There are many new resorts in the Caribbean to offer to clients. If clients like the feel of a new resort, then there are plenty to talk about.

There are new romantic resorts for couples, like Secrets St. James Montego Bay, for adults only, or another Secrets property, Caribbean Secrets Wild Orchid Montego Bay. There's even one named for the 007 movie, Golden Eye Hotel & Resort in Jamaica.

The Bahama Islands have a few new resorts to dazzle clients, including the new Sandals Emerald Bay.

Many clients like to try out new destinations, plus brand new fresh and clean resorts. If this sounds like your clients, then there are a lot of choices now and coming soon. Sometimes hotels and the staff are working out kinks in the system during new openings, and customers may just have to expect that, though those kinks should be worked out well in advance.

Have your clients stayed at any of the new resorts of the Caribbean? What kind of feedback did they give?

Third party commissions are essential for travel agencies to plan for. The additional commissions can really add up.

For example, an agent use to make quite a bit more for a cruise than they do now. With all the taxes and fees that are part of the price, and is not including in the commission percentage, plus the airfare that use to be part of the cruise package with commissions, it just does not pay like it use to.

What do you do? Sell optional tours from a third party company, like Shoretrips and Port Promotions. They pay commissions that you would not get with a cruise line. If customers are sure they want a particular shore excursion, take the time and book it for them and make extra money. Or book them a hotel before or after the cruise.

This also applies for extra side trips when a client is taking a tour. There are many additions travel agents can add on. Maybe even airport transfers or a limousine can be added for more commission.

This not only helps the travel agent's bottom line, but is also beneficial to the customer. It saves them the time to book it on their own, and can often save them money, which both brings return business.

If a travel agent is organized with phone numbers and website information is handy, then it should not take much time to add these beneficial extras for the customer and the agent.

What extras, as travel agents do you book for customers? Do the extra commissions add up?

Travel agents, do you think your customers feel safe if they were to take a cruise these days? Are your bookings for cruises down since the Costa Concordia disaster, and other cruise line mishaps? It is probably a little early to tell since the Concordia going aground.

The Costa Concordia tragedy appears to be human error, which of course we do not want someone with poor judgment guiding our ship, but human error will always happen, no matter what the form of transportation.

I wonder if it will affect bookings much at all. Overall cruising seems a pretty safe way to travel, when compared to flying or driving. According to the president of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), cruising is overall very safe and accidents are very rare.

There are many agencies that oversee cruise line safety including The U.S. Coast Guard, the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA), and International Maritime Organization (IMO).

There are rigorous testing and training that cruise lines and their staff must go through before passengers can board the ship. The U.S. Coast Guard does safety inspections as well before new cruise ships can leave a port.

I wonder if the economy will have more to do with less cruise line passengers? The economy in Europe, the USA, and many locations around the world are in some trouble, to say the least. This could have more of an effect than passengers worried about the safety.

What are your thoughts?

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has implemented new and upgraded rules to help consumers with airline issues. These include rules for protecting airfares for consumers, rules for delayed flight at the gate and on the tarmac, and lost and misplaced luggage rules.

These have been necessary changes waiting to be made. They went into effect on or before January 26, 2012. For travel agents, this means that airfares quoted must include all taxes and fees, including one way airfares. Links to the airline information must be provided for clients on the e-ticket confirmation to access free and paid baggage information, and plenty more.

When advertising airfares, travel agents must post from what city the airfare is from, plus a segment stating that flights from other cities may be higher.

These changes and others may have to be noted on ticket confirmations, and may include adjustments to agent training, including what they need to quote to the customer, and what needs to be put in writing. Some changes may need to be added to computer programming so the proper information is shown in the computer programs for the customer.

Once again, travel agents are called on to help the consumer understand new laws, and pass on significant information. This time, travel agents can be held responsible if they do not update and inform clients correctly.

Agents, what do you think about the new rules, and what changes will you need to make in the office to handle these?