As administrators of Disney Cruise Groups, many of us have had a variety of experiences with travel agents who join our groups. They can be knowledgeable and helpful, or they can be incredibly brash in their attempts to gain new clients among group members.
Group Rules
You should have a list of group rules posted. There are good examples of group rules on this site. A common rule for many of us it that there is to be no sales or soliciting within the group.
If you are clear with all members of your groups that sales are a no no you should only rarely have to remove a post for violation of this rule. Travel Agents in your groups need to know that out of fairness to all the agents in the group, they should not openly solicit in posts to the full group.
On the other hand, travel agents can be a source of much useful information. When they are willing to stick with the rules they can contribute accurate information and helpful traveling hints to the group.
In an attempt to strike the right kind of balance with the travel agents in my groups I have started posting the file below in my groups. I believe it sends a good signal that we like having travel agents as group members and appreciate them, but to be fair to all we want to keep any attempts at attracting new clients out of the main news feed of the group.
I create the following as a group file and allow all group members to edit:
List of Travel Agents Cruising With Us
We love the travel agents who are members of our group for their expertise and for the answers to travel questions they can provide. We’re happy to have them participating in the group and for their contributions.
We have asked that our travel agents not use the Facebook group to actively solicit new customers, just as we have asked all group members to refrain from soliciting sales or other business from group members. You all are very good at following rules and we haven’t had any problems to date.
In recognition of the expertise and knowledge that they can provide, this document will provide a place where our travel agent friends can share their names and contact information. We’ll continue to keep our group posts free of sales pitches, but this document will serve as a resource to group members should they want to connect with a fellow cruiser who is a travel agent. If you have a question for one of these travel agents, or want to talk about a potential future travel booking, please contact her/him directly and have that conversation via email, private message, or phone call.
Travel agents: Feel free to add your name (tag yourself please), contact information, and a brief, one sentence description of the services/ special expertise you can provide.
If you are curious, here's a sample of the type of response I get:
XXXXXX - xxxxx@xxxxtravel.com. I’m an avid Disney fan and have been a travel agent for 5 years, specializing in WDW, DL, and DCL. I’ve also been writing a blog for 6 years all about Disney, where you can hopefully see my expertise, passion, and knowledge!
XXXXXXXX - xxxx@xxxxxvacations.com Often referred to as “the Disney lady” by friends, this is my 17th year with xxxxxxxx booking all Disney destinations (and Universal) and this is my 15th Disney Cruise. It never gets old because there’s always something new to learn!
XXXXXXXXX - xxxxxx@xxxxxxx.com or contact me here on FB: xxxxxxx. I’ve been selling Disney travel for 7 1/2 years (in fact, it will be 8 years right around the time of this cruise) and while I do sometimes sell Universal Studios and Sea World packages, my passion and specialty is definitely Disney destinations!
Many of these travel agents have reached out to me personally to thank me for allowing them to post this information in a group file.
Larry Shepherd