1. Hello and Welcome to Destination Geography West

2. For course-related problems or concerns, you may always email me through Kaplan mail at: rhowell@kaplan.edu or contact me during office hours on AIM. My AIM ID is robsbusiness

3. The SYLLABUS The syllabus covers Kaplan’s and my course policies and expectations. Be sure to read it thoroughly.

4. Some of the info I want you to particularly remember is: My OFFICE HOURS: Located in the syllabus. However, if you see me online anytime feel free to instant message me.

5. Course Textbook ebook Title: Selling Destinations, Geography for the Travel Professional Author: Marc Mancini Publisher: Thomson, Delmar Learning ISBN: 1-4018-1982-6 This is an E-Text and is located in the DocShare area.

6. Assignment Submissions: Be careful of assignment submission dates. Homework is expected to be submitted on or before the due date.

7. Plagiarism Assignments 7 and 9 will be submitted to a plagiarism checker to determining that the student is submitting his/her original work. These 2 assignments do not ask for lengthy descriptions, so use your own words and do not copy from a website. DO NOT cut and paste in any assignment. Use your own words in the itineraries and other work.

8. Discussion Board (DB) The Discussion Board Requirement Students are to post a minimum of three posts per discussion question. One initial response and two replies to their classmates. Posting on a minimum of three different days, for example: Wednesday, Friday and Monday. The first post for all discussion questions must be made by Saturday for full credit.

9. SEMINAR Seminar Etiquette Optional. Try to enter seminars on time and to attend for the full hour. Please make sure to come prepared each week. Pre-read the unit material. We may discuss paper success tips.

10. Destination Geography West This course is going to discuss the importance of knowing the geography of popular travel destinations in the Western Hemisphere.

11. No matter what area of the hospitality industry you intend to focus on you will find that guests of hotels or restaurants and clients of the travel agents and attractions/amusements may ask you questions of other destinations. This could be the physical geography, climate or cultural geography of an area.

12. How familiar or comfortable are each of you with knowing the basic geography of our country and North America?

13. It has been determined that many people do not know the basic geography of the 50 states. And to find the countries on a map of Europe is even more challenging. Travel professionals must know basic geography in order to understand the location of travel destinations. You can’t help a client if you do not know where send them!

14. Let’s talk about why people go on a trip. What would you recommend to a family who wants to go on vacation for a week to ski, swim and build sand castles? Where would you recommend that they go and why? Unit 1

15. How do the five selling strategies listed in the textbook apply to the situation above? 1. Why would you need to know all the relevant facts about a destination?

16. 2. Why must you know what kind of traveler favors a destination?

17. 3. Why must you know the individual client you are serving?

18. Some of the questions you might ask the client to know their needs are: Budget Destination Reason for traveling Climate they are looking for Likes and dislikes

19. 4. Why must we be ready to answer a person’s misgivings? Be sure to counter the client’s objections or misgivings, but be honest about the situation they will face.

20. 5. Why must you search for enhancement opportunities? What does this mean?

21. Up-selling is encouraging the client to upgrade to a higher level such as first class seats, a high end hotel, a full size car rather than a compact. This adds more profit for the company too. Cross-selling is offering other travel products to the customer such as renting a car, planning excursions, including meals, travel insurance for some examples. Follow-up with customer will help to find out the outcome of a trip and can also provide additional information that may assist others in future trips.

22. Thanks for Attending! Questions? After the seminar: rhowell@kaplan.edu See you in Unit 5!