We need to refocus our attention on giving great service to every guest! How can we do this? We want each of you to act as the HOTEL AMBASSADOR.  Get out from behind the desk and greet people in the lobby. Don’t wait for them to come up to you. Give everyone in the lobby a FRIENDLY SMILE, greet them and introduce yourself as the Concierge. Let them know you are there to help them with any questions they may have about the area and the attractions. Be sure to give a FunPak to every guest, and offer coupons to area restaurants that are on our approved vendor list. When you make a sale, be sure that the guest understands the entitlements – what parks are included and how long they have to use the tickets. Lastly, be sure to “THANK” the guest, give directions to whatever attraction they go to, and to come back and give you feedback to let you know if they enjoyed the park or attraction. We want each of you to make this a part of your daily routine. We want to get GREAT COMMENTS about each of you from Trip Advisor and the hotel comment cards!

FOCUS ON HIGH PROFIT TICKETS
Why is it that someone can sell $10,000 in tickets and make $200 in commissions, while someone else sells $10,000 and makes $65? Because of the types of tickets sold! If you sell all 1 Day Base Disney and Universal tickets, you can do a lot of sales, but not make any money. That’s why we want all of you to focus on high profit tickets! No one should walk away from your desk with a 1 Day ticket without knowing about all of the other options available. If they want Sea World, you should mention Aquatica and Busch Gardens on the combo tickets, and also Discovery Cove because it includes Sea World and Aquatica. These are the tickets that you make the most money on: Universal 2 Day PTP and higher, Disney 4 Day and higher with at least 1 option, ALL SEA WORLD products, Legoland, Blue Man Group, Dinner Shows and Cirque, Sporting Tickets and Grayline .

MICKEY’S VERY MERRY XMAS PARTY
All remaining nights must be booked through an AGS manager. There are NOW TWO PRICES in the POS – 1) Advance Purchase and 2) Same Day, Fridays, 11/29 and 12/17. Please be VERY careful when quoting prices and be sure to look at the dates. Again, SAME DAY BOOKINGS AND FRIDAYS ARE HIGHER PRICED (AND 11/29 AND 12/17). December 18th is SOLD OUT.

PASSWORDS – DO NOT SAVE!
The reason we have passwords is so that people can’t go on to our computers, homepage, or ticket stores. Some of you are SAVING your passwords which makes NO SENSE! Please DO NOT save your passwords for ANY sites on the computer. Also, computer, key box codes and safe codes are NOT to be shared. Why do some of the OPC’s know our codes? If you give them out and something comes up missing, YOU will be responsible for the cost of anything that may come up missing!

REFUNDS – APPROVAL – DOCUMENT
Any unusual refunds (this means NOT Vacation Village or other normal gifting OPC refunds) MUST be approved by a manager. Also, you MUST give a DETAILED explanation about the refund on the log sheet and have the guest SIGN the log sheet for the refund. Any refunds NOT approved by a manager or documented properly will be charged back to the employee.

SHIFT CHANGE
If you are working an AM shift that has a PM shift following, you CANNOT leave until the PM person is there! This week we had a PM shift uncovered because the AM shift left without the PM person there and it was never covered. Please call the office or a manager if you are working an AM Shift and the PM person isn’t there on time. Usually they might be running a little late, but DON’T LEAVE!

MISTAKES – VERY FRUSTRATING
Once again, we had an irate guest this week that spent 2 hours at Guest Relations at Universal because they got 7 Day Base Gifting tickets instead of 7 Day PTP. How can this continue to happen? Not only did we have to refund $800, but this guest wants to be compensated for the time that they lost at Guest Relations. This would have been avoided if the tickets were READ OUT LOUD to the guest! We cannot continue to take losses like this for employees that continue to refuse to follow procedures.

GIFTING SIGNATURE LOGS
For any Visa cards, please just write “Visa” on the signature log and wait until the end of your shift to write in the amounts. You can pull the activations off your Visa report and copy them down. We do not want the guests to see what each other are getting.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD CLOSING
Don’t forget that Planet Hollywood will be closing for renovations on 1/6/16 and isn’t expected to re-open until June.

ORLANDO MAGIC TICKETS
We have 2 home games coming up: 11/27-Bucks and 11/29-Celtics. You make GREAT commission on these sales so suggest them to your guests!

ORDER HARD TICKET INVENTORY
When you get low on any pre-activated tickets (Disney Water Parks, DisneyQuest, Convention tickets, or I-Rides), please be sure to order them through our Supplies Request Form to have them delivered.

INCENTIVES
Discovery Cove – From 10/23 – 11/30, sell a minimum of 10 and receive DOUBLE commission retro to the first one sold.                                                                                                                 Orlando Magic Monthly – Sell 15 – Get 2 Terrace Level Game tickets; Sell 30 – Get 4 Chase Club Level Game tickets.                                                                                                                                   Fun Spot – From 11/1 – 12/31, AGS as a team must sell a minimum of 300 tickets. If we sell 650, we will all get a team party at Fun Spot! Let’s really push for this!

Employee Notes: Congrats to Karen for 9 years on 12/1! Happy Birthday to Janice on 11/30, Brian Ellis on 11/29, and Laura our Controller on 12/3!

All indications are showing that this will be a VERY BUSY week, and we should start getting slammed on FRIDAY NIGHT. Please be prepared! Get to your location EARLY to make sure you have enough time to verify your bank and all of your hard ticket inventory. Please check your supplies and make sure you have plenty of Disney shells, printer paper, POS and credit card rolls. If you need more, order them through the Supplies Request Form, or if you need them right away, leave a note on top of the clipboard so the runner will see it when you hand it over. This way he can fill it right away.

DISNEY TICKETS WITH OPTIONS
Here’s a review of the options, how they work, and what tickets they coordinate with in the POS: BASE – Allows only ONE PARK VISIT per day. HOPPER – Allows visiting MORE THAN ONE OF THE FOUR MAJOR PARKS IN ONE DAY. WATER PARK FUN & MORE (listed as “PLUS” in the POS)– Gives an equal number of visits as the number of days purchased for the 4 Major Parks to Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach (when it’s open), DisneyQuest, Oak Trail Golf Course and Fantasia Gardens or Winter/Summerland Mini Golf Courses BEFORE 4 pm. The only exception is the 1 Day with WPF gets TWO Visits. Hopping is NOT allowed with this option. If a guest goes to two of these on the same day, it will eliminate two of the visits. BOTH HOPPING AND WATER PARK FUN & MORE (listed as “PREMIUM” in the POS) – Includes BOTH Hopping and WPF options. With this ticket, the guest can ONLY Hop between the FOUR major parks. Hopping is not included on the WPF option and going to multiple WPF options on the same day will eliminate that number from the total. For example, if a guest gets the 4 Day with WPF & More and they visit Typhoon Lagoon and DisneyQuest on the same day, they will have TWO visits left on the option.

BLIZZARD BEACH IS CLOSED!!!!!!!
PLEASE tell guests that get ANY ticket that includes the Disney Water Parks that Blizzard Beach is CLOSED! PLEASE!!

MICKEY’S VERY MERRY XMAS PARTY
November 19 was the LAST VALID DATE for all of the hard tickets that we have in inventory. Any remaining tickets MUST be turned in to the runner. Please be sure to MINUS (-) them out of your inventory and hand them over to the runner along with your drop/deposit. THESE TICKETS WILL NOT BE VALID FOR ANY ADDITIONAL DATES! For all remaining dates, you MUST call an AGS manager and they will put them in DropBox for you. These will be paper tickets that can be scanned directly at the turnstiles and the guest will not have to stop at Will Call.

ENTERPRISE BOOKINGS
Remember, Dollar/Thrifty is to be used first, with Action as our second choice and Enterprise is the back up. Dollar/Thrifty and Action both pay 30%, while Enterprise only pays 25%. If you do book Enterprise ONLINE, you must use the CID#AGS0799 and the PIN #ALL in order to get the proper credit and get paid. Also, we do have secret shoppers on a regular basis checking to make sure you are using the proper procedures for booking rental cars. You must try Dollar/Thrifty FIRST unless the guest specifically requests a different company. Also, all reservations MUST have a voucher printed out through the POS in “Referrals” and you must include this in your deposit envelope. Anyone not following these procedures will be subject to reprimand and/or termination.

CC SLIPS – WHAT TO INCLUDE
These 3 things MUST be included on EVERY credit card slip: 1) Tickets purchased (you can abbreviate); 2) ID number; and 3) Room number. Many of you are forgetting to write the TICKETS PURCHASED ON EACH SLIP. This is critical, not only if we get chargebacks, but also to help YOU BALANCE. That way you can go back and track each sale to make sure you charged the same amount to the guest that you put in the POS.

BALANCING PAPERWORK
Some of you are still having problems balancing and finishing your paperwork. The EASIEST way to figure out your deposit is to SET YOUR NEXT DAY BANK FIRST. You should do this by counting from the lowest up (starting with coins, $1’s, $5’s, $10’s and $20’s) until you get to around $100 for the next day bank. Then everything left should be what you deposit and you put this in your deposit column. This should be your credit card slips, travelers’ checks and all large bills. So if you set your NEXT DAY BANK FIRST, everything leftover will be what you deposit in your drop!

ORLANDO MAGIC TICKETS
We have 4 home games coming up: 11/21-Kings, 11/25-Knicks, 11/27-Bucks, and 11/29-Celtics. You make GREAT commission on these sales so suggest them to your guests!

READ EACH TICKET OUT LOUD
We want you guys to make a LOT of money during this time, so let’s make it MISTAKE FREE by not giving out the wrong tickets. HOW? By READING EACH TICKET OUT LOUD to the guest as you hand them over. Make sure if the guest paid for PTP Universal tickets that they get PTP. Make sure you get to the “Congratulations” page for Disney.

LEGOLAND HOURS
Legoland is open 7 days next week and then will go back to being closed Tuesday and Wednesday for a couple weeks.

INCENTIVES
Discovery Cove – From 10/23 – 11/30, sell a minimum of 10 and receive DOUBLE commission retro to the first one sold.                                                                                                                 Orlando Magic Monthly – Sell 15 – Get 2 Terrace Level Game tickets; Sell 30 – Get 4 Chase Club Level Game tickets.                                                                                                                                   Fun Spot – From 11/1 – 12/31, AGS as a team must sell a minimum of 300 tickets. If we sell 650, we will all get a team party at Fun Spot! Let’s really push for this!

Employee Notes: Congrats to Shirley for 6 years on 11/26! Happy Birthday to Carolina on 11/24, Erika on 11/21 and Pete on the same date! We hope each of you find time to give thanks for all of your blessings during this Thanksgiving holiday!  Happy Thanksgiving!

We are having challenges with the runner getting around to all the locations in a timely manner. Here is what we need each of you to do: Drops/Deposits need to be out and ready to hand over. Some of you are leaving them in the safety deposit box and it takes extra time to go get it. If you are with a guest, do not stop talking to your guest. Continue talking to them, but hand the clipboard and the deposit over to Michel. The managers will NO LONGER be picking up deposits unless Michel is off. But managers will continue to do cash pulls. If you need supplies – continue to order through the supplies request form. The managers will be fulfilling the Supply Request Forms. However, if you need something IMMEDIATELY, please have a note on top of the clipboard for what you need so Michel and get it for you. If you have cash –please have the cash bundled up and ready for Michel to sign out with the Runner Deposit Out slip banded around it.

UNIVERSAL NODES – STORES
When logging in to Instant Ticket Wizard, please make sure you are logging in to the correct store that you are working at and also using the correct node. For those of you at Vistana, you must use the “Vistana” store. Everyone on the gifting team now has access to this. If you don’t, call Rick or Armando and they can give you the access.

SEA WORLD GIFTING TICKETS
If you are doing the gifting ticket, that are a lot of different options. If you do the 2 for $140, they can only be done in sets of 2. If there are 4 people, you must complete a transaction for 2 and then go in and do 2 more. The guest must scan the ticket at the Self Serve Kiosk in front of the park to get the meal voucher. This particular meal voucher is only good for ONE meal, and has specific restrictions. It’s only good for a drink, entrée and dessert in specific restaurants and excludes certain meals. It is NOT All Day Dining. There is another ticket that is more expensive that has the All Day Dining option.

MICKEY’S VERY MERRY XMAS PARTY
We will be carrying MVMCP Hard Ticket (Pre-Activated) inventory for the following dates: 11/13, 11/15, 11/17, and 11/19. These are located in the POS in Miscellaneous Special Events. Our HARD tickets for these dates will be valid EVEN if it’s SOLD OUT. As was with MNSSHP, when these dates are past, we will still be able to sell the additional dates through an AGS Manager as long as the event date is not sold out. You must use the HARD TICKETS for these dates. Please do not have a manager put them in Drop Box. If you are at a location that doesn’t have inventory, order them in advance and we will have them delivered the next day. If you have to get them same day, here are the locations that have inventory: Embassy, WorldQuest, Staybridge, Holiday Inn LBV, Inn @ Calypso, Mystic Lobby, Celebration Suites, Radisson Celebration, VacationVillage, and both Vistana Resorts. Be sure to minus them out of the location you’re getting them from and write what location they’re going to.

GIFT CARD FRAUD
There are people going around trying to use stolen gift cards. Usually they are of Hispanic origin and they try to buy a large amount of tickets. If you have anyone like this, for more than 4 tickets, you MUST have all members of the party in front of you and you must verify the room number with the front desk. We NEVER sell tickets to anyone not staying at the hotel – especially a large amount of tickets.

CONVENTION TICKETS – QUALIFY
Remember, Disney convention tickets are only to be sold to guests here on business or in meeting AND THEIR FAMILIES. Anyone selling these tickets to general guests will be reprimanded unless you get a manager exception.

READ EACH TICKET OUT LOUD
We still have mistakes being made that can’t be corrected, particularly with the Universal Gifting Tickets. Anytime a Universal EPA ticket is printed, it cannot be changed or upgraded because this ticket is not offered at the gate. It is VERY important that when you print these tickets, that you READ EACH ONE OUT LOUD to the guest. This is the last chance you have to catch any errors!

BATCH OUT CREDIT CARD MACHINES
Guys, PLEASE make sure you run a detail report and CLOSE YOUR BATCH! Every day we have a stack of credit card slips come in to the office that have not been batched out. YOUR LAST SLIP MUST READ “SETTLEMENT SUCCESFUL” FOR YOUR MACHINE TO BE CLOSED. If you’re not sure of how to do this, please call a lead to walk you through it.

NOW SELLING ALL EVENTS
Marc has gotten a contract with a company that will allow us to sell ALL events – including concerts, performances, and sporting events. If you have a guest interested in any of these types of events, call Marc 407-506-7692 and he will book it.

BLIZZARD BEACH CLOSED
Remember, when selling any Disney ticket that includes the Water Parks, you MUST tell your guest that Blizzard Beach is CLOSED. Only Typhoon Lagoon is open.

LEGOLAND HOURS
Legoland is closed Tuesday and Wednesday next week, but will be open 7 days the week of Thanksgiving.

INCENTIVES
Discovery Cove – From 10/23 – 11/30, sell a minimum of 10 and receive DOUBLE commission retro to the first one sold.                                                                                                                 Orlando Magic Monthly – Sell 15 – Get 2 Terrace Level Game tickets; Sell 30 – Get 4 Chase Club Level Game tickets.                                                                                                                                   Fun Spot – From 11/1 – 12/31, AGS as a team must sell a minimum of 300 tickets. If we sell 650, we will all get a team party at Fun Spot! Let’s really push for this!

Employee Notes: Congrats to Karina for 6 years on 11/18, Mackenzie for 1 year on 11/17, and Tonya for 1 year on 11/18!

We continue to have to give refunds because guests are not getting the correct information. As a good concierge, it is your responsibility to know the park hours for all tickets that you are selling. Be especially aware if the parks are closing early due to a special event. Legoland is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The Magic Kingdom closes early when there is MVMCP. Also, be careful on general information. We had to refund almost $50 to a guest that was told the I-Ride Trolley would take them to the Marriott World Center. If you are not sure of the information, please Google it or call a lead or a manager before giving out the incorrect information.

MICKEY’S VERY MERRY XMAS PARTY
We will be carrying MVMCP Hard Ticket (Pre-Activated) inventory for the following dates: 11/8, 11/10, 11/12, 11/13, 11/15, 11/17, and 11/19. These are located in the POS in Miscellaneous Special Events. Our HARD tickets for these dates will be valid EVEN if it’s SOLD OUT. For now, we will ONLY be keeping these tickets at strategic locations, so when you have a guest needing them, we will have them transferred in to your location. When these dates are past, we will be able to sell the additional dates through an AGS Manager as long as the event date is not sold out.  With our tickets, the guest can enter the Magic Kingdom as early as 4 pm.

DRESS CODE
We can’t stress how important it is for each of you to dress professionally. This means shirts should be neat and pressed and the appropriate pants must be worn – dress slacks, preferably black. No one should be behind the desk out of uniform. Also, there is to be no food or drinks behind the desk. If you get a drink or a snack, please go to a designated break area or go out of view of the guests.

SHIFT CHANGE                                                                                                                                                 If you are working an AM shift and there is a PM shift following you, you CANNOT leave until the PM person is there!  If the PM person is not there when it’s time for you to leave, call the office and we will find out where they are.

DEPOSITS / DROP ENVELOPES                                                                                                                     Effective immediately, when you come in for your shift, you must note at the bottom of the log sheet what deposit/drop envelopes are in the safety deposit box.  If there is NOT one there from the previous shift, you MUST notify the MOD immediately.  Of course this does not apply to the Starwood locations that have a drop safe.  Thank you!

SEA WORLD / BG PRICE INCREASE
Effective 11/2, Sea World has increased the any day ticket price by $2 for both Sea World and Busch Gardens. The weekday price has not been affected.

AQUATICA 50% OFF
We have a clarification. You CANNOT sell this ticket at full price because the ticket clearly states 50% off. If the guest knows about this offer, you must sell it at the 50% off price All Vistana locations should be using this ticket for the VIP list

BUNDLES – WET ‘N WILD
When selling the 3 or 4 Park Bundles, you NEVER print Wet ‘n Wild tickets individually. They are always to be printed as part of a combo with Universal. For Example, if it’s the 2 Day Base Universal bundle, you would print the 2 Day Base WITH Wet ‘n Wild combo , NOT a 2 Day Base Universal with separate Wet ‘n Wild tickets. Please look carefully in the Universal Ticket Store and the bundle descriptions when printing these tickets.

AGS HOMEPAGE PASSWORDS
We have once again password protected the AGS Homepage. You will be prompted to enter a username and password when accessing our homepage. If you have not yet received it, please call a lead or manager. Also, NEVER store passwords on the computer. If you are prompted to store them, ignore it or select “never”.

LEGOLAND SALES ENTERED WRONG
There is still a handful of you entering Legoland sales wrong. Remember, you should not be offering the BOGO’s unless you are at a Gifting or Timeshare location or if the guest mentions that they saw this offer. When entering it in the POS, if you enter “1” LLBOGO A that means you will print ONE ADULT and ONE CHILD FREE in the Legoland Gifting Store. There must ALWAYS be the SAME NUMBER of Adults and Children printed out of this store. Any additional tickets should be printed out of the Guest Services store and any additional tickets should be charged the REGULAR Legoland prices.

PUSH HIGH PROFIT TICKETS!
Now that most of you have gotten the hang of the POS, we need to work on increasing sales of all high profit tickets. For every Universal ticket sold, suggest Blue Man Group and offer $10 if they buy them together. If anyone asks about restaurants or dinner suggestions, always suggest Dinner Shows. Use this phrase: “For about the same price as a nice dinner out, why don’t you take your family out for 2 hours of entertainment as well?” Anyone going to Disney Springs should be pitched on Cirque and DisneyQuest. These are GREAT PROFIT tickets and we pay 20% commission on these! For the day time attractions, focus on Legoland, Sea World, Disney 4 Day or higher with an option and Universal 2 Day PTP or higher.

READ EACH TICKET OUT LOUD
We are having far too many careless mistakes made. Many of these mistakes could be avoided by reading EACH ticket out loud to the guest as you pass them over. Remember, you must get to the “Congratulations” page for Disney and be able to “Print Guest Copy”.

BATCH OUT CREDIT CARD MACHINES
Remember, your last slip must read “SETTLEMENT SUCCESSFUL”. If it doesn’t, you have not batched out your credit card machine. If you are unsure of how to do this, call a lead for help.

ARMANDO’S VACATION
Armando will be on vacation from 10/31 – 11/9. Please call any other managers for help during this time. He will be on a cruise and out of cell phone contact from 11/5 – 11/9. Thank you!

INCENTIVES
Discovery Cove – From 10/23 – 11/30, sell a minimum of 10 and receive DOUBLE commission retro to the first one sold.                                                                                                                Orlando Magic Monthly – Sell 15 – Get 2 Terrace Level Game tickets; Sell 30 – Get 4 Chase Club Level Game tickets.                                                                                                                          Fun Spot – From 11/1 – 12/31, AGS as a team must sell a minimum of 300 tickets. If we sell 650, we will all get a team party at Fun Spot! Let’s really push for this!

Employee Notes: Happy Birthday to Ann M. on 11/8 and Daniel on 11/12! Congrats to Mahvash for 10 years on 10/31!