Courier August/September Courier | Page 18

NTA WORKING FOR YOU The owner became a true believer NTA member proves value, ROI in attending Travel Exchange My name is Nita Neasbitt, director of sales for Cliff Castle Casino’s new luxury hotel in Camp Verde, Arizona. I’ve been asked to share my experience as an NTA member, and it’s my pleasure to let everyone know what NTA can do for you. I worked at another hotel before coming to Cliff Castle, and the property was valued at $3 million when I took it over. The previous manager had no idea about attending the NTA show to increase sales, nor did the owner. I had to do some really tall convincing in order to even attend the convention. But because of NTA, our annual occupancy went from 50 to 98 percent, and the net operating income was outstanding, all due to the many bus tours we signed from attending NTA every year. In six years of going to Travel Exchange, we went from zero bus companies coming to our property to 41! The owner became a true believer of what NTA can do for a busi- ness, and the property sold for $8.5 million. In your first year of attending convention, if you walk away with two good accounts, it pays for your trip and is the start of new business. When you get new clients, take good care of them! If you make the guests happy—and the tour director’s job easier—they will share that with other tour operators. Moral to my story: It’s a win-win for everyone when you attend Travel Exchange. I was a newbie when I joined and had no idea what an impact NTA was going to play in my success story, but it was amazing indeed. Todd’s trifecta NTA convention guru gives 3 tips for better appointments Todd Probus, NTA’s member solutions manager, is the author- ity on appointment scheduling and making the most of your business meetings at Travel Exchange ’17. With appointment scheduling set to open Wednesday, Oct. 11, Todd provides three things you should do to maximize your time in San Antonio this December. 1. Register early The earlier you sign up, the better-matched your appointments will be. You can still get a quality schedule later—and pick up more appointments on-site with our open floor—but the date you register determines when your schedule is created. Being at the front of the line positions you better to get the appointments you want. Appointment scheduling for Travel Exchange ’17 in San Antonio opens Oct. 11. 2. Update your profile Your NTA Online profile is what potential appointment partners see when they’re determining who to add to their request list. So be sure that your profile is as accu- rate and informative as possible. Remember that you can add social media links, photos and a logo to your profile—each can help members determine who they want to meet with in San Antonio. 3. More is better The more appointment requests you make, the higher the number of prescheduled appointments you’re likely to get. So try and make the maximum number of pos- sible requests. For tour operators, the max is 40 DMOs and 80 suppliers, while DMOs and suppliers should request the 60 tour operator maximum. 16 August/September 2017 TREX Checks What: Travel Exchange ’17 Where: San Antonio, Texas When: Dec. 14–18 Register: NTAonline.com/convention