MainStreet wants you to find success in booking groups. Review this guide to help get started in the right direction.
Booking large groups is the way to get the highest profit for the least amount of work. Groups exist everywhere- family reunions, schools, businesses and corporations, religious communities, credit unions, affinity groups and cultural groups, social media groups…the limit really doesn’t exist. Anyone who likes to spend time together will want (or need!) to travel together.
Groups are also more work than individual bookings, but that doesn’t mean they have to scare you. You’ll want to follow these four basic steps:
- Find your group
- Figure out the general logistics of your group
- Request a group quote from your supplier’s groups department
- Manage your group’s needs, payments, and process
This lesson will give you resources and guides to help hold your hand in each of those four steps!
1. Find your Group
There are two major types of group bookings. A pre-arranged group that needs a travel agent, such as a wedding or family vacation, and a potential group that you can arrange, such as a hobby meet-up or a corporate retreat. Carnival has prepared a wonderful training that talks about a lot of the details of booking a group and focuses a lot on finding that group. The training is applicable for ALL travel agents, not just Carnival certified specialists. (There might be a few terms used in this video that you’re not familiar with. Check ALGV’s Group Glossary for the meaning of many of these common group terms!)
Please download and print out the following guide. The video will lead you through its completion- and take notes!!
While this video focuses on corporate and affinity groups, don’t forget about family and friend parties! MainStreet agents find a LOT of success with group bookings such as:
- Weddings
- Graduation Celebrations
- 40th, 50th, 75th, 80th… Birthday parties
- Family Reunions
- Retirement Parties
- Anniversaries
2. Figure out the general logistics of your group
Once a pied piper/group leader reaches out to you to help book their group, OR once you’ve decided you have a good audience to create a group, you’ll need to know some basics about the group.
Arrange a time to meet with the leader of your group. If possible, arrange this meeting to be in person. You’ll find so much more buy-in and dedication when making face-to-face contact. If that’s not possible, do a video chat or a phone call. Get to know one another, build a rapport, and then use MainStreet’s Group Guide to gather basic information:
Group Building Guide (Word Doc)
Keep in mind that groups allow for flexibility. Our suppliers ask for your best guess with all of these questions. Also remember that you should have this conversation with your client as early in the booking process as possible! Availability and prices only get worse the later you book things.
3. Request a group quote from your supplier’s groups department
Now, how do you actually book the large group? Go ahead and start with MainStreet’s guides to booking groups. You can find best laid out on MSTAgents.com on the supplier’s supplier page, under the “Groups” tab. Or, look at this infographic of our biggest suppliers’ group processes.
We might not have every single group guide ready-made, especially if your supplier of choice isn’t as popular with most MainStreet agents. However, EVERY supplier has a guide on how to book groups somewhere on their travel agent portal. Can’t find it? Call!! I promise, as scary as it is to book your first big group, the suppliers want those groups, so they want to help you.
Save this Group Glossary for terms the travel industry uses when discussing groups. Now that you’re making a quote request, you’ll need to know how to talk their language.
4. Manage your group’s needs, payments, and processes
Once your group accepts the quote, you’re going to actually take care of them. When discussing payment deadlines (or any kind of deadline), give yourself a week or more of breathing room. Is payment due on October 10th? Great, tell your clients payment is due October 3rd.
Many of our suppliers will help you with the management piece by creating a unique dashboard for you. Using this dashboard, you can typically complete all of the most basic management pieces for a group: payments, room requests, naming your clients, etc. Sometimes, the supplier will also give you a client-facing website! This is an easy way to have your clients learn important information about their group travel (such as dates, locations, due dates…) and book their own rooms
Kristen has given us a wonderful training on how to manage groups! Visit it here.
Be sure to review this helpful checklist for booking and managing your group. These resources are published by ALGV; note that just like the Carnival training, these resources will have a few small details specific to their supplier, but can be applied to any type of group. In fact, ALGV has built in an entire resource guide for groups, such as this guide to getting help with your group and this guide to the powerful ALGV dashboard specifically for group management.
Every group is unique, and your management of the group will be unique, too. You, your group lead client, and your supplier’s group liaison are going to become a dream team together! And if you’re still nervous, reach out to us. MainStreet is a part of this dream team, too.
Are you ready to start booking groups? Follow the guide above to get going! But if you’re still nervous, ambitious, or have a particularly gigantic undertaking ahead of you, email Kristen@Parksavers.com and she will connect you with the BDM for your supplier of choice. We LOVE groups, and we want to throw everything helpful at you. This can include help such as:
- Personal help making the group booking happen
- Look for the best way to capitalize your group and/or keep their prices lower
- Extra marketing help and possible marketing sponsorship
- Have your group and the BDM video chat to address questions and get them excited
Also, be sure to join the “Booking Big Groups” Travel Niche Group here on the MainStreet Network. Good luck!!