Become a Home Based Travel Agent

An interview with Michelle Fee, CEO and Co-Founder of
Cruise Planners/American Express
By Joanie Ogg CTC, MCC

We talked with Michelle Fee, CEO and Co-Founder of Cruise Planners/American Express, about the upcoming Cruise Planners Annual Convention and the recent awards won by the nation's largest home-based travel agent franchise network in the cruise industry.

Michelle, talk a little bit about the upcoming Cruise Planners/American Express Annual Convention.

Our annual convention is a chance for all our agents to come together to sharpen their skills on newly implemented tools and learn about new innovations launching in the year to come.

We are planning and organizing an impressive line-up of speaker presentations, breakout sessions and panel discussions that include topics on how to develop effective marketing strategies, leveraging technology to host local and virtual events, maximizing efficiencies with the new eREZ^SM tool as well as “fireside chats” with the Cruise Planners executive team.

This year’s key message is “C.H.A.N.G.E.” – an acronym that stands for Cruise Planners, Have Fun, Agents, New Stuff, Growth and Evolve. Following the three-day land portion of the convention, agents and Cruise Planners executives will embark on our anchor-partner Celebrity’s new Eclipse for a two-night sailing from Port Everglades.

It is an exciting time for all of us and we can’t wait to have so many of our agents in one place and having a great time.

First of all, congratulations are due to our agents, our entire home office staff and all the executives here at Cruise Planners/American Express for making 2010 our biggest awards year to date.

Just last month we were honored as the American Express Travel Company of the Year! This is an enormous accomplishment and it validates a lot of the hard work that we’ve put into the tools and technologies that we’ve trademarked to help our agents do their jobs. With Cruise Planners University (CPU), our web-based, virtual university and eREZ^SM, our web-based customer relations management program that allows agents to organize and store in-depth client information in an easy to navigate system accessible from any computer or smart phone with Wi-Fi, we’ve only just begun to open doors for our agents not only in the cruise sector of the industry but in all types of vacations and vacation travel.

You also received four Travel Weekly Magellan Awards this year, talk to us a little about this accomplishment.

We received two Gold Magellan Awards, one for a new agent training program, which provides our new agents with the skills they need to start a travel business from home, as well as one for CPU, an online learning tool that provides agents access to hundreds of training courses and top accreditations in the cruise industry. We also won two Silver Magellan Awards recognizing our community outreach program, CP Cares, and our “Cruisidude” family-themed, integrated marketing campaign.

We are so proud and honored to receive these Magellan Awards. We have a top-notch team in place in our home office who strives to create innovative and unique tools to make it easier for our agents to achieve their marketing and sales goals. Being recognized by Travel Weekly for the third year in a row illustrates our commitment to the success of our agents as well as customer satisfaction.

Aside from the recognition, how do you maintain such a strong passion about the industry year after year?

I believe in entrepreneurship, and I love being able to offer people a way to be their own boss and strive without boundaries. My team and I have created a unique business model that gives our agents the right tools for success. By building solid clientele and utilizing the innovative marketing tools we create, our agents can be successful regardless of the economic outlook, and that is the drive I hope influences Cruise Planners’ agents to stay with us.

My passion is truly a reflection of the support I receive from my executive team every day. It is their constant dedication to the franchise owners and to this company that has helped me strive to be a strong leader and supporter for not only the home office team, but for our home-based agents who have a stake in this company.

Joanie Ogg CTC MCC
Joanie Ogg Marketing Group
Editor

Joanie Ogg is a thirty-five year veteran of the travel industry and has been involved with the independent contractor evolution since 1988. She is the principal of Joanie Ogg Marketing Group, which specializes in consulting and speaking on the topic of Home-Based Travel. She also provides marketing and sales for wide variety of products under the umbrella HomeBasedTravelAgent.com.

A demonstrated industry leader, Joanie most recently served as the President of the National Association of Commissioned Travel Agents (NACTA) and TravelSellers. She and her husband Tom acquired NACTA in 1996 and sold it to The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) in 2000. Joanie’s tenure in the travel industry includes owning and operating one of the first successful host agency models. She has owned and operated several storefront travel agencies (both commercial and leisure), as well as a Hawaii wholesale tour company.

Her decades of success have garnered her numerous accolades over the years. Her accomplishments have been recognized by receipt of two Lifetime Achievement Awards from major trade groups, being named as one of the “100 Most Powerful Women in Travel” by Travel Agent magazine on several occasions, voted as “Travel Agent of the Year” by the readers of Travel Trade magazine, and has been recognized by many other industry organizations throughout her tenure in the industry. In 2008 Joanie Ogg was inducted into the CLIA Hall of Fame, an honor held by some of the most influential executives in the travel industry.

Joanie is a Master Cruise Counselor (MCC) and a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC). Joanie has co-authored two popular travel industry books for cruise specialists and home-based travel agents and has authored hundreds of travel trade articles. She has inspired tens of thousands of travel agents attending her presentations at trade events, cruise seminars, international trade gatherings and numerous local educational venues throughout the United States. With a time-honored background and forward-looking vision, she is often featured as a speaker at many of the travel industry’s major conferences and events. Joanie’s speaking talents are widely sought as a travel industry emcee by the most recognized travel organizations. She has emceed such events as Cruise-A-Thons, ASTA’s CruiseFest, The Trade Show, The Travel Institute Forum and all of NACTA’s National and International Conferences.


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