Agencies Surf for Clients On-Line

When Rosenbluth Vacations started pitching tours and cruises on-line a decade ago, “everybody laughed at us,” executive vice president Lee Rosenbluth recalls. “They said no one would buy travel through a computer.”

Now Rosenbluth is doing the chuckling . . . to the tune of about $2 million in sales through Prodigy and CompuServe last year. Last month, the Philadelphia-based chain launched its own “home page” (location) on the Internet’s World Wide Web. Shoppers can browse listings of last-minute cruise specials, view a color photo of a ship they’re interested in or take advantage of a $450 “Internet only” discount at a Jamaican resort.

“There are still a lot more ‘lookers’ out there than ‘bookers’ ” says Rosenbluth, who estimates that on-line sales represent less than 3% of the company’s annual revenues. But, he adds, “ (on-line travel) is the fastest-growing segment of the marketplace.”

Once dependent on airline tickets for the bulk of their income, travel agents are scrambling to reinvent themselves. And for a small but growing number, those efforts to move from order takers to information providers include hawking their wares in cyberspace.

An estimated 100 travel agencies maintain a commercial on-line presence, either through sites on the World Wide Web or advertisements on services such as America Online, CompuServe and Prodigy. But many more are regular participants in travel-related, on-line discussion groups. They offer free advice about everything from the best dive sites on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef to whether a honeymooning couple should pop for a suite on their cruise liner--and hope, in the process, to nab a few new clients.

“Advertising in the traditional sense doesn’t work very well on-line,” says Kathleen Tucker of America Online’s Travel Forum.

“We’ve never had a big focus on tour packages, and as such we attract an audience that prefers to do it on their own,” she adds. “Providing useful information and answering members’ questions works. (Posting) ‘I sell this, call me’ messages doesn’t.”

Indeed, agents who provide skimpy or misleading information, or who adopt a blatant approach, are often “flamed”--criticized--by angry computer users who view cyberspace as a collegial forum for exchanging tips and discoveries.

“I don’t want to hear about your beach rentals, condos, schemes to create pseudo-travel agents, nor your newly created (Web) page that serves only as a hook into your business,” wrote James Schaefer, a Providence, R.I., professor who moderates a travel-related mailing list on the Internet.

Like so much other information on the widely hyped World Wide Web, travel agency pitches vary from intriguing to deceptive.

At some Web sites, cybertravelers are presented with a dazzling menu of destination choices--only to be greeted with repeated “under construction” notices when they try to access the information. At others, material is available, but maddeningly shallow: “Be sure to bring any medications, sun block, a camera, comfortable shoes, an (sic) bathing suit,” reads the packing advice from one cruise-only travel agency.

Some industry observers worry that cyberspace is ripe for travel scams.With Web sites available for as little as $25 per month, establishing an on-line presence is becoming easier--and there’s no one to check whether the travel agency is a bona fide business or a quick-buck artist working from a spare bedroom.

“Cyberspace is no guarantee of legitimacy. If all you’re going on is an electronic image, it becomes even more important to examine the components of what you’re getting,” says Ray Greenly of the American Society of Travel Agents (which plans to establish its own Web site). Or, in the words of one Net veteran, “computador emptor”--let the user beware.

Here’s a sampling of places to find travel agents on-line:

America Online: AOL, like other commercial services, bans solicitations in discussion groups. But the Travel Forum (keyword TRAVEL) sponsors an “Ask a Travel Agent Night” every Wednesday. Other resources include ExpressNet (keyword EXPRESSNET), a forum that includes a listing of American Express travel offices, and a “Special Interest Travel” area on the Travel Forum’s Travel Professionals board.

CompuServe: Rosenbluth and Travelers Advantage advertise in the Electronic Mall. About 1,000 agents participate in the Travel Forum (GO TRAVSIG).

Prodigy: Agents place ads in the classified area (jump CLASSIFIEDS), and Rosenbluth maintains its own cruise area (jump CRUISESCAN). Agents also participate on the Travel Bulletin Board (jump TRAVELBB). Automobile Club of Southern California members can “visit” AAA agencies (jump AAA).

World Wide Web: Try NETravel’s Going Places: https://travel.gpnet.com, Rec.Travel Library: https://www.solutions.net/rec-travel, or Travel and Entertainment Network (TEN-IO): https://www.ten-io.com.

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Electronic Explorer welcomes feedback; Bly’s e-mail adddress is laura.bly@news.latimes.com.