Discussing two key topics with PATH

This year’s meeting of the Professional Association of Travel Hosts (PATH) began by addressing two subjects of pressing concern to advisors: certification and fraud.

PATH’s annual meeting was held in Dallas early this month just after ASTA’s Travel Advisor Conference.

Before breaking agencies and suppliers into groups to identify and discuss problems to solve — a hallmark of the PATH meeting — attendees had the chance to hear two panels.

The importance of certification

The first focused on industry associations and the training they offer, featuring ASTA senior vice president of industry affairs and education Mark Meader, CLIA vice president of trade relations Charles Sylvia and Travel Institute director of sales Patty Noonan. 

Moderator Skip Fortier, Avoya Travel’s vice president of network expansion, said certifications are an important designator for advisors, especially today when more and more agents are entering the industry.

“It takes a village to raise a good agent, doesn’t it?” Noonan said.

The Travel Institute offers training in varied tiers, starting with its introductory course, TripKit. After agents have completed that course, they move on to Certified Travel Associate (CTA) training, Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) training and Certified Travel Industry Executive (CTIE) training.

Noonan said the CTA course focuses on both professional and practical skills. While suppliers tend to educate on product, she said, if an advisor doesn’t understand customer service and the sales process, “they’re not going to be successful. They’re going to fail.”

The CTC course focuses on management skills, and the CTIE course focuses on leadership skills.

CLIA offers varying levels of certification, Sylvia said, from Certified Cruise Counselor (CCC), to Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), to Master Cruise Counselor (MCC) and Elite Cruise Counselor (ECC). The organization also offers a Travel Agency Executive certification.

Travel advisors should use those credentials to educate clients on their expertise.

“They are there so that you can build them into your elevator pitch to demonstrate your unique value,” he said.

Meanwhile, ASTA’s Verified Travel Advisor (VTA) program is designed to identify advisors as trusted sources to consumers, Meader said.

The VTA program is the “most important” piece in ASTA’s educational pathway for travel advisors. It includes four core competencies, from ethics to legal, and now requires maintenance every two years to retain the title.

The panelists agreed that travel advisors should use any certifications they have to better educate the public about professional travel advisors. 

“It’s all about traveler trust,” Meader said.

Be on the lookout for fraud

The second panel focused on an area of perennial concern for businesses: fraud.

Moderator Robbi Hamida, senior vice president of Nexion Travel Group, asked the panel to address keeping client data safe.

Advisors should use a Customer Relationship Management system that encrypts customer data, said Karen Tyler, KHM’s travel compliance and resolution manager. They should also be cognizant of never sending clients information that includes private booking credentials. For advisors who still use paper files, Tyler encouraged keeping them in a locked file cabinet.

John Rose, Altour’s chief risk and security officer, seconded encryption as an important protective layer to client data. He also said to use multi-factor authentication whenever possible.

And, Rose said, staff training against fraudsters is key. Training should be offered early and often, he said.

An important note about that, though: Thomas Carpenter, an attorney and agency owner, said if an agency has independent contractors, training cannot be mandatory.

Chad Burt, the owner of OutsideAgents.com, called fraud “a fundamentally human problem.”

So much fraud today is socially engineered, he said. A fraudster will attempt to deceive and manipulate an agent, but the interaction will often feel slightly off. He encouraged advisors to listen to that gut feeling.