101 Series: Certified Sandals Specialist: What To Know

It’s been awhile since I’ve last written about being a Certified Sandals Specialist. My last blog post on this topic was from 2016 and think I used my camera phone photos to upload. So now 2 years later, let me do a deeper dive into what it means to be a Certified Sandals Specialist. There are many advantages to being a CSS agent. If you are an IATA-accredited travel agent, you should be renewing your training every year to keep your status.

Please note there are 3 certifications you can earn with Sandals:

• Certified Sandals Specialist
• Chairman’s Royal Club
• Wedding Moons Specialist

The Certified Sandals Specialist (CSS) is the most basic level of certification you can obtain. Chairman’s Royal Club consists of an elite group of travel agents that have proven themselves as the best of the best. To make it into this club, you have to sell more than 100 rooms or 700 room nights per calendar year. The Sandals Wedding Moons Specialist (SWS) 2.0 program refers to the most profitable agent-supplier partnership in the industry with commission tiers based on production, ongoing product education, sales and marketing support. To be eligible, you must be an active CSS agent, attend a WeddingMoons Training FAM Trip, and secure a minimum of 3 traveled WeddingMoons and/or ReTie the Knot bookings per calendar year or a minimum of $9,000 in WeddingMoons and/or ReTie the Knot option revenue.

For the sake of this blog post, we are just going to focus on obtaining the basic (CSS) status as a travel agent.

CSS Workshop

The first step to becoming a Certified Sandals Specialist is to complete and submit the Enrollment Form. Then attend a fun and informative CSS workshop. There’s 1 workshop per year in an area near you, typically in the spring time. It lasts for 4 hours and breakfast is typically provided. You get to mingle with other agents in your area, and learn about the brand. You’ll also be given marketing strategies and learn of new developments.

There’s never a need for you to bring anything with you like scratch paper and pens. They will supply all writing materials for you and a big workbook for you to take notes on. Although 4 hours seems like a lot to cover 2 brands (Sandals and Beaches) keep in mind there are 16 Sandals Resorts and 3 Beaches Resorts. So it will take some time to get through it all. It’s important to understand the key differences between the properties because each property is unique and ideal for a particular client. Not all properties are meant for all clients.

Pro trip: If you are unsure of when your next CSS workshop will be, you should reach out to your Business Development Manager (BDM) and they can point you in the right direction. If you do not know who your BDM is, HERE is a list of all USA and Canada BDMs by territory. simply select your state.

Bookings

The next step to becoming a Certified Sandals Specialist (CSS) travel agent is by registering at least 1 booking on the Travel Agent Portal. Essentially, there are many suppliers you can book a Sandals Resort with like Delta Vacations; However, the booking will only “count” in the eyes of Sandals if it’s registered on the portal. Ideally, you will just book direct on the portal because you’re given an additional 2% (a total of 17% commission!). Sandals is definitely one of the leaders in the industry for commission. They’re very generous. So if you make a $4,000 booking with Sandals (for the land because air is not commissionable), you’re looking at a paycheck of $680.00.

So considering you only have to maintain at least 1 booking per year to keep your active status, it really isn’t that hard to obtain. Sandals is a well-known brand that sells itself. It is an adults only, couples only, all inclusive resort spread out throughout the Caribbean. They offer delectable a a la carte cuisine (not all buffets!) and tons of water sports. They focus on entertainment but with a relaxing and romantic ambiance. I’m always confident selling a Sandals Resort to a couple because I know they are going to be wowed. The service and hospitality is like none other. For those discerning clients, they can even have their very own butler to cater to their every whim around the clock.

So just make sure you have at least 1 active booking per year to maintain your status.

Marketing

As I mentioned earlier, Sandals’ brand sells the product. Many people are familiar with the ads. Sandals spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on ad spend per through traditional advertising such as t.v. and radio as well as online advertising such as banner ads. Keep in mind, however, that advertising is simply for the resorts and not for YOU as a travel agent.

So there’s a bit of legwork needed in terms of marketing for yourself and most of the marketing help can be found right on the portal. You’ll find the following marketing items to help you sell to prospective clients:

• Brochures
• Displays
• Postcards
• Advertising Slicks
• Web Banners
• Bridal Ads
• Promotional Ads
• Car wrap (shown below)

There’s also a photo and video library for the brand as well as individual resorts. I’ve put a few videos on my Facebook business page as a gentle reminder that I do in fact sell Sandals and Beaches!

You can leverage your existing internet presence with the Sandals brand to generate extra income for you and your agency. Sandals will do all of the work of maintaining the accuracy of your site with all up-to-date promotions and rates. All you have to do is place a referral link to their site and they’ll track that client’s visit. If they make a booking, you’ll get the full commission. Because I sell more than just Sandals I have not taken advantage of this co-branding site. But there are many agents who solely focus on Sandals so this would make sense for them.

The car wrap program is another opportunity to remind people that you sell Sandals and Beaches Resorts. You simply pick the car you wish to wrap and contact your local Business Development Manager to submit a request. Then select an image from their photo library and a professional, certified installer will wrap your car for free. While this program isn’t the best fit for me, agents who have it say they make bookings from this. So may be worth checking out.

Familiarization (FAM) Trips

So the two minimum requirements for being a Certified Sandals Specialist is to attend your annual in-person CSS Workshop and maintain at least 1 Sandals or Beaches booking per year. After you have the two minimum requirements satisfied and you’ve been pushing marketing, the next hurdle is a fun one. Attend a familiarization (FAM) trip. The point of a FAM trip is for you, the travel agent, to become familiar with a resort and/or destination. Clients will ask you, “Have you been there?” And you want to be able to say that you’ve at least been to a property, even if it’s not the one they were interested in.

Within my to two years as a travel agent, I’ve had the exciting opportunity to hop on FOUR different Sandals FAM trips:

• June 2017 – Visited Bahamas – Toured Sandals Royal Bahamian and Sandals Emerald Bay
• December 2017 – Visited Jamaica – Toured All 7 Sandals Resorts, 2 Beaches Resorts, and Grand Pineapple Beach (which is owned by Sandals)
• August 2018 – Visited Saint Lucia – Toured Sandals Grande St. Lucian, Sandals Regency La Toc, and Sandals Halcyon Beach
• September 2018 – Visited Turks  & Caicos – Toured Beaches Turks and Caicos Villages Resort & Spa

These trips are a great way for you to see the property from a consumers’ eyes. It’s also a great place to network and meet new friends, people more seasoned in the industry. I love hearing about what works for them and what doesn’t. There’s always something to be learned in this industry. It’s always changing. Some FAM trips have built in days at leisure while other trips are a bit busier. The Jamaica FAM trip was a busy one. We have 10 properties to view in 4 nights! So there wasn’t much downtime. I always recommend booking a few nights pre or post FAM trip so you can relax before/after the madness.

Pro tip: Don’t forget to bring your business cards and take the cards of others so you can keep in touch. Or what I’ll do is add people on Facebook right then and there so we can connect on the spot. My news feed is now flooded with beautiful resort pictures from other agents I’ve met along the way!

Full disclosure: Flights are not paid for. The resort, tour guide, etc. are all free though. My contract with my company says I am entitled to 1 free FAM trip per year (meaning boss lady pays for my flights). The meals and entertainment are always extraordinary and the staff go out of their way to make sure you as an agent have the BEST time.

You should check with your BDM for the FAM schedule so you can plan accordingly. Typically, the Sandals and Beaches FAM trips are from July – October because it’s hurricane season and less crowded/popular.

Certified Sandals Specialist (CSS) Events

After you’ve had an experience to see the resort/destination for yourself on a FAM trip, you’re ready to attend local events. These events are a great way to share your knowledge and love for the brand. My agency only attends one event per year as a Sandals booth: The Richmond Wedding Expo. The two local wedding expos near me have an event in January and another event in July. We only book a booth for the January show because it’s the busiest. Most people get engaged around the fall holidays so January is BOOMING as people prep for their upcoming summer and fall weddings. At our Sandals booth, our BDM accompanies us and is there as our partner. He’s there to answer any questions that we may not be able to. So fear not.

I definitely recommend attending the wedding expos since Sandals is a couples only resort. The target market is appropriate. Many brides wish to be pampered and relax after all of the wedding craziness and being cooped up with family so Sandals is a perfect escape. I also recommend looking into other nearby events where you will find couples in love. Perhaps a wine and food festival? Don’t forget about the family-friendly resort Beaches as well! Perfect for multi-generational families.

Pro tip: Check with your BDM to see which upcoming events they recommend you go to. Also see when their calendar is freed up so they can attend it with you. Keep in mind some BDMs have a huge territory so their calendars fill up quick!

Pro-tip: All agents can earn a marketing budget that will help you pay for your events such as the vendor booth registration and/or catered food for an event. Check with your BDM regarding your marketing budget.

Points to Paradise – Personal Travel

So now you’re a Sandals and Beaches pro. You’ve been there, done that. You’re keeping the bookings coming and keeping your BDM happy. What’s in it for you? I mean.. besides the commission checks…

Every single booking (3+ nights) that you make that comes to fruition will be counted into a points system that will earn you free room nights for personal use. It’s called “Points to Paradise“. Sandals’ philosophy is “the more you book, the more you go… the more you go the more you know.” So they encourage you to travel to a Sandals property even if it’s on your own time and not during a FAM trip. Your clients who have traveled in 2018 will earn you redeemable nights in 2019. The points are earned when your clients have actually stayed there (points are not pre-paid).

Here’s how you can redeem your points. As you can see not all Sandals Resorts are created equally. The more luxurious resorts will cost you more points per night.

Pro tip: Keep in mind that many resorts have an option for you to stay at 1 and play at others. So even if you can only redeem points at Sandals Inn, you’ll have full access to visit Sandals Royal Caribbean and Sandals Montego Bay.

If you don’t have enough points to book what you’d like to, keep in mind the travel agent reduced rate is $250 per couple per night. So you can always just pay the discounted rate and enjoy the full luxury.

Get Social

The year is 2018 and you most definitely should be on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Instagram is a wonderful platform since it’s all about imagery. What better way to promote a resort. Make sure you’re following Sandals and Beaches on all platforms and be sure to tagged them in relevant posts. Shoot, even tag Adam Stewart (CEO of Sandals Resorts International) in relevant posts.

It’s important to get your name out there and mingling with all the folks over at the resort. You never know when you might need a favor from one of them one day for a honeymoon couple, or a couple celebrating their 30th birthday. So stay in touch with the people you meet on your FAM and personal trips. Stay in touch with the other agents, the BDMs, and the staff members at the property.

SELL, SELL, SELL!

So in conclusion, there are many ways to be successful when booking Sandals and Beaches:

• Attend your annual CSS in-person workshop nearest you
• Stay in touch with your Business Development Manager on upcoming events like bridal shows, FAM trips, and news
  • Make sure you’re subscribed to their newsletters and e-blasts
• Use the marketing tools available to you on the portal
• Attend at least 1 FAM trip to experience the brand and destination
• Try different marketing strategies to see what works and what doesn’t
• Network with other agents to see what’s working for them and what’s not
• Follow the brand on all of your social channels to keep up with what’s new

There is a lot of marketing dollars spent by Sandals so take advantage of their reputation. Always book with confidence knowing that your client will be taken care of the moment they land until the time they board the plane again.

Have any questions about getting started as a travel agent? Feel free me to email me: cassandra@accent-on-travel.net. Are you a travel agent who has additional great tips to add? Please feel free to leave a comment and help others.

Thanks!

Stay tuned for an upcoming post I plan to write on different rewards programs!