TRAVEL AGENT INFORMATION

Online Travel Agents is an online promotional service for professional travel agents. Our goal is to be the one place travelers can go to find knowledgeable and experienced travel consultants.

Studies have shown that the majority of people, whether they plan to use a travel agent or book online, do some research on the Internet. We plan to direct to the travel agents in our list all customers searching our web site. Not just those that plan to use a travel agent, but hopefully win back some that may have planned to use an online travel agency.

We all know that travel agents can easily beat the prices from the online travel agencies. Add the exceptional service you provide and there is no advantage for anyone to use an online travel agency. We believe that if the public knew the truth, many travelers planning to book online will switch to travel agents.

BENEFITS TO USING OUR SERVICE

Our service provides the following benefits to all participating travel agents:

• Exposure to customers searching the Internet for travel agents and travel related services.

• We will promote your experience, knowledge and professionalism.

• Our search engine automatically pre-qualifies the customers and directs to you those customers that are interested in the destinations and lifestyles that you specialize in.

• Once you have been approved, you have unlimited use of our service.

• By meeting our strict requirements for listing, customers can contact you with confidence knowing that you are a knowledgeable and experienced travel professional.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR LISTING

It is extremely important that customers have the utmost confidence in the quality of service and products offered by the travel agents listed here. Therefore we had to set some minimum requirements to ensure that only professional travel agents are accepted.

The qualifications for full service travel agents are:

• CTA or CTC certificate from The Travel Institute, or:

• Certificate of completion from a travel agent training program and enrolled in the CTA certificate program from The Travel Institute plus minimum 2 years experience.

• You must use one of the Global Distribution Systems.

Here are the qualifications for cruise & vacation travel agents:

• CTA or CTC certificate from The Travel Institute or an ACC or higher certificate from CLIA, or:

• Certificate of completion from a travel agent training program and enrolled in the CTA certificate program from The Travel Institute or the ACC certificate program from CLIA plus minimum 2 years experience.

• You must use either one of the Global Distribution Systems or other reservation systems offering vacation and cruise packages from multiple suppliers.

The qualifications for cruise only travel agents are similar:

• ACC or higher certificate from CLIA, or:

• Certificate of completion from a travel agent training program and enrolled in the ACC certificate program from CLIA plus minimum 2 years experience.

• You must use a cruise reservation system offering cruise packages from multiple suppliers.

You must e-mail PDF or JPEG copies of your highest certificate(s) from The Travel Institute (CTA or CTC) and CLIA (ACC, MCC, ECC or ECCS) or travel agent training certificate and proof of enrollment in the CTA or ACC programs to

AgentInfo@onlinetravelagents.com. Your application will not be reviewed without your certificates on file. If we have any questions we may ask for additional information and documents to support or clarify the information you have provided.

To be listed as a specialist for any destination, you must have lived in or traveled to that destination or have taken a specialist training course on that destination. We strongly recommend the destination specialist training programs from The Travel Institute, ASTA and TravelAgentAcademy. The key is that you have confidence in your knowledge of that destination to effectively sell it to customers that may already be familiar with that destination and make recommendations that will enhance their travel and vacation experience.

To be listed as a lifestyle specialist, you must either have completed a lifestyle training program such as those from The Travel Institute and ASTA or you have personally experienced a particular lifestyle through your travels. The key is that you have the knowledge and confidence through training or personal experience (preferably both) to effectively sell to customers that may be extremely knowledgeable of or personally involved in a particular lifestyle.

In order to provide the best service, travel agents must work for/with reputable travel agencies selling a variety of travel products from multiple suppliers directly to customers. Therefore, you are not eligible to join if your work situation falls in any of the following categories:

• You are not eligible if your primary responsibility is clerical or back office support.

• You are not eligible if you work for a travel agency whose primary service is direct online bookings.

• You are not eligible if you work for a travel or vacation product supplier. This includes airlines, cruise lines, and tour and vacation companies.

• You are not eligible if you work for or book through travel agencies known as card mills, multi level organizations and travel clubs.

SETTING UP AN ACCOUNT

Setting up an account is very easy.

1. At the Log In page, enter a user name, password and select New User. Please select a secure password that is at least eight characters long and contains a number, capital letter and one of the characters above the numbers.

2. Enter the information necessary to set up your account.

3. Log out.

4. Log in again using the user name and password you just created. This is your home page.

5. Fill in all applicable fields in your profile section and make your specialty selections.

6. E-mail PDF or JPEG copies of your highest certificate(s) from The Travel Institute (CTA or CTC) and CLIA (ACC, MCC, ECC or ECCS) or travel agent training certificate and proof of enrollment in the CTA or ACC programs to AgentInfo@onlinetravelagents.com. Title your e-mail and attachments with your user name, first & last name in the format: “username - Jane Doe”. We will review your application after we receive your documents. We realize that this may cause some inconvenience, but it is the best way to ensure that only true professional travel agents are listed.

WARNING:

1. Be honest with the information you provide. You will be removed and banned from the list if you in any way misrepresent yourself, your knowledge and experience. Do not select a specialty unless you have intimate knowledge of a destination or lifestyle through your travels or training classes.

2. We reserve the right to refuse listing or remove from the list without notice any travel agent if we believe it is in the best interest of the customers.

3. If there are any questions or uncertainties with the information you provided, we may ask for additional supporting information about your education, certification and specialty selections.

HOW OUR WEB SITE WORKS

First you must set up an account. If approved, your account will be activated. When a customer’s search matches your type of travel, specialty selections and office location, you will be listed on the results for that search.

At the beginning of your workday, you will have to log into your home page on our web site and set your status to online. This will take less than 30 seconds. When your name comes up on a customer search, the system will show you as being online. Customers can call or e-mail you knowing that you are available for business.

At the end of your workday, you MUST set your status to offline. This way customers will know you are not currently online but can leave you a voice-mail or an e-mail.

SECURITY OF INFORMATION

Like most people, we are very concerned about the security of information on the Internet. Our corporate policies and our web site features are intended to protect your sensitive information while at the same time provide the customers the information they need to make their decisions.

• Only information in the search results and your Details pages will be made available to the public. The rest of your information will only be used by us to determine your eligibility for listing.

• We will not sell or share any of your information with anyone. We do not have advertising partners or information sharing relationships with any other companies or web sites.

• We do not even show your e-mail address. Customers that want to e-mail you can click on the link but cannot see your e-mail address.

• You can select not to have your address shown in your Details page. This feature was designed to protect home-based travel agents that may not want to have their home address shown.

The only conditions under which we will provide your information to anybody else are:

• If we are forced by a court of law.

• If this service is purchased by another company or organization.

COST

Free. There is no charge for this service.