You’ll go to module 1 of the Fit Pro Community tutorial.  It’s all about finding things including finding and booking the Fit Bodies Teaching Vacation Opportunities… If you want to sign in for the full tutorial, login to your Fit Pro account and look to the lower end of the right border to sign yourself in.

Image by sun dazed via Flickr

Denise put together a blog post within Fitness Pro Travel laying out the simplest of ways to find and book a teaching vacation that will say you thousands of dollars on a Caribbean resort stay.  The info is valuable enough that I’m re-posting here.
(to view Denise’s post at FPT – Add her as a “friend” and then check her blog)

~~

This site becomes very easy to maneuver once you realize the top left side of the page is your search engine.  Below please find your basic steps to book your trip to paradise.

Step 1 – sign into your Fitnessprotravel.com account

Step 2 – Top left corner – under search – you may either use the drop down menu for a particular resort or first choose a country to travel to or a date, click the orange find button.

Step 3 – What will appear is a list of resort that meets your criteria.  On the first page you will see a brief description of the resort along with the administration fee.  If you click on the name of the resort – for example Secrets Montego Bay – your specialty for example yoga (it turns yellow when you run your cursor over it) you will see a more complete description of the resort.

The teaching schedule for each resort may be found under the “Travel Spots” tab.  Resorts are listed alphabetically.

Step 4 – Once you choose a resort on the bottom right side of the page you will see “select the date you would like to visit”.  Please confirm this is the date you are wishing to travel.  Then you add the week to your shopping cart.

Step 5 – Follow the directions to check out. (book your dates)

Very important – do not purchase airline tickets until you receive a confirmation letter from Fit Bodies, Inc. staff via info@fitnessprotravel.com.  This normally arrives 12-18 hours after you order has been processed.

All of our travel is Sunday to Sunday.  You are responsible for your air fare to your destination.  Once you arrive at your destination some resorts include transfers some do not (this information is included in the property description) if not you would be responsible for your transfer.  Your vacation includes 7 night’s accommodations, all food, drinks, alcohol, taxes and tips for 2 adults and 2 adults plus 2 children 12 and under at the family resorts.

Question?  Email me denise@fitbodiesinc.com

~~

or feel free to ask those questions here and I’ll provide answers for all view.

Image via Wikipedia

So far it’s a pretty good start.  I think most, once they see the added value beyond just supporting a cool and valuable fitness industry program, have a pretty easy time with that decision.

The process of seeking those renewals is always a work in progress.  Tweaking wording and adjusting the “renewal special offer” to receive the most positive response.  Consistency in any continuity program is essential and allows for a compounding interest effect as a certain percentage of new accounts continually join the premium accounts ranks each month as well.

So, through all this thought that goes into each step of the renewal process.  The tweaking of messages to best highlight the many benefits that…  come to the fitness professionals tropical resort teaching vacation opportunities. And, the highlight and explanation as well for premium community membership bonuses, commissions, and savings.  I realize elements of this process that should have been implemented previously are still standing in the wings waiting for my kick start of implementation.

Missing is the simple Swag that is fun, useful, appreciated, and benefits from branding.

Chris Knight of Ezine Articles sent me a nice package a couple years back and it had me motivated to not only use his service, but also to share the information with others.

That’s exactly what I want (like any business owner)…

So again, it’s time to revisit the old notes and put together a package to provide a useful “thank you” for the members who financially commit themselves through fitness professional premium membership.

Thinking along the lines of luggage tags, travel mugs, beach blankets, carry bags… You get the idea, items that might roll nicely with travel and or resort vacations?

Two questions on this for the reader:

1. Have thoughts or further ideas on Swag item options?
2. Do you have a favorite supplier you utilize for branding items with your business info?

I’ll provide some feed back on suppliers in a couple months time.  I should have talked to a few and gone through some samples and will have some useful info to share for your ‘swag’ needs.

I recently contacted all of the fitness professionals who have upgraded their accounts at Fitness Pro Travel to a premium type.  I did this just to remind them of the many benefits that come with the upgraded Fit Pro accounts.

They are essentially VIP’s of the community and get a bit of hand holding and personal support in addition to the benefits that naturally come with the premium account types.

I posted the bulk of the contact message I sent below…  (not mentioned, but noticed each year by the premium account holders… renewal always includes discount opportunities for the next years membership as well as discount opportunity for travel on ANY available dates.)

Fitness Pro Travel: Home of the Fit Bodies, Inc. Teaching Vacation Congratulations on your upgrade to a Premium Fit Pro Account.  We all appreciate your commitment to the community and to the travel program and hope to assist you in taking full advantage of your new account options. ... Haven’t Upgraded Yet?  Get at it HERE (log in first) Contact Us – Fit Bodies staff for all questions on travel and FIT Launch staff for all questions on your account functions. A few areas to highlight to ensure you gain maximum benefit: Groups – Qualify for discounts available only to group members, get “insider” information and tips, or network with fitness pros having similar interests. (Premium accounts may join multiple groups) Start with the one specific to your account type – Travel Accounts – Medallion Accounts - Enterprise Accounts Join other Groups as discounts and insider info may be found. Affiliate Referrals – (commissions for your referrals) Login and hover your cursor over “Affiliate”.  The drop down menu that appears provides links to your summary and “Tell-A-Friend” tool.  Be sure to fill in the “Pay Out Info” page so your referrals can be tracked. Basic Account -”Thank You” Travel Accounts - 8% commission on referrals that purchase premium accounts. Medallion Accounts - 15% commission on premium accounts AND 1% commission on future referral travel purchases. Enterprise Accounts – 20% commission on premium accounts AND 2% commission on future referral travel purchases. Be sure to review the terms page as well as follow the graphic question mark for the affiliate area for tips on simple ways to share your affiliate link. Premium Savings Visit the “Partners” page as each of the listed partners offer special discounts or bonuses for those who have invested to premium account.  That would be you. Annual Renewal Discounts Each year you are provided discounts not only on renewal, but also a discount for any teaching vacation travel you book at that time.  Yes, this means with renewal just one trip can make your premium membership free.  Book a couple weeks and now you’ve made money.     Promotions – (yours or something you are attending) Premium accounts can post events to the event calendar, classified items to the consignment area, post jobs to the job board, and articles to the article directory.  With 10K+ members of the community, word can spread quickly. Enterprise and Medallion Accounts, don’t forget to click “Advertising” under the events & biz category.  Upload your graphic and link it directly to your own website. In Health, Tom Bomar Managing Director FIT Launch, Inc. Fitness Pro Travel PS – As a premium member you are truly a VIP of the community.  As such we hope you always feel free on contacting us to provide personal assistance with your travel or fitness industry networking needs.

Related articles

• International Fitness Presenter Benefits (fitprobiz.com)
• Three Steps to Share Your Affiliate Code (fitprobiz.com)

Train In The Tropics

Inc., they most often go through the necessary steps in order to save a buck or two on a great vacation. That buck or two is actually is often more than a thousand.

Everyone likes to save money on travel and vacation, fitness professionals are no exception.

I want to point out a couple methods today that will take that all-inclusive vacation for the fit pro and more than double the savings.  These are often overlooked, but are simple, costs little to nothing, and are available to you at all times.

Multi-Week Teaching Vacation Booking - While the weekly fees remain consistent for each resort, the relative expense of the overall trip goes down with multiple weeks booked.  This is likely obvious to most and is done frequently, but worth a mention/reminder.
Airfare for yourself and a guest is often around $1000 round trip. Booking a teaching vacation for one week spreads this expense over the 7 days. That would be about $143 per day.  When you book a second teaching vacation week you not only get what I fill is a full vacation time, but you also still spend only the same amount on travel.  Over 14 days that averages to $71 per day.
If you and your guest are traveling to one of the family resort locations and you are vacationing with a couple of children, this travel expense savings/value is even more dramatic.

Benefits of Joining FPT Groups – Every member account with Fitness Pro Travel is able to join one group. Premium accounts may join many.  The benefits that comes from group membership can vary depending upon the specific group.  When you join one of the Fit Bodies resort location groups you are setting yourself up for potential savings.  Often discounts are offered specifically to group members or potentially access to a special opportunities.  Simply click on the tab at the top of each page to display all group options.
**When you sign up for a group, you are required to remain in that group for 60 days before your account is allowed to leave and join another.
**Members of the Medallion and Enterprise groups receive 5% and 10% discounts on all items separate of travel found within the Fitness Pro Travel site.  (certain trainings that equates to several hundred dollar discount)

I encourage you to get active in the community to take advantage of the many benefits and suggest you take advantage of these two simple steps to ensure you receive the best value when you take your all-inclusive teaching vacation.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Fitness in Dominican Republic Resorts (tombomar.com)
• Teaching Vacations in the Network (tombomar.com)

It hasn’t been any different the past three days at FPT and I’m guessing the activity will stay high over the next three while the launch period continues.  Our 50% discount offer for upgraded membership (discount ended) seems to be appreciated and has had many visitors visiting their accounts and doing what we’d hoped, upgrading… All Good.

In addition to seeing the statistics of the many fitness professionals accessing their accounts during this time, my mailbox has definitely been filled with many more questions.  My account blog is where i try to publish most so all can see, but I’ll share the following as it seems to be on everyone’s mind to some extent.

It’s understandable. The website changes will have some small affect upon all accounts.

So, lets see if I can take a quick crack at answering the question, “Which Fit Pro Membership Level is right for me?” (or variations of that questions anyways)

Membership selection of any level at Fitness Pro Travel is key to keeping the website lights on and continuing to add features to the network. We have added a very inexpensive option for those who have little intention of using the networking and promotional options.

Enterprise - fitness business oriented, need of particular dates and want date release, optimize affiliate commission for referrals, frequent traveler etc……….  This member level is certainly a VIP to us as they are definitely investing themselves to the network.  The promotional options make this an ultimate business value and the qualifications for front of line travel make it a frequent traveler must.

Medallion -Similar to above less the early date release notice, slightly less in quantity but also less reduced cost to less than $14 per month.  It provides bonuses for business and qualifies member for all specialty (beyond the working vacation) opportunities. I suspect this to be popular with many.

Travel - This is the new account option that provides access to most all features in small quantity. Cost aware at less than $3 per month. Is an ideal account if not expecting to need all features listed above or on side-by-side, but still want to be supportive of community growth.  I personally believe that all who utilize any feature within the site to learn about and make a decision on taking a working vacation, should activate at least at this level.  Much goes into making those informational features available and your commitment to the network is helpful.

Basic - This level provides access to the travel program, but very minimal to much else.  There are travel aspects you will not qualify for.  This Free account is ideal for a new member who wants to take a look at what the site has to offer, who else participates, and is comfortable with the legitimacy of the programs.  After the new member has gone through that process they will ideally move up to a level above.

Any account is fine to utilize the working vacation program at this time.  There is no requirement to purchase a paid membership, but it’s definitely appreciated as we continue to build the features and value to Fitness Pro Travel.

Have you had a look today?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Fit Beach Fitness Education – Affiliate (tombomar.com)
• Scheduling Group Training (tombomar.com)

This topic is not coming up because of issues with any of the Fit Pro Travelers.  It happens to be on my mind because I caught a radio interview with a Travelocity representative this morning.  They spent some time talking through a 2009 traveler rudeness report, which I think we might all find rather interesting.

1600 travelers took part in the rudeness survey.

Here is a the take from the Hipster Travel Guide: Overall, people hate sitting next to smelly passengers (No. 1 answer at 40 percent) and people with the Swine Flu or at least exhibiting coughing, sneezing and hacking, 30 percent.)

Fellow Airline Passengers:

•  More than 80 percent of respondents feel that large passengers should be seated in two seats. However, more than one-third of respondents believe that the customer should be required to pay for that second seat while 44 percent believe the large passenger should be accommodated at no extra cost.

•  Passengers wrestling with larger than allowed carry-on luggage topped the list of irritations when boarding a plane with 29 percent of all poll respondents in agreement.

•  Canadians are more irritated by poor queue discipline than their American counterparts with 29 percent reporting that they are most annoyed by people who crowd the boarding line, compared with only 20 percent of U.S. travelers who took the poll.

•  Overwhelmingly, travelers who rush to deplane before those ahead of them are the most annoying at the end of a flight with 57 percent of respondents in agreement.

Traveling with Children:

•  Boisterous kids are a common annoyance for travelers, but people traveling without children are twice as likely to be bothered by them (30 percent) as those traveling with children in tow (15 percent).

•  Respondents say children running in restaurants (35 percent) and touching food at a buffet (33 percent) are their biggest pet-peeves when it comes to kid travelers.

•  More than half of respondents think parents should remove a misbehaving child from a public setting and a significant third feel that such children should be reprimanded.

•  Travelers with children have different peeves to those without, and are more likely to be bothered by topless sunbathers, men in Speedos and unattended kids at the pool.

For the complete results of Travelocity’s 2009 Rudeness Poll

This match your rude behavior issue list?  Are you a rude Traveler? Fill me in here or on my FPT Blog.

BTW, next time you visit FPT check the FORUMS to review changes and give input on added features coming to the Fit Pro Network.