SBHA

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ON A SAD NOTE
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We wish to express our sympathy to Lenore and Joel Abels, who are the editors and publishers of Travel Trade Publications, their one and only child - Nanette Linda Lewis Abels - recently passed away.

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MORE SALES & MARKETING
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When was the last time you reviewed your proposal? You know -- the one that reads more like a legal thesis instead of a document that is meant to be legally binding between parties. Some of these pro- posals regarding co-branding, affiliate/affiliation "partnerships" being bandied about the Internet are so very one-sided it borders on laughable. "You give nnn company full 24/7 exposure on your web site with this banner ad and we'll gladly give you a 5% commission on any sales tracked back to you". Another word comes to mind when we see these type of agreements; farce. Many wonder why they never get a response -- it's easy to understand -- read the information you are putting out, but stand on the other side of the fence. You may just find out why no one cares to answer you. The Internet as a marketplace is no longer about "hits", we think it never was, it is however about impressions --- just as it is when something's in print.

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SPEAKING OF IN PRINT
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Recently received a copy of the "Official Vacation Guide" for the Alabama Bureau of Tourism & Travel   www.touralabama.org  and found it to be one of the better sent our way (we receive from 4-6/month). There is an even distribution of pertinent content and information along with excellent advertising copy (the advertisers seem well served by this publication). The 800# is pretty easy to remember: 800-ALABAMA.

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REMINDERS
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Time for everyone to check their contact information if you belong to a Chamber of Commerce,  CVB or some other Hospitality Industry association. We included this reminder about a year ago, the feed- back was extremely positive to the organizations. The industry is the most mobile by its very nature and contact information becomes outdated very quickly. PlanSoft/MPoint maintains an industry data- base that you may or may not be aware of - serving segments of the meeting industry and hotel-motel RFP process. Make yourself known, but known correctly with any organization. PlanSoft/MPoint website is  www.mpoint.com  if you wish to have a look (many like to know what the competition is doing too)...

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MISCELLANEOUS
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Our subscribed readership runs a gamut of occupations. Some of the occupations aren't covered as well or equally, but we think you'll be able to find a little something for everyone if you take a few minutes and visit the resources that have been collected by those at Ford Management Services
www.fordmgtsvc.com  with a word of warning concerning an annoying "pop-up" window (which serves up a survey) that is displayed all too often. Once you find your way around the web site and away from the home page things settle down to some very good information.

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LASTLY
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Make the most of your e-mail salutations and inquiries. Many still have not gotten the knack of typing full URL's within the confines of their e-mail "signature" information. The addition of "https://" before any "www.nnnnnnnn.nnn", will insure that the majority read- ing your e-mail will be able to link directly to the web site from your information. It doesn't cost you a dime. Netscape and Outlook Express are not one and the same. E-Mail to Netscape users require the use of "https://" and the only sure way to activate your URL is to include the entire address. Also -- be sure that you have typed the URL correctly -- we see far too many misspellings, and sending the wrong URL address is as good as lost business. If mailing to a user with an AOL e-mail address the point is moot. AOL users must resort to Copy + Paste. Even with the millions of AOL members more than 85% combined use Netscape or Outlook e-mail programs that are "doing business" on the web.

Building "The Bridge of Hospitality" sm,
Lou Taverna - Editor
Hospitality 1ST = "Where Hospitality Is Always First" sm
Web Site =  www.hospitality-1st.com
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Web Site Stats:
2,800+ Page Views/day = 85,210+/month
11,250+ Hits/day = 342,000+/month
Newsletter Impressions = 24,500+/month
Newsletter Subscribers =  5,675/09-12-00
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Employment Available Online
www.hospitality-1st.com/Employers/EmpIndexDateT.html
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Small Business Hospitality Association (SBHA)
www.hospitality-1st.com/SBHAssoc.html
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Press/News Releases Online
www.hospitality-1st.com/PressNews/PressIndexDate.html
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Car Rental Discount Programs by  Alamo,  AVIS, National & Thrifty
www.hospitality-1st.com
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Copyrighted 1999, 2000
Phone:   (941) 541-2459 FL  or  (336) 760-3143 NC
Fax:     ||||(815) 327-0918 ||||||Dedicated Travel Line
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