"...with two fully operational websites and thousands of user viewing sessions every month, Colleen has found value in Passport Online."

Case Study Overview

Primary product used

http://newpaltztravel.com

Colleen Gillette, OwnerNew Paltz Travel Center, Inc.

(845) 255-7706 or(845) 255-8015

info@newpaltztravel.comConsortia: TravelSavers

Sitting on the phone with Colleen Gillette, you can hear her clicking away all the time. She, like most of her colleagues in the travel professional world, is constantly on her computer. And she does something with those keys that has certainly helped her business, she plays.

Colleen is the first to admit, "I am not a web person. I just keep fumbling around to figure it out. I am by no means an expert. I have so much more to learn, but you never really know something until you learn it through trial and error."

Well her fumbling, together with the technology tools available and the tech support on the other end of the phone, have enabled her to create two separate identities for her agency, and attract thousands of user sessions every single month on her websites.

That's right, a small agency with two part time agents and a bookkeeper, with two fully operational websites and thousands of user viewing sessions every month, Colleen has found value in Passport Online.

With 28 years in the travel agency business, Colleen has seen the world change before her eyes. Today, she thinks about buying Google search words and doing radio broadcasts.

She participates in online chat forums. And yes, she sells travel to her customers every day. These are all things that she could not have dreamed to be a part of her daily business life just a few short years ago.

She has also kept the traditional parts of her business alive and well. She has a storefront in a busy New Paltz strip mall. She is the President of the Hudson Valley Chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents. She is active in her consortia, TravelSavers.

For Colleen, it is all about having all your tentacles out. That is the way to differentiate, to participate in the travel business at all levels, and to be where your current and future customers might be looking.

On a recent Saturday morning, Colleen was readying for a national radio broadcast interview. She was being interviewed about ecotourism. This has become a bit of a niche for her and her agency. She has created that niche, in large part, by using her Passport Online NexCite website program to create www.traveleco.com. This is a new identity for her. She knows she has some unique products available to her through a few of her favorite suppliers. She knows it is a high margin, strong price point, high satisfaction kind of travel product.

Travel Agency ConsumerGateway

to the

Travel Agency ConsumerGateway

to the

"Please don't think you are building a website to compete with Expedia and Travelocity. It is not through my website that I am competing with them. I will kill them on service. I will kill them on knowledge..."

9786 SW Nimbus AvenueBeaverton OR 97008

Passport Online Phone: 503-626-7766Fax: 503-626-8676Web: www.passportonlineinc.com

She created slide shows, streaming videos, and unique package offerings, all through the use of NexCite and VacationPort. Then, she started to learn about search engines and became a bit addicted to Google. Now, she's got something going and people are noticing.

"A lot of people are resistant, they don't feel they have the time. I make the time at home. Technology intimidates people. Google intimidated me. But I just dove in and said, 'What the heck' and now I get it." This year, for $135 Google investment, "What we have created with www.traveleco.com is a platform to talk to different customers about eco travel. We have built Focus Pages, a neat NexCite feature, and we submit to search engines," Gillette said.

Though TravelEco, her new web-based identity, has been a fun experience and will provide a nice niche for Colleen, she knows that her business is still largely coming from New Paltz Travel. And www.newpaltztravel.com is getting the majority of the initial user sessions.

Colleen cautions her fellow colleagues not to misunderstand the benefit of an agency website. "Please don't think you are building a website to compete with Expedia and Travelocity. PLEASE. It is not through my website that I am competing with them. I will kill

them on service. I will kill them on knowledge, but my website is for my current customers and maybe some of the new ones that find me along the way."

For Colleen, the help desk at Passport Online is like her best friend. They laugh together as they create a new offer or build a new package and she learns something new, pretty much every day.

She uses her offers from such suppliers as Dynamic Destinations, her HAL five-day flashes, her RCCL Sales Event to attract attention and to provide something unique for her customers.

She looks at the trip requests as potential conversions. That is a live customer that they will now work to close.

"It's all a work in progress, but I know how very important this is to the continued growth and success of my business and we, together with Passport Online, will do it and get better at it every day."

Celebrating her 28th year in the travel industry, she knows she still has a lot to learn. And she has fun doing it.

"...my websiteis for my

current customers and maybe some of the new ones

that find me along the way."