERCIAL CATERING

Whose clientele is not captive, that is, the client chooses the type of restaurant he wants to attend for he has different alternatives available. These are divided into:

Traditional: connected with the cultural and gastronomic traditions of the area (seafood restaurants, taverns, grills, rice mills, tapas bars, beer houses...). Also Chinese restaurants or Pizzerias are considered traditional thanks to the way they are managed.

Neo-catering: catering establishments responding to culinary innovations (cuisine) and innovative management methods. (Mc Donald's, vending machines...)

SOCIAL RESTORATION

is the one whose clientele, being a community, is captive, or most of it ends up being (large supermarkets, motorways, train stations, airports, schools, canteens...). It is characterized by reducing the price diminishing supply. This type of restoration covers fixed costs with a regular clientele.

The main types are:

RESTAURANT

I it has a kitchen and dining room to provide meals and/or dinners to be consumed in the same place. They have a mandatory offer for the Day Menu. Like hotels, the restaurants also receive a ranking based on several concepts: facilities, services, menu, etc.., being the service of the waiters at the tables one of the most valued criteria. They are classified as: 5,4,3,2 and 1 fork.

1 fork or fourth restaurant: o Dining room separated from the kitchen. o Stainless cutlery, crockery, simple glass, cloth or paper napkins. o Decent bathrooms services. o Personal perfectly neat. o Simple menu list

2 forks or third category restaurant: o Dining room with an area according to its capacity. o Cordless Phone. o Appropriate furniture. o Cutlery steel, crockery, glassware, cloth or paper napkins. o Independent health services for ladies and gentlemen. o Kitchen with sink with hot water, cold room or refrigerator, cupboards and

extractor fan. o Uniformed staff.

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o Simple menu list.

3 forks or second category restaurant: o Independent access for customers and staff. o Cloakroom o Wireless phone for customer service. o Dining room with an area according to its capacity. o Quality furniture. o Independent bathroom services for Ladies (including children) and gentlemen. o Kitchen with refrigerator, pantry, storage, sinks, vented to the outdoors. o Menu list according to the establishment category. o Properly uniformed service staff. o Stainless steel cutlery.

4 forks or first category restaurant: o Independent entrance for customers and staff o Cloakroom. Wardrobe o Cordless Phone. o Dining room with an area according to its capacity. o Air conditioning, heating and cooling. o Furniture and decoration of high quality. o Independent bathrooms services for ladies and gentlemen. o Kitchen with refrigerator separated for fish and meat, oven, pantry, store, sinks

and ventilation. o Properly uniformed service staff o Stainless steel cutlery.

5 forks restaurant or luxury:

Such establishments must have an effective organization, governed by rules and procedures, and have internal and external policies for management. The restaurants of this type are usually decorated with very fine wood, tables and chairs must agree to the decor, very good quality carpets, music (live or environmental) should be soft, lights (bulbs and lamps) should be adjustable and air conditioning must be controlled by thermostat. Food and drinks are mandatory to be of the highest quality, hygiene must reign in all areas and, finally, the staff must be properly uniformed. Service personnel, in addition to being trained for each task, should be trained regularly to ensure an efficient and elegant service.

In addition they should have:

Independent entrances for customers and staff.

Cloakroom and lobby or waiting room.

Dining room with an area according to its capacity.

Telephone in isolation booths and wireless phone for customer service.

Air conditioning.

Bathrooms with luxury facilities, separate for ladies and gentlemen.

Decoration in harmony with the rank of the establishment.

Cold buffet in the dining room (optional).

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Diverse accessories: tables for flaming, side tables, tops to cover dishes.

Equipped kitchen with storeroom, cellar, cold room, pantry, office, ovens, grill, grill for fish and meat dishes, sinks, extractor fans.

Menu list with variety of dishes from national and international cuisine and extensive wine list regularly amended.

Personal properly uniformed.

Stainless steel or silver cutler

There are other systems that allow clients to take a decision, such as the famous stars (3 maximum) that the Michelin Guide gives, or other merits of private enterprises which have the greatest respect in the culinary world and, as in the case of the classification of hotels, sometimes outweighs the sheer number of forks.

Those who meet specific building characteristics, age and geographical location, can use (prior authorization) the term "eating houses". The identification placard is blue with the letters R and number of forks in white.

CAFETERIA

Establishment with one same unit for bar and table service but no dining room, which provides the public, at any time of the opening hours, with ice cream, soft drinks in general, hot or cold tapas, sandwiches and mixed, cold or grilled dishes. In Spain they are classified as: 3, 2 or 1 cup and their requirements by category are:

Cafes with 1 cup: o Independent bathroom services for ladies and gentlemen endowed with soap

and hand dryers o The entrance may not be used during the hours of meal service to bring in

goods o The dining room, which need not to be independent, equipped with heating o Furniture, linen (cloth or paper) and crockery in accordance with the local

category o The public service staff must dress appropriately o Jugs of water should be available, at customer request, even when not using

the service of dish of the day

Cafes with 2 cups: o Independent bathroom services of ladies and gentlemen endowed with soap

and hand dryers o The entrance of customers may not be used during the hours of food services,

to bring in goods. o Telephone service available to customers o Separate Dining Room equipped with heating o Furniture, linen (cloth or paper) and crockery in accordance with the local

category o The public service staff must dress appropriately o They must offer a combination platter of the day o Jugs of water should be available, at customer request, even when not using

the service of dish of the day

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Cafes with 3 cups: o Independent bathroom services for customers and staff o The ladies and gents toilets must be independent o Services with hot water, soap and hand dryers o Independent customer entrance from the staff and goods one or, failing that,

entry only during hours outside the established for the dining service o Cloakroom according to the category of local o Isolated phone booths o Separate Dining Room equipped with heating and cooling o Furniture, linens and kitchenware will be adequate to the level of the local o The staff will be uniformed o Menu dishes must be available to customers in Spanish, English and French o They must offer at least a combined dish of the day

BAR

Establishment with bar but no dining room, which can also have table service in the same unit in order to provide drinks with or without small meals or sandwiches, and one dish of the day. Those who meet special features (recognized by the administration) of building, age and geographic location, may use the name "tavern".


1.1.3. BROKERAGE SERVICE.

Tourism enterprises engaged in intermediary services may be several: from those organizing complete package tours as the official tour operators, to those which inform the customer and sell the final package like travel agents, to the ones which provide transport, like a flight or train company.

Carriers are those designed to carry passengers from one point to another. They are classified into:

o Aviation: There is a distinction between scheduled flights, which are governed by predetermined schedules, and charters, that are used in most package tours, as their recruitment is more economic because, as they have a lower supply, demand is more concentrated and the costs can be reduced for being almost always full.

o Ground transports: Here we find the bus, train, car, car rentals o Shipping: Regular line such as the ferry that units the peninsula with islands

and cruises.

TRAVEL AGENCIES

These companies are distributors of goods and tourism services and they are in possession of a diploma or license granted by the public administration. They practise tourism intermediation.

The agencies are classified into 3 groups:

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o Wholesaler or Tour operators (TTOO): they design, produce and arrange all kinds of tourist services and packages in order to sell them to other agencies (retailers) and may not offer or sell their services directly to the public. Its products are marketed through own leaflets distributed to retailers. As they buy "large amounts", that is, they manage major airline seats (= charter), or hotel rooms, they can negotiate lower prices with their suppliers, apart from having major commissions, since they have to commission their own products to the retailers who sell them. The social capital to be disbursed when forming a wholesale agency is 120,000 adding the same amount as a bail.

o Retailers: They market the products made by the wholesalers or their own directly to consumers but not to other agencies. It is travel agencies which are on the street where consumers usually go for information, advice and purchase. They use the wholesalers brochures for the sale and receive a previously stipulated percentage of each sale as commission. They may also directly manage a service for customers without turning to a wholesale agency, by directly contacting a hotel or transport company. For complete package (flight, transfer, accommodation, meals and other activities ...) it is obviously easier to turn to wholesale than deal service by service by themselves. Furthermore, the final price would be probably much more expensive for it would have to reflect all management costs such as telephone calls, fax bank costs The social capital to be disbursed when forming is 60,000 and the same amount is required as bail.

o Wholesale-retail: These companies, having the two licenses, can make and sell tour packages to other businesses and the general public. The social capital to be disbursed when forming it is 180,000 and the same amount is required as bail.

The law on this is known, but reality is sometimes different. The wholesalers do not have offices at street level to connect with the customer, but on the Internet the situation is confused and sometimes on the same site you can find may direct access for customers and restricted ones for agencies with confidential rates.

Besides the type of agency it may be, they can also be classified as senders and receivers.

o Outgoing agencies: the ones sending travellers to other places. The largest issuers in the case of Spain are the ones in Germany and England.

o Incoming agencies: Those who receive and welcome tourists from abroad. Spain is eminently recipient, so it brings together a substantial number of incoming agencies that are responsible on the ground to deal with tourism businesses. For example: An English agency (outgoing) contacts a Spanish agency (incoming) to handle its bookings in Spain. This means lower costs (telephone, fax ) because they just have to send one fax per day not several ones (one per Hotel) and it is easier, and again cheaper, to deal directly on the ground with the providers to get even better conditions. The incoming agencies get a commission for this service.

o Outgoing-Incoming: They perform both functions, sending and receiving. Most agencies are working in that direction.

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1.1.3. BROKERAGE SERVICE.

Tourism enterprises engaged in intermediary services may be several: from those organizing complete package tours as the official tour operators, to those which inform the customer and sell the final package like travel agents, to the ones which provide transport, like a flight or train company.

Carriers are those designed to carry passengers from one point to another. They are classified into:

o Aviation: There is a distinction between scheduled flights, which are governed by predetermined schedules, and charters, that are used in most package tours, as their recruitment is more economic because, as they have a lower supply, demand is more concentrated and the costs can be reduced for being almost always full.

o Ground transports: Here we find the bus, train, car, car rentals o Shipping: Regular line such as the ferry that units the peninsula with islands

and cruises.

TRAVEL AGENCIES

These companies are distributors of goods and tourism services and they are in possession of a diploma or license granted by the public administration. They practise tourism intermediation.

The agencies are classified into 3 groups:

o Wholesaler or Tour operators (TTOO): they design, produce and arrange all kinds of tourist services and packages in order to sell them to other agencies (retailers) and may not offer or sell their services directly to the public. Its products are marketed through own leaflets distributed to retailers. As they buy "large amounts", that is, they manage major airline seats (= charter), or hotel rooms, they can negotiate lower prices with their suppliers, apart from having major commissions, since they have to commission their own products to the retailers who sell them. The social capital to be disbursed when forming a wholesale agency is 120,000 adding the same amount as a bail.

o Retailers: They market the products made by the wholesalers or their own directly to consumers but not to other agencies. It is travel agencies which are on the street where consumers usually go for information, advice and purchase. They use the wholesalers brochures for the sale and receive a previously stipulated percentage of each sale as commission. They may also directly manage a service for customers without turning to a wholesale agency, by directly contacting a hotel or transport company. For complete package (flight, transfer, accommodation, meals and other activities ...) it is obviously easier to turn to wholesale than deal service by service by themselves. Furthermore, the final price would be probably much more expensive for it would have to reflect all management costs such as telephone calls, fax bank costs The social capital to be disbursed when forming is 60,000 and the same amount is required as bail.

o Wholesale-retail: These companies, having the two licenses, can make and sell tour packages to other businesses and the general public. The social

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capital to be disbursed when forming it is 180,000 and the same amount is required as bail.

The law on this is known, but reality is sometimes different. The wholesalers do not have offices at street level to connect with the customer, but on the Internet the situation is confused and sometimes on the same site you can find may direct access for customers and restricted ones for agencies with confidential rates.

Besides the type of agency it may be, they can also be classified as senders and receivers.

o Outgoing agencies: the ones sending travellers to other places. The largest issuers in the case of Spain are the ones in Germany and England.

o Incoming agencies: Those who receive and welcome tourists from abroad. Spain is eminently recipient, so it brings together a substantial number of incoming agencies that are responsible on the ground to deal with tourism businesses. For example: An English agency (outgoing) contacts a Spanish agency (incoming) to handle its bookings in Spain. This means lower costs (telephone, fax ) because they just have to send one fax per day not several ones (one per Hotel) and it is easier, and again cheaper, to deal directly on the ground with the providers to get even better conditions. The incoming agencies get a commission for this service.

o Outgoing-Incoming: They perform both functions, sending and receiving. Most agencies are working in that direction.


1.1.4. INFORMATION SERVICE.

A travel agency is not only an intermediary. It is also an information service since when a client comes to a travel agent he does not always have all the information he needs. Maybe he is looking for relax on a Caribbean beach but has no knowledge of what the weather season looks like across the Atlantic. The task of a good travel agent is to grasp the idea of the kind of travel the client is looking for and guide and advise him in that direction.

At destination, the tourist information is the summary of services offered to tourists in order to inform, guide, facilitate and assist him during his trip or holiday, in tourist information offices through informants or through tourist guides, translators or accompanying groups. The definition includes those services dependent on public institutions that are tasked to facilitate and inform tourists during holiday or travel by providing free information.

The tourist information includes information about:

Resources and cultural activities: monuments, museums, rural areas, tourist attractions, fairs, conferences and festivals.

Information and guidance on tourism: cultural, recreational, sports and leisure or play.

Information and guidance on tourism: services, services of interest (transport, hospital, telephone)

Facilitating informational material: brochures, leaflets, posters, guides, maps and plans.

Developing statistics

Participating in business marketing for local enterprises

Implementing information projects, meetings, debates, and even advice for companies in its area of management (job boards, recruitment tables, firms)

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The main aims of a Tourist Information Office are:

Providing a public service

Improving quality of Area Tourist Destinations

Making it easier for potential tourists to stay

Increasing the arrival of more tourists making it easier and more comfortable for them to book reservations stays and tours in their scope.


1.1.5. WELCOME SERVICE.

Within this tourist service we find all those related to the proper celebration of congresses, fairs, conventions and similar. Such an event requires virtually of all tourist services provided, since you need to accommodate a large number of people, you have to feed them at the hotel or restaurant, entertain them with shows or tours, shuttle bus, taxi,... from an airport or other point to hotels, restaurants, theatres, conference hall, etc.

They may also require other services such as the presence of attendants, guides, which in turn can be a guide-translator, simultaneous translation services, audiovisual rental, decoration of spaces, video and photography, etc.

It is a very demanding market with high purchasing power which spares no expenses, requiring the best services. We must consider the possibility of lots of changes throughout the planning of such events, changes which sometimes occur very late so it is necessary to have a certain margin of manoeuvre, for example booking not exact numbers, maybe more rooms than initially asked for, but always taking into account the time of cancellation to avoid incurring costs that may diminish profit margins.

The supply of tourist services also varies depending on the type of client because not all segments demand the same service.

We distinguish between:

Individual Tourism

Individual tourism is defined as the one whose program of activities and itinerary are decided by travellers without the intervention of operators. The opposition would be group tourism who works mainly with standard packages.

This type of tourism is programmed by a person or a small group that organizes their trip by themselves or perhaps assisted by another specialist such as a travel agent. The activities and itineraries can either be chosen before starting the journey or be decided at destination. In this latter case, activities and itineraries can be booked more or less in advance. So we have a wide range of products: from fully organized trips to far more flexible travellers seeking their services during the trip.

Experts believe that this type of tourism is replacing group tourism and in most places it is the main kind of tourism.

The most frequently given reasons for this trend are the emergence of low cost airlines and Internet ticket purchase. To these factors others of a more structural nature must be added, among which we find the increased supply of tourist services in the destinations, the higher level of citizen security, the better education (especially in foreign languages), the increase of information for the trip (guides and Internet) and

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especially the impact of globalized culture that facilitates the integration of travellers at destination.

The profile of the individual tourist is far more adventurous. He likes immersion in the culture of the country he visits. He shows special interest in cultural and ecological tourism, he has preference for local cuisine and a greater respect for the environment. The higher the hotel category is the higher is the demand of more facilities and the consume of more services (spending on a la carte restaurant service, spa treatments, minibar service...).

Mass or group Tourism:

Mass or group tourism is that which is done massively by people regardless of economic level and therefore not an exclusive type of tourism. It is the most conventional, passive, and seasonal. It is usually less demanding and specialized. Here we find the sun and beach tourism, associations and also guided tours. They usually book the journey in a complete package at the agency, from full board or even all inclusive, that's why they generate minimal expenses at destination. By coming in groups they reach a better price because the hotel can play with aspects that reduce costs. Being the menus already closed from the beginning, it takes less staff (not necessary to command, only to serve) and kitchen work can also be done in advance, for the exact service is already known. If the group goes on tour during the day, it requires less cleaning staff or customer service, etc. Groups help to alleviate the low season in many small hotels that can be kept open longer each year even though the profit margin is not high.

The reasons why a visitor goes on a journey can also be analyzed since, depending on them, tourist services are managed. Some are perfectly valid for individual as for group tourism. We differentiate among others:

Cultural Tourism: It needs historical and artistic resources for its development. It is more demanding and less seasonal.

o Urban: mainly in World Heritage Sites. Clients with a high cultural level and high purchasing power.

o Monumental: tied exclusively to historical and artistic monuments that may be remote from major population centres.

o Archaeological: linked to sites which can be remote from major population centres.

o Funeral: linked to cemeteries designed by famous architects or where celebrities are buried.

o Shopping: linked to purchases at a good price or exclusive ones. Includes luxury items, art, crafts and common items such as footwear, electronics, etc.

o Ethnographic: linked to the customs and traditions of peoples. In some cases close to ecotourism.

o Literary: motivated by places or events of a biographical nature. o Training: related to studies basically languages. o Science: tourist offer to investigate in special places such as biological or

archaeological sites. o Gastronomic: linked to traditional food at destination. o Wine: linked to local wines in the region. o Industrial: motivated by the visit to factories or large civil constructions. o Itinerant: takes place at several places along predetermined routes. o Mystic: related to visits to energetic sites.

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Business Tourism: It refers to journeys with the purpose of trade, business or commercial agreement between companies, to attract customers or provide services, used by entrepreneurs, executives, business and other professionals. Seasonality is inverted to holidaymakers: the maximum occupancy in a beach hotel is recorded on weekends, while this segment focuses its stays during the week, so it is a very important and desirable segment for the industry. This is fundamentally an urban tourism or looking for hotels with a certain category, with a high purchasing power and with some very specific needs.

Worth mentioning in this type of tourism, are some sub-segments such as Meetings and Conferences, bringing together a group or association, and usually with a scientific nature attended by professionals of the same kind of industry but not of the same company. The Convention brings together various professionals of a single enterprise with the aim of raising awareness among its employees of a new product, process of strategic planning or of a new campaign, etc.

Incentive Tourism is also linked to Business Tourism, although the difference is that while Business means work, the incentive is designed for pleasure. It is used by the Management of large companies to improve employees performance by rewarding them for achieved goals. They are encouraged with a trip that can be individual or in a group.

Nature Tourism:

o Theme Parks: Based on tourist attractions with specific themes. It is characterized by active participation of the visitor. Tourism eminently familiar with the presence of children.

o Ecotourism: Based on contact with nature. Its resources are composed of national parks with an interesting flora and fauna in the visited area.

o Rural: The main motivation is to know the customs and traditions of people in rural areas. Tourists are interested in gastronomy, popular culture, and handicrafts. Public aid (state and community) helped to restore old buildings where they can spend the night. Very booming in recent years, it did much to revitalize degraded and forgotten regions.

o Agro tourism: Its purpose is to show and explain the production process of agricultural farms and agribusiness. Tourists can be hosted on the same farm or elsewhere.

o Agro ecotourism: Where the visitor is staying in tourist standard rooms, participating in agricultural work, living and having food with the family.

o Ornithological: Kind of tourism focused on bird watching.

Active Tourism: It takes place in natural areas. Active tourism is closely linked to rural tourism. This type of activity usually takes place in a natural park because of the environmental interest it causes. The most popular activities of active tourism are:

o Sport Fishing: tourism activity is centered in the practice of sport fishing. o Sports: The main motivation is to practice sports. It can be divided into two

groups: outdoor sports and indoor. You could also do another subdivision in terms of the one practicing the sport, or the who watches it (assistance to a tennis tournament, a car race, a football game)

o Adventure: To practice high-risk sports (rafting, abseiling...). The user of this type of tourism is often of high cultural and purchasing level and very fit.

o Space: Space Travel. Only for millionaires.

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o Religious: Linked to places or events of special religious relevance. The four main areas of greater importance are Jerusalem, Mecca, Rome and Santiago de Compostela (this latter one could also be within sports Tourism).

o Spiritual: Its main motivation is the recollection and meditation (monasteries, oriental philosophy courses, etc.).

o Thermal or Health: Linked to spas that offer treatments for various ailments (rheumatic, stress, skin, beauty treatments...). It usually owns thermal facilities independent from hotel facilities.

o Medical: Focused on the realization of surgery or related medical treatments. In this category there is one modality which has become very popular lately: the cosmetic surgery trip which includes journey, room and board, surgery and treatment.

o Sexual: For sexual intercourse. o Social Tourism: Dedicated to improve life conditions of the economically

weaker making them participate in different activities, etc. o Experimental Tourism: Participants take an active part on the work they are

developing. This type of tourism is part of more or less fantastic stories. Participants are immersed in a movie.


1.2. FURTHER SERVICES IN THE TOURISM SECTOR.

Customers, more and more, are seeking for experiences, keeping "something" from his travels, so the only way to differentiate themselves from competitors, in an industry as competitive as the touristic one in Spain, is to provide added services and sell "something more than just a bed ". Hence the key to the hotel industry today is offering customer service and useful information about the destination (cuisine, entertainment, tours, car rentals, etc.). not only at the planning stage of the journey, but also during and after it, as a loyalty tool which can make customers pronounce positive comments about our hotel that will determine our future clientele.

Typical services of a touristic company can be extended in order to capture and retain a clientele. If a hotels primary function is to provide accommodation and meals, including breakfast, lunch and dinner service through half board or full board, offering added services can be a good way to extend range of services that also serve as a differentiator.

To promote the consumption of services in less demanded dates, special offers could help, such as:

Stays at hotel for 7 nights for the price of 6 or 4 paying 3

Discounts of 10% or 15% on the room

Free upgrades: suites at standard room price

Details in the room: Welcome Bottle, Chocolates, floral detail

Flight tickets at symbolic prices, valid for a specific date or bought on a concrete day to be enjoyed another.

Children stay in hotels, their transport or entry for free

Recreational activities to enliven the evening; yoga or pilates classes, live performances during dinner, live kitchen showrooms (especially booming in exotic restaurants), cuisine according to the season (hunting, seafood, harvest time ...).

Babysitting and animal care

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Deals 2 x 1: travel 2 people for the price of 1.

Flat fees

All inclusive service for the price of Half Board or Full Board

Special discounts for early booking

Valet-parking service at a restaurant

Free Wi-Fi Connection

Design of special packages either for collective or private memorable dates: Valentines Special, New Year's Eve, Love Weekend with champagne, chocolates, pre-summer treatments, Special Mother and Baby (programs focused on new mothers and their babies), Special Grooms and Brides, Birthday Promotion ...

Worth mentioning here, as an initiative of a novel Hotel in San Diego, California, published on 08.18.2009 in 'La Voz de Galicia' by Victoria Toro:

Luxury hotel for 13 Euros per night

Crisis racks ones brains, and if not, look at the promotion of a luxury hotel in San Diego. The rooms you paid for 160 Euros can now be enjoyed for 28 or even for 13. Though perhaps the word enjoy can be excessive to describe the offered comfort. If the customer chooses the offer of 28 Euros, he will have the same room as for 160 but with no air conditioning, light, pillow, sheets, toilet amenities, TV or minibar. And if the customer chooses the cheapest option, he will not even have a bed. The hotel staff will install a small tent in the same place where formerly stood a comfortable bed. And yes, you need only to pay 13 Euros for the room. The Hotel Rancho Bernardo enfaces this way the crisis. According to them, in the first months of this year they had a 15% fewer clients than in 2008 and they forecast for the third quarter a reduction of up to 25%. So they decided to show imagination and sense of humour. This same promotion that began last weekend, was already featured in June, and seems to work well. According to the hotel manager, John Gates, they had one hundred clients who took the offer, from which 24 chose the option of the tent. Gates also said they wanted to give hikers, either by foot or bicycle, or those who usually have no means to stay in a place like Rancho Bernardo, the opportunity to enjoy a luxury hotel. This promotion hides another intention. Most customers, though sleeping in a tent and paying 13 Euros for it, use some of the hotel facilities such as restaurants, spa, shops ... And that's profit. Even in the cheapest option, the Hotel includes what they called survival bid ", these are entertainments offered by the hotel as swimming pools, golf, hiking... According to Gates, they have already 50 bookings for the fortnight of August.

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1.3. PAYMENT TERMS AFTER ENJOYING TOURIST SERVICES:

The services a client may enjoy during his stay are not usually paid until the departure or until the end of booked services.

A direct client asks for his invoice and pays the concepts which appear in it: room food and extras he consumed. A possible prepaid amount will be deducted. Payment can be in cash, by credit or debit card or if the company authorizes, by check or bank transfer. The two latter options are generally not accepted in most establishments because they require confirmation of its accuracy by the administration department or the bank. A charge on a credit card requires the signature of the cardholder. Without that signature the client may send within the next 10 days an order to his bank in order not to pay.

When the booking has been made by a travel agency, the payment for the services may be with prepayment or on credit. If it is on credit it depends on the signed contract: invoices must be accompanied by the corresponding voucher and they must bear the client's name. Following details of agreement, the payment must be done within 45 or 60 days after receiving the invoice. In many cases there are clauses that must be taken into account, as if the wholesaler does not receive an invoice within 180 days since the booked services, it assumes that there is nothing to pay. Seen so, an oversight by the hotel, can be very expensive.

An agency bills in advance customer service (except large accounts and full credit vouchers) and thus provides liquidity to settle their invoices. On the contrary, a wholesaler does not have this liquidity when giving credits to his retailers. Once they get the invoice from the provider (hotel), they in turn, send their invoice with the voucher to the retailer who proceeds to pay. Once the wholesaler gets the money from the agency, they pay. This is a very simplified scheme, because a wholesaler can have prepayments and credits with different deadlines as well to pay as to recover.

Generally, retailers have prepayment unless they have a high sales volume or already a certain reputation that serves as a business card. Retail agents belonging to a chain such as Halcon Viajes, Viajes El Corte Ingls, Marsans, Iberia ... usually enjoy the same conditions as the Tour Operator itself, so if a hotel signs contract with Tourmundial (wholesaler of Viajes El Corte Ingls) and agrees a credit line, its retailers have the same conditions.

A franchised dealer would be a different thing, with franchise agreement for reasons of image and name. These retailers sell packages from the own wholesaler's catalogue, they own the same logo on the door, etc. but do not depend neither legally, nor financially on their "main house". They are allowed to work also with other wholesalers and do not have automatically a credit line. The advantages of franchising are that the retailer does not start from scratch, has already a name and trademark they do not need to earn, a certain prestige and developed know-how. The more outlets an agency owns, the higher possibilities of more turnover, detail which is taken into account when negotiating new contracts regarding next season.


1.4. AFTER-SALES SERVICES:

The evaluation of satisfaction level is a tool to reach it, not an end, and it would be a mistake to imagine that the fact of making such an evaluation achieves already customer's loyalty. Service levels do not get better by simply measuring them. Once the client's stay or service finishes, the customer is given a questionnaire. It can also be found in the room and be filled in during the stay.

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The questionnaires can be:

to fill in

by telephone

personal or anonymous

per mailbox for complaints and suggestions

by interview to clients or potential clients

by audits (announced or unannounced), external or internal

The tests are usually attractively easy to fill in. If the design is confusing or very heavy, the client can abandon the idea of giving us his opinion. If the customer prefers, he can stay anonymous, although this entails no answer by the establishment.

Another increasingly common modality of survey chosen, for it saves time and material, are telephone surveys which have the advantage of obtaining precise information directly from the customer. Disadvantage is that the customer does not tend to like telephone survey: we do not know if the timing is right, and that is the risk to receive information from low quality or even no response.

Surveys can be ordered by the producer itself or can also be designed by an agency in order to measure the client's satisfaction, not only regarding the service provided by themselves (information, advising, delivering of documents...) but also the one enjoyed at destination by the client. That's very important regarding the contracts for the following campaign. If there are the same negative comments from customers on a same establishment, the agency could take action on the matter even not renewing a contract. An agency usually attaches a questionnaire to the original travel documentation which is delivered to the customer when paying the trip. They tend to be in prepaid envelopes or payable at destination and the client can answer anonymously.

Internet booking sites, according to their online work, send within few days after finishing the booked service, an e- mail survey whose responses (anonymous or not) are posted on the web itself as customer's feedback. That's a double edged sword: a satisfied customer does not always fill in a survey because he assumes that the provided service meets his expectations as it should. On the contrary, if the experience was not satisfactory they do tend to "spread" their anger and publish negative critics. A customer who wants information about a facility before making a reservation, does not usually read only the official website of the establishment where information is obviously to sell and not always objective. Opinion sites such as Ciao.es or Travel Advisor.com and the specific booking ones as Booking.com publish all kinds of experiences instead. This information is beyond the scope of the establishment itself (they cannot make it disappear but can debate it through a press release) but it must be taken into account the extent of such action that "might make feel bad" or be considered a "tantrum". The vast majority of people who go online to plan their travel take into account views and opinions of other users on the Web in order to make a decision. This trend is being manifested by the present generation of Web users: on the one side there are the so-called "digital natives" who have been born with the Internet. It is a generation of users between 12 and 30. On the other side the "digital immigrants" between 30 and 50. Both generations have taken technologies to all areas of their personal and professional life (including people older than 50), and they are the current customers of the hotel sector. So if the customer today is "tecnodependent it is important in Tourism to adapt business to their needs and be up to date.

Internet is a communication channel representing threats and opportunities and tourism entrepreneurs must be able to learn to know well the threats and take full advantage of the

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opportunities. Internet benefits those tourism businesses which care for their customers and offer quality but "exposes" those who do not provide truthful information to consumers.

However, no matter how much progress there is, it is important never to leave the "traditional tourist aside. It is the one who does not use new technologies and therefore depends entirely on the suggestions given by the producer or distributor.

The reasons why an evaluation does not generate changes may be several:

The company measures by requirement or fashion. When measure of the evaluation is a standard requirement (for instance ISO) or a requirement from the Management (in case of chains), it means that there are no real interest in knowing the customer's satisfaction level.

Negative comments are ignored. The company wishes customer's satisfaction immediately, discarding negative comments as hearsay and not understanding what caused the customer's dissatisfaction, either because the client was not specific enough to give his opinion or because they think they know more than the client and they do not agree with him.

They do not know what to improve or change. If the survey is unclear, the answer probably is not clarifying either. If they ask for the enjoyed service in a restaurant and the customer only has to chose between good or bad, they really do not know if the client liked (or not) the service itself, the taste of the food or something else entirely different. So, the company could undertake changes that are not the ones the client related to and the result is that there is no improvement at the end.

To improve customer satisfaction, it is not enough to ask for opinion, but the obtained information must be taken into account to make decisions. Without making a decision, the evaluation has no sense and the customer's satisfaction does not increase either. It may even decrease because an inquired client expects changes in the future and if they do not happen, the opinion gets worse even if the provided service is still the same.


1. STOCK CONTROL OF DESTINATIONS(DESTINIES) OR TOURIST SERVICES

Reservations can be direct or through an intermediary.

Direct ones are those made by the final consumer directly, whether a hotel stay, an airline ticket or a restaurant table. The customer can obtain information through multiple channels: Internet, guidebooks and tourist brochures, tourism fairs, television programs or directly from the provider.

o Transport bookings: Transports companies can be contacted via telephone hotline or Internet. The client decides his travel dates, if one-way or round trip, number of people travelling and books. A credit card for the payment is imperative. The operator who attends it (if one chooses to book by phone) checks if there are places available and what kind of charge is to apply. He proceeds to your booking taking note of the name of all passengers, identity card number if they are over 14 years old, contact (telephone number) and the credit card numeration for the payment. It is important to report the amount of costs in case of cancellation or modification of the reservation. In case the end user chooses to make his reservation by Internet - today the fastest and most economical way - the handling is identical. In any case, the client receives a reference number to be submitted at the airline counter at the airport between

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90 and 120 minutes before departure for testing and delivery of documentation as boarding pass and return ticket if proceeds. It is also possible to get all documents scanned. For reservations for train, boat, bus the system is similar. Tickets are personal and confidential, so if the client does not arrive on time, he loses any options of repayment.

o Booking of tickets and restaurant tables: As in the case of transports, the consumer can directly book his tickets for theme parks, shows or restaurant tables either by telephone or Internet. The requested data are similar to transport except in the case of the restaurant where they do not require the names or ages of the people and where sometimes indicating a contact telephone number is sufficient. If the client is not there at the agreed time, the restaurant will sell the table in order to mitigate a potential loss of income.

Not direct reservations are the ones that the final consumer manages through an intermediary, who can be a travel agent or an online reservation centre.

The customer goes to a travel agency where he collects all information needed to complete his purchase.

o Transports booking: Whether by plane, train, coach ... the travel agent advises the customer seeking the best combination to get to his destination taking into account the wishes of the client (dates when he wants to travel, what kind of transport he prefers, how many people ...). The travel agent gets in touch with the carrier to process the final booking. This can be through the companies telephone hotline or also via Internet. If the agency belongs to an association of travel agencies they may have an allotment of seats.

Another option is to book through a booking system like Amadeus, which is the world's largest international distribution network where most reservations are made through, more than with any other one. Amadeus was founded by an alliance between Air France, Lufthansa, Iberia Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines System. It specializes in software solutions for creating reserves for airlines, trains, cruises, car rentals, hotels and travel. Amadeus is used by 67,000 travel agencies and 10,000 airline sales offices worldwide. With Amadeus reservations can be made in: 490 airlines, representing over 95% of the seats of the airlines worldwide, 79.266 hotels, 22 car rental companies, 17 cruising companies, and other providers of travel (ferries, trains, insurance companies and tour operators). Amadeus has subscribers in over 217 countries worldwide and offers local solutions for marketing, customer care and support through a network of more than 70.

Other systems would be: SABRE centralized operating system processing in real time (RT TPOS) developed by American Airlines and IBM; SIRE for railway reservation

Upon receipt of written confirmation of the booking, the agent proceeds to ticketing. Most agencies have tickets and passages that become valid through their seal and GAT number (reference number of a travel agency) and which the customer delivers directly at the check-in at the airport, train station or bus. In case the agency lacks of these tickets, they can issue a voucher with all booking details such as name and reference number, which the customer

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delivers at the transport company to get the final documents. The client pays the total amount of the booked trip at the travel agency and, once they discount their commission, it is now the agency' responsibility to pay the final invoice to the service provider.

o Tickets and restaurant table bookings: To make reservations for restaurants through a travel agency or a reservation centre is not the most common unless it is a large group of people or within the organization of a event or congress. There are associations or culinary groups which manage reservations among their members in order to better prices and other attentions. This kind of reservation, even having an intermediary, is effectively a direct booking, for the intermediary gets usually no benefit from this kind of booking. For ticket reservations it is more common to use the management through an agency.


1. TICKETING, BONDS AND OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE MARKETING OF A TOURIST SERVICE

Today, in the information age and yet the desire to minimize costs and also taking into account environmental factors, everything considered superfluous tends to be eliminated and thus reduce the amount of paper produced by issuing paper tickets and others. Until recently when booking trips by plane, bus, train or ship we got a ticket or passage with the corresponding copies to be given to the service provider. They were selfcopying models with copies for the agency itself, copy for the administration department to settle bills, original for the customer and then as many copies (=coupons) as journeys are included in the trip.

Through Internet, for the client it is sometimes difficult to discern whether the booking is made directly to the hotel or if there is an intermediary, although there is no fundamental difference regarding the price, since they usually match. It is true that the more intermediaries there are, the easier it is to lose information and if, for example, for a client it is important that the room is located on the ground floor for some reason, if he has not directly contacted the establishment, that information can be lost on his way to the hotel. Seen so, the existence of an agency may not be considered very helpful when making a reservation for a holiday product, but we cannot forget that a primary function is also to inform, not just to sell. They are the ones who guide, advice, counsel and they are there in the flesh, they are not just a voice on the telephone or a contact via e-mail. The tourism product is not a tangible asset that the client takes home after paying. They pay for a future service whose result they do not know yet and which they cannot return at the end (Unless he fills in a complaint form, wins and gets his money reimbursed).

A roundtrip ticket consists of 2 flights, the outward and back, so we had to have 2 flight coupons which were torn at the airport in every way. In a trip that includes a roundtrip flight but someday scale, 3 coupons would be for the flights and if on top it was a complete package with hotel stay and maybe also car rental service, also a coupon for the hotel and one for the car rental must be given. So, the more services, the more coupons would be necessary. That entailed a lot of paperwork and increased the possibility of error by the agent, if any coupon was torn out by mistake, it caused serious problems for the traveler at the airport and the hotel or car rental counter. This is because the coupon was the payment guarantee for the provider.

To minimize human errors, to avoid problems of loss of documents and generally to lower amounts of paper, today all this became obsolete. Just by providing a reference or booking number and our name, whether the reservation was made directly with the company as if made through an agency. In the latter case, with the purpose of giving something physical to the customer, the agent often prints an information sheet with flight details (departure time, flight number, airline, time before check-in ...) and reference number. With this document the client may go directly to the check-in counter or to companies counter (as they were informed). The

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same happens today with train tickets or bus. Only in hotels, the paper voucher is still present with personal vouchers, on site vouchers, full credit vouchers and open vouchers.






To minimize human errors, to avoid problems of loss of documents and generally to lower amounts of paper, today all this became obsolete. Just by providing a reference or booking number and our name, whether the reservation was made directly with the company as if made through an agency. In the latter case, with the purpose of giving something physical to the customer, the agent often prints an information sheet with flight details (departure time, flight number, airline, time before check-in ...) and reference number. With this document the client may go directly to the check-in counter or to companies counter (as they were informed). The same happens today with train tickets or bus. Only in hotels, the paper voucher is still present with personal vouchers, on site vouchers, full credit vouchers and open vouchers.

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To minimize human errors, to avoid problems of loss of documents and generally to lower amounts of paper, today all this became obsolete. Just by providing a reference or booking number and our name, whether the reservation was made directly with the company as if made through an agency. In the latter case, with the purpose of giving something physical to the customer, the agent often prints an information sheet with flight details (departure time, flight number, airline, time before check-in ...) and reference number. With this document the client may go directly to the check-in counter or to companies counter (as they were informed). The same happens today with train tickets or bus. Only in hotels, the paper voucher is still present with personal vouchers, on site vouchers, full credit vouchers and open vouchers.

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1. NEGOTIATING WITH SUPPLIERS AND PROFESSIONALS IN THE PROVISION OF TOURISM SERVICES.

A contract is an agreement between two or more parties where trade relations are defined. So are the contracts between tourism enterprises and their customers which can be direct, travel agencies, wholesalers or retailers or booking centres.

In a contract with a wholesale travel agency particular attention must be paid to:

Rates: Discounts and supplements

Booking types: Allotment (number of rooms) or free sale

Release

Minimum requirements: stay and basis

Commission

Terms of payment: prepayment or credit line

Overcommission: for prompt-payment or turnover

Cost-free products or services


1. NEGOTIATING WITH SUPPLIERS AND PROFESSIONALS IN THE PROVISION OF TOURISM SERVICES.

1.1. RATES

The market is free, so each enterprise decides prices to convenience, not having a specific fee per category marked by the Administration. The price depends on supply and demand, so where no competition is given and unique service is offered, the price is probably higher than in the case where many similar ones are present and where it is necessary to "fight" for the client. Prices are broken down into accommodation, bed and breakfast, half board and full board according to the services available at the hotel.

Prices vary depending on room type and number of people (pax), regardless of the extras that are engaged (pensions, treatment packages...) and the season.

Prices tend to be per person in double room. If the room is occupied by a single person (Double single occupancy) a single supplement is to be added to reduce the loss of income by not being the room occupied by two people. It can be a percentage (usually 15% or similar).

If the room is occupied by 3 people the price is not multiplied by 3 but a discount for the 3rd party is applied. This discount is for the discomfort of 3 people occupying one room (usually a percentage of 15 or 20% in the case of 3rd person over 12 years. If the 3rd party is a child, the situation may change, being possible to have the children staying for free or with a discount of up to 50%). Babies are usually free in only bed. It is very important to know that discount per child is not for being a child, it is for being a 3rd person in a double room, so if the room is occupied by an adult plus a child, no discount would be applicable. In the case of suite, supplement is usually per night not per person.

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EXAMPLE

A hotel publishes the following rates:

1. Price per pax in only bed: 60 2. Price for breakfast per adult: 8 3. Single supplement: + 15% 4. 3rd pax Adult Discount - 20% 5. Discount child under 12 sharing room with 2 - 50% 6. Half board (HB) adult: 20 7. Full board (FB) adult: 32 8. Discount for children under 12 years: -50% 9. 7% VAT not included

1. Price for a double room with bed and breakfast (BB) for 2 adults would be:

1. (60 x 2 persons) + (8 x 2 people) = 136 + 7% VAT = 145.52

2. In HB = 136 + (20 x 2 people) = 176 + 7% VAT = 188.32

3. PC: 136 + (32 x 2) = 200 + 7% VAT = 214 2. Single with HB:

1. (60 + 15% single supplement) + 8 + 20 = 97 + 7% VAT = 103.79

3. Triple with adult Triple Price FB: 1. ((60 - 20% discount) + 60 x 2) + (8 breakfast + 32 suppl. Pc)

x 3 pax) = 288 + 7% VAT = 308.16 4. BB Triple with child:

1. ((60 - 50% discount) + 60 x 2) + (8 breakfast - 50%) + 8 breakfast x 2 pax) = 170 + 7% VAT = 181.90

Generally and unlike the case of 3rd person adult, the discount is also on the diet.

Offers like: Children free, generally refer to taking accommodation having boards an extra price.


1.2. BOOKING TYPES

There are two booking types: allotment and free sale.

ALLOTMENT

Number of booked seats or rooms with no clients names which require final confirmation. They can be FIT, back to back or series. They are negotiated in free sale for a certain number of seats or rooms and season, and from there on request.

FIT: Type of allotment for individual bookings.

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Back to back: Type of allotment where customers leave the same day as others enter, covering consecutive periods of time. Typical for resort hotels on the Canary and Balearic Islands where most of tourists arrive with a holiday package.

Series: Type of allotment where a group departs and the next one arrives but never meet.

Allotment is usually per room type, only double rooms or suites, being other types on request.

There is also a type of allotment called guarantee: the hotel receives payment even if the agency does not sell the room: the agency knows they have a fixed number of rooms guaranteed to sell and the hotel knows that they will receive payment for sure. It is frequent to find that kind of allotment for groups moving a significant number of people over a year (for instance Telefnica Social Fund). Besides the importance of knowing a guaranteed number of rooms to sell, it is interesting from the standpoint of saving, as there is no need to spend on communication costs by asking the availability, through modifications of reservations etc.

FREE SALE

It means that the agency keeps on selling rooms until the hotel decides to remove availability and close sales, either because of being already complete or because they keep a certain number of rooms for its own direct sales. In some cases a security allotment is activated once sales are closed, also with a release time to observe. The opposite of free sale is on request.


1.3. RELEASE

It is the deadline to cancel reservations of accommodation or transports without cancellation fee. Time varies depending on whether it is low season, medium or peak. The easier it is to sell (= peak season) the longer (14 to 21 days) the release time, so the hotel has time enough to sell by themselves. During the low season, with less movement, the release is much shorter (between 7 days and 48 hours) although it may exist cases of release 0 where the bookings can be for the same moment. This is feasible when there are many rooms to sell and few probabilities of complete: a way to encourage sales.

EXAMPLE

A hotel with 100 rooms signs an allotment of 25 rooms with a peak seasonal release of 21 days. They can sell directly (whether direct or retail customers) a total of 75 rooms. The other rooms are operated by wholesalers who have to confirm at least 21 days before arrival of the client all reservation data (customer name, room type, number of persons, basis ...). From that day on, all rooms that the agency has not sold are again available for the hotel to sale.

Calculation: For arrivals on the 27th of a month a release of 21 days ends on the 6th of that month so, from that day on, the allotment is lost and the hotel owns back the rooms to be sold even to the same

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wholesaler but on request.

A hotel works with a free sale until closing sales. The agencies sell without having to consult availability. Once the hotel is booked out or decides to keep a number of rooms for their own sales, they close sales. Some agencies have a safety allotment which gets activated in that moment in order to process missing bookings. A sales closing is not immediate, that is important in cases of powerful wholesalers who "split" their allotment among its partner agencies and therefore need some time to communicate a sales closing. It usually provides a delay time of 24 hours to make sales closing effective for all purposes. Hence the importance of updating daily sales and availability to avoid overbooking situations.


1.4. MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS OF SALE

A hotel may establish minimum conditions of sale, such as minimum stay or basis on specific date, in order to optimize its resources.

A holiday hotel may impose during high season a minimum stay of 4 or more nights, or a minimum stay of 2 if it is including Saturday night during the low season.

Imposing at least bed and breakfast service ensures that everybody has breakfast, so that is worth setting up a buffet. If an agency does not respect the imposed minimum conditions, even with free sale or allotment, passes on request.

The minimum requirements are not rigid and can change over the year at the convenience of the establishment.


1.5. COMMISION

The percentage agreed between the provider of tourist services and the agency or booking center. It varies depending on whether it is a wholesaler who has to commission their products to whom he sells, which is the retail travel agency, or it is a retail travel agency who benefits. .

Usually, a wholesaler has a sales commission of between 20 and 25% of the gross price. Once the commission is deducted, the price is called net. Wholesalers in turn give a commission to retailer of between 10 and 14%, so that the difference is benefit to the wholesaler. The more commission they receive and the less they give, the bigger the profit margin they obtain. When negotiating the commissions, several points are taken into account such as the type of agency (if retail or wholesaler), history of previous reservations (whether rising or stagnant trend setting) and the actual interest of the service provider: if it is a powerful wholesaler with which, up to date, they had no relationship, it will be interesting to grant a high commission percentage just to attract them as a customer. The more commission they get, the higher their interest in selling that tourist service.

A hotel can also boost sales increasing commission rates during the lower season.

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EXAMPLE

The price per night for a double room is 100 + 7% VAT (= 107 ) If a wholesaler has an agency commission of 20%, the net amount to pay the hotel is 100 - 20% + 7% tax = 85.60. The difference (107 - 85,60 = 21,40 ) would be considered profit if everything went to the coffers of the wholesale agency, but if they turn commission to a retailer for selling them, giving for example a 12%, the benefit would be another:

100 - 12% + 7% VAT = 94.16 is the amount paid by the retailer, so the final benefit for the wholesaler would be 94.16 - 85.60 = 8.56


1.6. TERMS OF PAYMENT

The agreed per contract between the parties. We distinguish between prepayment and credit situation:

o Prepayment: When full payment is done before the client makes use of booked and paid tourist services. In case of a stay in a hotel, it would be the net cost of the booking. There are variations as a percentage prepayment before arrival of the client and the rest during the stay, but this is not very common because it is neither practical nor profitable.

o Credit Line: we talk about credit line when it is agreed to pay booked services after being consumed. So that the payment is not delayed at the discretion of the wholesaler, a time limit is set of 30, 45, 60 or even 90 days after the receipt of the invoice. So if 45 days were signed, the wholesaler or reservation center assumes to settle the bill at the latest within 45 days after receiving the invoice with the net that covers the booked stay or services. Keep in mind that the wholesalers are not allowed to sell directly to consumers so that they have in turn to charge the intermediary (retailer). Again, it may be on credit so they have to wait to collect, or with prepayment. In this case they already have the net amount so they can play with the generated interests of having a sum of money in the bank. A wholesaler therefore prefers credit with a higher deadline without giving credit in turn.

Another control mechanism is the limit of the credit line. Frequent values are 50,000 to 100,000 . That amount will depend on both the tourist service provider and the wholesaler or reservation centre. A small hotel may not grant credit to 45 days from invoice date and a credit line of up to 100,000 because it probably leads to ruin, which is contrary to large chain hotels. The set limits tells the maximum amount the wholesaler or reservation centre may owe to the tourism enterprise in credits, in other words, although 60-days-payment are signed, if the credit line set at 100,000 is exceeded, the credit will be cut until it gets reduced to less than 100,000 .

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1.7. OVERCOMMISSION

Amount that an agency, usually a wholesaler with signed contract, can obtain in function of a certain pre-agreed production levels. This is a percentage of the total turnover of a period, following a prescribed amount which is paid by tourism providers to the agencies as a sale incentive.

Overcommission for prompt payment: You can arrange a higher commission in exchange for prepayment or make payment within a very small period of time. That is feasible in cases where the wholesaler, as far as they are concerned, do not give any credit and therefore they have sufficient liquidity to meet their payments and thus get an additional amount of commission.

Overcommission for turnover: This can be for the overall turnover at the end of the campaign or for different levels of turnover. In any case , it always refers to the final net amount without VAT, generated by the wholesalers with its sales during a calendar year, and excluding in these calculations possible groups (bookings of more than 20 persons with one same reference number), so the final amount paid for booked services.

The stages or levels can be from 0 , which means that the wholesaler receives an overcommission from the first booking they make or starting from an amount they need first to achieve in order to get this overcommission. Factors like the type of relationship that can unite both parties and their skills on the negotiation determine such agreements.

Ranges or levels can be:

From 0 to 35,000 2% (this first level may not exist)

From 35,001 to 50,000 3%

From 50,001 to 60,000 4%

60,001 onwards 5%

Another way to boost sales in specific seasons is to set levels according to the season rather than to overall turnover. So, in the months of low occupancy, the overcommission could be higher (or minimum turnover amount is lower) than in months where it is easier to sell because there is high demand.

Low Season:

From 0 to 35.000 2% (*)

Pack Season

From 0 a 50.000 2% (*)

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From 35.001 to 50.000 3%

From 50.001 to 60.000 4%

From 60.001 onwards 5%

From 50.001 to 75.000 3%

From 75.001 to 90.000 4%

From 90.001 onwards 5%

(*) This first level may not exist.

A contract is an agreement between two or more parties where trade relations are defined. So are the contracts between tourism enterprises and their customers which can be direct, travel agencies, wholesalers or retailers or booking centres.

In a contract with a wholesale travel agency particular attention must be paid to:

Rates: Discounts and supplements

Booking types: Allotment (number of rooms) or free sale

Release

Minimum requirements: stay and basis

Commission

Terms of payment: prepayment or credit line

Overcommission: for prompt-payment or turnover

Cost-free products or services


1.8. COST-FREE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES

In order to spur sales among its retailers or even among its own employees, wholesalers ask for the grant of cost-free products or services at the end of the campaign, which they draw or transfer directly.

Apart from a service contract between a tourist establishment and an agency, there are more relationships that can be contracted after negotiations between all parties.

Tourism is a major source of income, so that public institutions show their support through advertising campaigns both nationally and internationally. There are Tourism fairs throughout the year and everywhere. One of the most important is precisely in Spain, FITUR in Madrid. An enterprise can participate independently (not very common because of high costs that this entails unless it is a chain of establishments) or grouped in an association. Institutional development, whether local, regional, national or international, benefits all tourist areas, and besides attending trade fairs, it is shown in form of brochures, advertisements, institutional visits, opening Tourism offices abroad and other occasional events, such as televised galas from one region of Spain in order to promote it. Besides the musical entertainment and the show itself, the viewer is guided through the best corners of the region. As an example Summer Galas like "Murcia, how beautiful you are". Another example could be the Eurovision Song Contest gala where the host country ensures a millionaire audience across the continent or Miss and Mister Spain Galas.

A private company apart from its website, flyers and partnership contracts with agencies, can promote or seek profit through trade agreements with other companies who may not have at

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first sight to do with tourism. So a coffee shop, bar or restaurant can reach exclusive agreements with a brand of soda or beer. In exchange for these brands being exclusively sold in the establishment, they could receive special discounts. However, this won't be seen by the consumer, thus it is common to get marketing material from the brands, such as the typical umbrellas, chairs, clip-letters, cards, bottle-holders... In the case of hotels, they can agree specific campaigns with, for instance, health food producers or water distributors who want to promote their products as highly healthy. If the hotel owns a spa or wellness area, the producer or distributor can draw stay at that hotel among their customers. The producer increases their sales among consumers who want to win that stay and the hotel promises to have these products in his establishment. The accommodation price is agreed, normally below the prevailing rate.

Private media advertising can be managed through an own marketing department or through an advertising agency. Advertisements may be timely, to promote a specific event, such as New Years Eve Celebration, local festivals, opening new facilities or new product introductions, or continuously over a period of time, as the small footnotes ads in press to "refresh the memory," specialized magazine ads (health magazines, interior decoration, stylish hotels, restaurants, sports, trip specials in women's magazines (or males), collective magazines: National police, army, firemen, civil...).

It is also appealing the promotion through sponsorship of sporting events at any level through insertion of advertising on shirts, banners, billboards or trophies. Each promotion depends on the type of tourist service and market segment you want to attract. On a professional level, advertising reaches a broad audience. A few years ago Atletico de Madrid (a football club) bore Marbella city in their shirts so the city was promoted worldwide. This is a good example of promotional success. If instead of promoting the whole city, it had been a city restaurant called "Casa Pepe" it would probably have been far less successful. No one would travel only and specifically from, say, England to visit a restaurant. On a more modest level, if a restaurant or a hotel with spa services is promoted on the shirts or signs of a small regional team, spectators from the surroundings can be potential customers and it is a fine way to reach them.

Finally, it is necessary to include the increasingly importance of promotion through social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or Tuenti. This is a new form of communication where problems such as space, time or ubiquity disappear; an information tool for sharing knowledge, helping to find communities, to integrate them and cooperate. It has become a quick and cheap way to make promotion and communicate with past and future clients making them aware of developments. Like most things it is also a double-edged sword in the sense that others can post their experiences both positive and negative.


1. MANAGEMENT OF ROOM BOOKINGS AND OTHER SERVICES OF THE HOTEL ESTABLISHMENT

Reservations can be direct or through an intermediary.

Direct ones are those that the final consumer makes directly, whether of a hotel stay, an airline ticket or a restaurant table. The customer can obtain information through multiple channels: Internet, guidebooks and tourist brochures, tourism fairs, television programs or directly from the provider.

o Hotel Accommodation bookings: Internet and telephone are the best allies when booking a hotel room.

On its website the hotel advertises its rates, packages and proposals and the client chooses based on what he prefers. Most of the websites of the hotels have the option to on-line bookings, to check availability, rates and to receive

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confirmations immediately. The website has to be updated every time a reservation enters in order to have exact and correct information; it also serves to encourage specific dates, for instance if it appears that a date has a low occupancy, it is possible to launch a specific tender on that date in order to minimize loss of earnings.

If the management is by phone, it's the reservations department task to close successfully the booking. They must pay attention to what the client says, listen to what he asks for and thus recommend the best option for the customer. If travelling with children, he may opt for a larger accommodation or for a package including half board or some type of complementary activity. Meanwhile a customer who is on a business travel probably does not look for much more than a room and few facilities. Once it is known the choice of accommodation type the customer wants, we must check the availability of date, always taking into account any allotment or blockades made by an agency with which a contract is signed. Allotment must always be respected, so until the expiration of the release, a Hotel cannot sell any room even if they still have no confirmation. Given this situation, a Hotel always has to offer alternatives, either offering other dates or another room-type or offering a waiting list. The possible reservation is in stand-by until the moment a cancellation occurs or the release expires and so the rooms become again property of the establishment.

The booking request meets all our requirements, we do have availability of room type and dates and the customer accepts the provided quotation, we proceed to the reservation itself. A booking form is filled out with all points concerning this booking. Essential data are the customer's name, exact date of entry and exit, type and number of bedrooms, number of people who occupy (adults and children), chosen regimen, additional services (activities program, treatment program if it is a hotel with spa services), special clients requests (cod, terrace, non-smoking room, upstairs...), contact telephone number, fax or mail to send written confirmation and reservations guarantee in shape of a credit card. This last step can be replaced by a bank transfer if the customer does not want to provide his credit card. A hotel is an enterprise that seeks to generate profits, therefore it cannot trust - except in some isolated cases the good word of a client, that is why money acts as a guarantee: it can vary from a the amount of the first night up to a percentage of the final price. This amount of money is on the customer's account and is deducted from the final invoice. If the client does not check-in on the booked day, the hotel can keep the collateral money to offset the loss generated by the lost reservation. Either the client makes a cash deposit as a guarantee, or a bank transfer or gives a credit card numeration, it is important to stress the requirement of sending always a written confirmation to the client indicating the amount of the guarantee and a reference number, either by fax, by email, SMS, or, infrequently, postal mail. Confirmation is useful for both parties: the customer has something physical to confirm his purchase with all its details and so does the hotel, so in case of doubt, everything is written (the date could be wrong and that would be a big problem during peak season). The customer must also be informed of possible charges in case of cancellation or modification, for example how much it would cost if he cancels out of time (usually the amount of the guarantee of booking). A customer with a confirmed booking with check-in on day 20th of the month, contacts the hotel 1 day before wanting to delay his check-in day for 2 days. He is not cancelling the booking, but even so the hotel could - according to their cancellation policy charge cancellation costs because the customer is cancelling the first night just one day in advance so the hotel may have no longer option to sell the room by itself. Never forget that a hotel sells a perishable product: an unsold room cannot be stored for sale on another occasion, it is a room that cannot be sold anymore.

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Not direct reservations are the ones that the final consumer manages through an intermediary who can be a travel agent o

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