The response has been disappointing for such a great event. Orlando City is giving our entire staff a FREE ticket for their suite for the game against the Vancouver Whitecaps. We will be meeting at the Citrus Bowl at 4 pm for a presentation by the Orlando City staff. They will be giving us a tour of the Citrus Bowl and a presentation by the staff. We will all be staying to watch the game with FOOD & DRINKS in the suite. Please RSVP to marcc@allguest.com ASAP. If we don’t get more attendance, it will be canceled.
READ EACH TICKET OUT LOUD
Guys, it really hurts for us to make deductions for mistakes that could be avoided. On all ticket sites, you have a “Review Order” opportunity to catch any mistakes. Please look at this carefully, but MORE IMPORTANTLY, read EACH TICKET OUT LOUD to the guest as you hand them over. This is the absolute LAST chance you have to catch any mistakes that may have been made. No matter how busy it is, you MUST do this! This way, if a guest gets a Magic Kingdom instead of a NON-Magic Kingdom, or a SW/AQ combo instead of a SW/BG ticket you can catch it and correct it!

BE “READY TO ASSIST”
We want this attitude to be on top of all of your minds. You should ALWAYS be attentive to guests in the lobby and walking by your desk. Always give a SMILE and a pleasant greeting. Keep your nose out of the computer! You should always keep your head up and greet everyone!

NO LEAVING EARLY
With it being Spring Break and Easter coming up soon, NO ONE should be leaving early or asking to leave early. If anything, if you have guests still in the lobby, you must stay and take care of anything they need. NEVER tell a guest “I’m sorry, I’m closed”.

BATCH OUT CREDIT CARD MACHINES
We still have a few people who are not batching out their credit card machines. You must run a “Detail Report” and then a “Totals Report”. Then you should hit “Close” or “Settle”. On the older machines, it will prompt you to ENTER YOUR TOTAL SALES. So you MUST do this for the machine to settle. At the end, you should always see “Settlement Successful”. If you are unsure if it closed, try to batch again and if the machine says “NO OPEN BATCH”, that means it went through.

MOD SCHEDULE – WHO TO CALL
If you need something between the hours of 9 am – 6 pm, Monday – Friday, there will ALWAYS be someone in the office, so feel free to call the office. During early morning hours or evening hours, your leads on duty should be your first call. If you can’t reach them, then call the Manager on Duty. Look for the MOD schedule on the AGS Homepage. DO NOT call the office and press the “Manager on Duty” button. For weekends, always try to call a lead FIRST, but if they’re busy or can’t answer, call the MOD which is Kymry Saturdays, and usually Armando and Katwyn on Sundays.

DISNEY WATER PARK TICKETS
A reminder that both Typhoon Lagoon AND Blizzard Beach are now open. Remember, OUR tickets are good for ONLY ONE PARK per day, so be sure if you sell the Water Park tickets that you tell the guest once they choose either Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach, they must stay there for the day.

LEGOLAND OPEN 7 DAYS
Legoland is now open 7 days a week through the middle of August. Also, the Water Park will be open DAILY from 3/21 – 4/19. Remember, BOGO’s don’t have the water park included, so they will have to upgrade those at the park for $15.
UNIVERSAL ITW STORE TICKET ORDER CHANGING
The Universal IT department is changing the order of the tickets in all of our stores. Please look closely when choosing your ticket types and READ the tickets OUT LOUD to make sure you picked the correct tickets.

MEDIEVAL TIMES ROYALTY UPGRADE
Medieval Times is offering the FREE Royalty upgrade on all tickets sold by AGS from now through 4/19. This is a $20 value that includes priority seating, a commemorative program, cheering banner, and 1 DVD per party. With this offer, you should try to sell the tickets at FULL PRICE to make more commission because the guest is getting this $20 value. However if it’s the difference between getting a sale and not, you can still give $10 off per adult. Mention code: FRFL when making the reservation.

SUGGEST SEA WORLD & BUSCH
Let’s make a habit of suggesting Sea World with EVERY Disney or Universal ticket sold! This is a GREAT value and offers you some of the BEST commissions. Get in this habit and you will see your check increase!

CIRQUE PRICING
Cirque has decided to continue selling tickets at a discount, so the prices will remain the same. Starting 3/30, we will be able to also sell CATEGORY 1 SEATS. They are not giving us as much commission on these seats, so it’s better to sell the Category 2 seats. Also, there is NO SHOW on Tuesday, 3/24, however they ADDED a show on Monday, 3/30.

GIFTING PEOPLE NEEDED
We still need people to move over to the gifting team. If you are organized, good on computers, good at upgrading and want to work a LOT of hours, please call Katwyn or Armando to move to gifting.

ORLANDO MAGIC – 8 GAMES LEFT!
Let’s sell these games- there’s a great incentive going on!!!!

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY
Kymry will be the MOD on Saturday.

Employee Notes: Happy Birthday to Delila on 3/25! Congrats to Marian for 7 years on 3/24!  Please welcome Shonta Taylor to the AGS Team!

With the pricing change, the 3 Day Base Universal ticket is no longer cheaper than the 2 Day. So we have reactivated the 2 Day Base – 3rd Day Free ticket. So for anyone that wants a 2 Day OR 3 Day Base Universal ticket, you will print this ticket. Remember, this ticket is ONLY GOOD until June 7th! Anyone purchasing after June 7th will be required to have the regular tickets without any free days. Starting June 8th, we will no longer carry the 3 Day BASE Universal ticket. If a guest wants 3 Days, you will print a 4 Day Base ticket.
 

BUSY SEASON – SPRING BREAK
This weekend should be the beginning of the busy Spring Break season. Please make sure you are prepared! Check your supplies. Make sure you have plenty of DISNEY SHELLS, POS ROLLS and CREDIT CARD ROLLS. There’s nothing more annoying than for an employee to be in the middle of a sale and run out of Disney shells. Get to the locations EARLY! Set yourself up for success by getting to the hotel early enough to get settled and be able to count your tickets and bank before you get busy. Vacation plan! Use the itinerary planner in the FunPak to plan out your guest’s vacation. Show them how to fit in Water Parks and night-time attractions like Blue Man Group, Dinner Shows and Cirque.

ALL HARD TICKETS ALREADY ACTIVE
We have had this question come up a few times recently. Just to be clear, all labeled Disney tickets are ALREADY activated and do not need to be swiped. This includes the WATER PARKS, DISNEYQUEST, AND CONVENTION TICKETS. You are responsible for counting these tickets TWICE daily – at the beginning AND end of your shift to make sure the counts are correct. Please make sure that if you sell any of these tickets that you subtract them in your counts on your log sheet. As always, if there are any missing tickets, you will be charged the COST of these tickets.

ORLANDO CITY TICKETS
Most of the tickets for the game on 3/21 are sold out, but with the high demand, we are expecting Orlando City to open up more seating areas. If you have questions, call Marc (407) 506-7692.

BLIZZARD BEACH RE-OPENS 3/15
Blizzard Beach is re-opening Sunday, 3/15. With this, BOTH Disney Water Parks will be opened again. Remember, OUR tickets are good for ONLY ONE PARK per day, so be sure if you sell the Water Park tickets that you tell the guest once they choose either Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach, they must stay there for the day. Once we get more information on what happens if a guest wants to do both on the same day, we will let you know.

LEGOLAND OPEN 7 DAYS
Legoland is now open 7 days a week through the middle of August. Also, the Water Park will be open DAILY from 3/21 – 4/19. We do not have the Water Park Combo on any BOGO’s, so fi you are selling those, you will have to tell the guest to upgrade at the gate for $15 per ticket. Tell them this way they can see if the weather cooperates or if they really want to do it instead of paying the money up front. DO NOT mention the BOGO’s or sell them unless you are in Gifting (or if the guest mentions this offer). We automatically give $10 off the REGULAR Guest Service tickets so this is a good enough discount. We pay more for the BOGO’s so your commission is much less!

TITANIC DINNER SHOW
We are now selling the Titanic Dinner Show, which usually runs Friday and Saturday nights. It’s in the POS in “Dinner Shows and Nightlife” – Category 17. You must call to check on availability and make the reservation BEFORE collection money. (407) 248-1166

SUGGEST SEA WORLD & BUSCH
Since our cost is not changing until June 1st, we have a GREAT profit margin on Sea World and Busch Gardens single day tickets. Let’s mention these parks with EVERY ticket sold! If someone wants to buy Disney or Universal, be sure to mention what a GREAT deal Sea World is – especially the weekday tickets! With the processing fees paid on line, the guest is saving almost $20 off the gate price by buying them from us.

CIRQUE INCREASING STARTING 3/30
For Cirque shows starting 3/30, the pricing will be going back to the original $95 + tax for Category 2 seats. If you are SELLING for shows starting 3/30 and LATER, you MUST CHARGE $95 + tax for Adults and $78 + tax for Kids. Also, there is NO SHOW on Tuesday, 3/24, however they have ADDED a show on Monday, 3/30.

DISCOVERY COVE BOOKINGS
If you have a guest already interested in Sea World and Aquatica, they should consider adding Discovery Cove! This is a GREAT ALL-INCLUSIVE experience – breakfast, lunch, drinks, snorkel gear, etc. So show the guest the price of adding Discovery Cove if they already doing Sea World and Aquatica! Remember the normal admissions – Day Resort which DOES NOT include a Dolphin Swim – or the Dolphin Swim – give 14 days unlimited admission to both Sea World and Aquatica. If they want to add Busch Gardens for 14 days, book the ULTIMATE admission.

DON’T FORGET THE ORLANDO MAGIC
With all the excitement around Orland City, don’t forget the Magic! There are only 9 home games left so let’s push those too!

GIFTING & DUAL PEOPLE NEEDED
We still need people to move over to both the Gifting and Dual teams. If any of you are interested, please call Katwyn for Gifting or Kymry for the Dual locations.

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY
Kymry will be the MOD on Saturday.

Employee Notes: Happy Birthday to Yolanda on 3/15! Please welcome Delila Allen to the AGS Team!

Sunday, March 8th marks the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU TURN YOUR CLOCKS AHEAD 1 HOUR BEFORE GOING TO BED ON SATURDAY NIGHT! We need everyone to be ON TIME Sunday morning.

PLEASE READ!
We can’t stress HOW IMPORTANT it is to READ the GAZETTE and all MESSAGES sent out on When to Work! This is our ONLY effective way to communicate with all of you about important information! It is so annoying when we have irate guests going to Legoland on a Tuesday or Wednesday when they are closed, or guests getting expired Disney Convention tickets whenever we have had all of you check them over and over. Please be SURE TO READ all messages sent and read the Gazette on a weekly basis. THANK YOU!

TARDINESS
Let’s be clear. If you are scheduled to be in at 7 am, that means you must either CALL THE OFFICE AND/OR LOG IN TO THE POS AT 7 AM. Just because we give you a 7 minute grace period doesn’t mean you should show up at 7:07. We are cracking down on tardiness and anyone who is habitually late will be reprimanded and/or terminated. Again, when you are late, it makes YOU look bad, AGS look bad, and the hotel look bad.

KEY BOX / SAFE CODES CHANGED
As you all know, we’ve had some staff changes so we’ve changed all of the location codes – key boxes and safes. If you are working a location for the first time, please call the OFFICE the DAY BEFORE your shift to get the new codes. It’s unfair for Ana Maria to get bombarded with 45 calls in the morning asking for new codes. Also, remember that codes should NEVER be left out or given by anyone except a manager.

ORLANDO CITY TICKETS
I’m sure that the game on Sunday, 3/8 is totally sold out. If you have anyone wanting tickets for future games (March 21st next home game), follow the procedures on the left side of the AGS Homepage. Please look this over and make sure you are familiar with it. If you have questions, call Marc (407) 506-7692.

DISNEY CONVENTION TICKETS
These tickets are to be sold to anyone here in a meeting/convention only (and their families). Again, you must QUALIFY the person and make sure they are here for a meeting or convention. All of our tickets are BASE tickets, which mean the guest can ONLY visit ONE PARK. Please make sure the guest is clear on this if you sell them! They CAN be upgraded at the park if the guest wants to hop.

CHECK PARK HOURS DAILY
One of the FIRST things you should do on a daily basis (after you count your tickets and bank) is to check park hours. We cannot continue to have people driving to Legoland on a Tuesday or Wednesday only to find the park closed. Think of how you would feel if this happened to you! Starting next week, the park will be OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK through the summer. The Water Park will be opening March 21 for several weeks, and then will go back to only weekends. Please DOUBLE CHECK!

PLEASE BATCH OUT CC MACHINES
There are a few of you who do not batch out your credit card machines on a regular basis. Please double check this when you close out your paperwork. Remember, the last slip must read “Settlement Successful”. If you have any problems or questions, please call a lead or manager.

NO EXPIRATION DISCONTINUED
A reminder, the “No Expiration” option on all Disney tickets has been discontinued. If it is still showing up in your POS, do a “Force Update” and restart the computer.

KEEP GIVING EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE
We want to keep emphasizing how important it is to give GREAT guest services with a smile! Be sure to go over entitlements on tickets and be PERFECTLY clear on how to use the tickets – ONE PARK PER DAY ONLY, etc. and how long they have to use the tickets. If a guest wants to give you a good comment, please encourage them to leave a good comment on Trip Advisor for that hotel or leave a comment on the AGS Facebook page.

WET ‘N WILD LENGTH OF STAY
As it gets warmer, don’t forget that OUR Wet ‘n Wild tickets give 14 days of Unlimited use of the park – from the first date of use.

7 DAY BASE EPA GIFTING TICKET
For any of you at Diamond, if you have a guest wanting this ticket, it currently says “through 2/28”. This is a mistake and they’re working on fixing it. The EPA portion WILL be honored until it’s fixed.

WATER PARK TICKET CHANGES
The seasonal price is the same as the current price that we have on the tickets. The peak pricing will be $5 more. Peak season will be from May 23 – August 30. The important thing to remember is that any NEW tickets (which we do NOT have yet) allow the guest to visit BOTH Water Parks in the same day. So if you are selling our current tickets, you need to make sure the guest knows that they are valid for ONLY 1 Water Park admission. We are getting clarification from Disney on what will happen if one of our guests wants to visit the other Water Park on the same day. As soon as we get more information, we will let you know.

GIFTING & DUAL PEOPLE NEEDED
We still need people to move over to both the Gifting and Dual teams. If any of you are interested, please call Katwyn for Gifting or Kymry for the Dual locations.

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY
Kymry will be the MOD on Saturday.

Employee Notes: Happy Birthday to Katwyn on 3/7, Kelci on 3/12, and Steve N. on 3/13!

We know that you all are really working hard to make a positive impression on each guest that you work with and we are seeing the results! If you are going “above and beyond for every guest” and they want to recognize your great efforts, please encourage them to make a positive comment on Trip Advisor for the hotel you are working at. They can also leave a positive comment on the AGS facebook page. Great job to Antonio who had a very nice comment on our Facebook page and to Christina who received the Employee of the Hour award at Oasis!
 

DISNEY PRICE INCREASES
As expected, Disney increased their prices on Sunday, 2/22. All new prices have been loaded into the POS. If you notice any discrepancies or mistakes, please call Rick S. or Armando. The main thing to keep in mind is that the Magic Kingdom price has had a $6 increase. Additionally, the NO EXPIRATION option has been eliminated. We will be able to sell this option and it will still be able to be activated through 3/2. Starting 3/2, you will no longer be able to sell any tickets with the NO EXPIRATION option.
UNIVERSAL PRICE INCREASES
We knew it was coming. Effective Thursday, 2/26, Universal increased their Gate Prices on all tickets. The new prices have been loaded into the POS. If you don’t see them, you will need to do a “Force Update” and also exit out of the POS and log back in. You will have the rest of this week to make additional commissions by selling tickets at the new prices. Costs will be changing 3/2.

DISNEY CONVENTION TICKETS
The Disney Convention Tickets have also had a price increase. These new prices are reflected in the POS. We have moved them from “Promo” to “Hard Ticket Inventory. We are making new pricing signs and will have them delivered ASAP.

ORLANDO CITY TICKETS
We have signed an agreement that makes us the EXCLUSIVE Guest Services seller for Orlando City tickets. We have 7 Mid Field seats to sell on a per game basis that are not available to the general public (although they are already sold for the first game). For the first game – March 8th, the only tickets we have available to sell are Upper Level in the Citrus Bowl. Seating charts are being delivered to every location along with booking procedures. For any sales for the FIRST GAME ONLY on March 8th, please call Marc Tipton so we can make sure all of the correct procedures are in place.  407-506-7692

DRESS CODE
We know some of you are tired of hearing this but we have people looking at all of you daily, and if you are not dressed properly, we hear it. Please make sure you are wearing the proper uniform – ironed – and you have closed toe shoes. You must wear your nametag at all times and you CANNOT wear hoodies, sweaters, sweatshirts, or casual jackets at work. If you are cold, you must wear an undershirt and a professional looking dark color blazer ONLY.

SEA WORLD HOSPITALITY PERKS
Guys, everyone should have logged in and taken the assessment test. Remember, YOU CANNOT LOG IN USING LAST YEAR’S INFORMATION – IT IS A NEW REGISTRATION EVERY YEAR. So when you go to www.hospitalityperks.com, you will click on “2015 Assessment Now Open – Click Here”. You DO NOT enter your e-mail and password from last year here, but you click on “Need An Account”. Then you enter your e-mail TWICE on this page.

LEGOLAND IN POS
First of all, you guys should NOT be mentioning the Kid’s Free! ONLY sell these if the guest mentions it! We make a lot LESS money when you sell BOGO’s. If you do sell them and you have an odd number of tickets, you must LOG OUT of the gifting store and print any odd tickets in the Guest Services store.  So if you have 2 Adults and 3 Kids, you will do 2 Adults and 2 Kids Free tickets in the GIFTING store, LOG OUT, and go into the GUEST SERVICES store and print 1 more Kid’s ticket.  If you don’t do this, we lose money and you will be charged the difference. If you are unsure, call a lead or Rick and he will explain.

WATER PARK TICKET CHANGES
There are a LOT of confusing changes on the Disney Water Park tickets. Let me be clear – the changes are ONLY on the actual Water Park tickets and do not affect the Water Park Fun & More option or the Water Park option on the Touch of Magic tickets. Basically there will be 2 different prices on the tickets – Seasonal and regular. The seasonal price is the same as the current price that we have on the tickets. The peak pricing will be $5 more. Peak season will be from May 23 – August 30. The important thing to remember is that any NEW tickets (which we do NOT have yet) allow the guest to visit BOTH Water Parks in the same day. So if you are selling our current tickets, you need to make sure the guest knows that they are valid for ONLY 1 Water Park admission. We are getting clarification from Disney on what will happen if one of our guests wants to visit the other Water Park on the same day. As soon as we get more information, we will let you know.  Again, any ticket that has the Water Park Fun & More option or the Touch of Magic ONLY ALLOWS ONE WATER PARK VISIT per day and does not allow the guest to visit another one on the same day.

PERSONAL ITEMS AT LOCATIONS
We’re getting reports that some personal items have come up missing at some of the locations. Please have respect for one another and leave anyone’s personal items alone. It’s disappointing to hear that someone is stealing or taking others stuff.

GIFTING & DUAL PEOPLE NEEDED
We still need people to move over to both the Gifting and Dual teams. If any of you are interested, please call Katwyn for Gifting or Kymry for the Dual locations.

ARMANDO IS OFF SUNDAY 3/1
Katwyn will be on duty.

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY
Kymry will be the MOD on Saturday and Rolando will be available to help as well.

Employee Notes: Congrats to Dawn for 2 years on 3/1! Happy Birthday to Andrea on 3/5!

Let’s keep working on giving great guest service! SMILE when guests are around your desk and give a pleasant greeting! Make sure you give all your guests’ accurate information about the tickets – how long they have to use them, what parks are included – and be SURE to read the tickets OUTLOUD to your guests! Just today, we had a guest that was supposed to get 4- 4 Day tickets and they got 4 – 1 Day Tickets. And of course they were used. PLEASE guys, be sure to read EACH ticket to the guest.

DISNEY PRICE INCREASES
We are expecting the Disney prices to go up on 2/22. We know that the Magic Kingdom is going up $6 to $105 and Non-Magic Kingdom $5 to $99. As soon as we get confirmation we will let you know. This is a good time to encourage your guests to buy their tickets in advance before the price increase. If you get any phone calls about buying tickets, try to do an “APS” sale. If you are unsure of how to do this, call a lead or a manager to review the procedures.

RENTAL CARS – DOLLAR/THRIFTY
With the Daytona 500 next week, all rental car companies are usually sold out. If they aren’t, their rates are sky high. We want all of you to continue calling Dollar/Thrifty/Hertz first. But if they are out of cars or the rates are too high, you may use Action or Enterprise as a backup. Remember, any commissions from rental cars must come through the office. We calculate rental car commissions as part of the rents that we pay. Anyone not following proper procedures for booking rental cars – or taking any money under the table – will be terminated. You must put all rental car bookings in the POS under “Referrals” – Category 23. You should enter the guest’s name and the reservation number so the payment can be tracked. Send the voucher to the office with your deposit so we can pay you accurately.

CREDIT CARD BATCHES
We are having a lot of problems with people not batching out the credit card machines. Let’s review: Put all credit card slips in ASCENDING order. Run a “Detail” report. Run a “Totals” report. Then CLOSE or SETTLE your machine. If you are using one of the older machines, you may be prompted to enter the TOTAL amount of your credit card sales into the machine. Then you should get a “Settlement Successful” report. The machine MUST read “Settlement Successful” or “Batch Closed”. Staple the “Settlement Successful” slip to the very top of all your slips, with the Totals report under it and the detail report under that. If you are unsure if it closed, try again and it should read “No Open Batch”.

COUNTERFEIT $100’S
We seeing a few counterfeit $100’s coming in to the office. Please make sure you are using the counterfeit pens on all bills $20 and up. If you get a $100, look for the embedded US100 on the left side of the bill and the watermark of Ben Franklin on the right side. Also, in the green serial number, there should be a number and underneath that number there should be a letter to match the position in the alphabet. For example if the serial number starts with a “C”, there should be a “3” underneath is. If it’s starts with an ”A”, there should be a “1” underneath. Be especially careful if your guests are from S. America. It seems that this is where most of the counterfeits are coming from.

DISNEY TRAINING
Mark your calendars now! There will be 2 hour training sessions on March 4 & 5 from 9-11, 1-3, and 3-5 on each day. Please do NOT ask for the day off. If you are working an AM shift on those days, you can go at 3. If you work a PM shift, you can go at 9. It will be held at Coronado Springs. As soon as we get the link to RSVP, we will forward it to you.

TARDINESS
Guys, we give each of you a 7 minute grace period to check in at your locations. Be sure to call the office line at 407-367-1910 to check in from the HOTEL PHONE as soon as you get to the location. There are a handful of you that are late on a regular basis. We are fully staffed now and we will have no choice but to terminate habitual offenders.

WATER PARK CLOSURES
Please keep an eye on the weather forecast and let your guests know that if the temperature drops below 70, the water parks are subject to close.

“READY TO ASSIST”
We want each of you to take the “Ready to Assist” attitude with every guest. What does this mean? Be attentive and alert to all guests in the lobby. Greet everyone with a smile and a pleasant greeting when they get within 10 feet of the desk. STAND up when a guest is approaching your desk. Stay off your cell phones and keep your face out of the computer.

SEA WORLD HOSPITALITY PERKS
The e-mail addresses should be loaded either Friday or Monday for you to begin the Perks program enrollment and the assessment test. Remember, YOU CANNOT LOG IN USING LAST YEAR’S INFORMATION – IT IS A NEW REGISTRATION EVERY YEAR. So when you go to www.hospitalityperks.com, you will click on “2015 Assessment Now Open – Click Here”. You DO NOT enter your e-mail and password from last year here, but you click on “Need An Account”. Then you enter your e-mail TWICE on this page.

MANAGER VACATIONS
Katwyn – 2/13 – 2/16                                                                                                                                 Rick S. – 2/14 – 2/22 Rick will be on a cruise – no cell service.

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY
Kymry will be the MOD on Saturday and Rolando will be available to help as well.

Employee Notes: Congrats to Marc for 2 years back on 2/18! Happy Birthday to Ann Norris on 2/19, Tonya on 2/20, Miriam on 2/22, Barbara on 2/24, & Alan on 2/27!  Please welcome Clarissa Cardona and Michelle Victoria to the AGS team!

We want to make sure out guests have a GREAT customer experience with us from start to finish. Give a nice greeting to anyone within 10 feet of our desk! A SMILE goes a long way!  Let’s be thorough with the information we’re giving about the parks and hours. Be sure to point out the times for special events, like fireworks and parades. Make sure when you read the tickets OUTLOUD to the guests, that they know which parks are included and how long they have to use the tickets. And lastly, THANK the guest for the sale, tell them to have a great time, and ask them if they need directions!

NO CELL PHONES TO BE USED
We are reiterating our policy on cell phone usage. There is to be NO USE OF CELL PHONES while working – TEXTING or otherwise – unless it is an emergency or you have to for work purposes. We are getting far too many complaints about our employees being on their phones on personal calls, texting, and not paying attention to guests from our hotel managers. This will NOT be tolerated and will lead to reprimand and/or termination.

ATTENTIVENESS TO LOBBY / GUESTS
Along with cell phone usage, many of you are using the computer to play games and again, are not paying attention to guests in the lobby. Please keep your heads UP, out of the computers, and pay attention to ANYONE in the lobby. We had a manager at a location last week that stood in front of an employee for 2 minutes without them realizing they were there because they were playing games on the computer. Again, this is unacceptable. We will be going into your computers and monitoring what you do. If we see people not doing work related activities, you will be reprimanded. If you are bored, get out from behind the desk and MINGLE in the lobby! Open the door for guests, greet them, pass out stickers to the kids, and make “Lobby Magic”!

UNIFORMS – MANDATORY
The AGS uniforms are NOT optional. An AGS uniform must be worn Monday – Saturday, with Sunday as the ONLY day you can wear an attraction polo. If you do not have the right size AGS shirt, please come to the office and get one of the new ones. Nametags must be worn at all times. For those of you on the VIP team, call Marcc with any questions.

DISNEY TICKETS – WRITE NAMES
If you have a family that purchases 2 or more different types of Disney tickets, two things need to happen: 1) Print the same tickets types on separate confirmation pages; and 2) Have the guests WRITE their names on the tickets. We have had a couple situations where a family has mixed up their tickets and it’s caused all kinds of problems.

TREE TREK ADVENTURE
We are now selling Tree Trek located off Old Lake Wilson Road in Kissimmee. This is a series of 6 obstacle courses that increase in difficulty and 2 Zip line courses. Although they have been loaded in the POS in Category 20, Orlando Adventure Collection, there are some quirks with Kid’s ages and tickets. We will be passing out an information sheet soon with details.

LOOKING FOR MORE GIFTING TEAM
We are looking for volunteers to move over to the Gifting team. These team members must be motivated, organized, good at upgrading and willing to work a lot of hours. If you are interested, please let Katwyn or Armando know.

DISNEY TRAINING
Mark your calendars now! There will be 2 hour training sessions on March 4 & 5 from 9-11, 1-3, and 3-5 on each day. Please do NOT ask for the day off. If you are working an AM shift on those days, you can go at 3. If you work a PM shift, you can go at 9. It will be held at Coronado Springs. More info to come.

SEA WORLD HOSPITALITY PERKS
You will be able to enroll and take the assessment test starting MONDAY. Remember, YOU CANNOT LOG IN USING LAST YEAR’S INFORMATION – IT IS A NEW REGISTRATION EVERY YEAR. So when you go to www.hospitalityperks.com, you will click on “2015 Assessment Now Open – Click Here”. You DO NOT enter your e-mail and password from last year here, but you click on “Need An Account”. Then you enter your e-mail TWICE on this page and you are ready to take the assessment test.

STAND WHEN GUESTS ARE PRESENT
Unless you are at a hotel that has a desk with guest chairs at your same level, you MUST stand when guests are present. It looks very unprofessional if you are sitting and a guest is standing looking down on you. You should be at THEIR level.

SELL HARD TICKETS FIRST
If there are any remaining hard tickets out there, particularly at the gifting locations, please make sure you sell them FIRST, even if you have to split a party and print some. We have to get rid of this inventory. Thank you!

SEA WORLD PRICE INCREASES
Any Sea World or Busch Gardens ticket has increased. On most products it’s a $5 increase. There are 2 new changes – all 2 park combos are $99. This is for either Sea World/Aquatica or Sea World/Busch Gardens. Also, Sea World is charging a $5 convenience fee on all online sales. We are matching this charge.

ORLANDO MAGIC SALES
Call Rick or Kymry for a party of 2, or Katwyn or Armando for tickets in the Diamond Suite.  If you have guests needing anything different, please call the Magic directly at 407-916-2969.

MANAGER VACATIONS
Armando – 2/6 – 2/14                                                                                                                        Katwyn – 2/13 – 2/16                                                                                                                                  Rick S. – 2/14 – 2/22   Rick will be on a cruise with no cell service.

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY
Kymry will be the MOD on Saturday and Rolando will be available to help as well.

Employee Notes: Congrats to Dimary for 3 years on 2/13 and Daniel for 5 years on 2/11! Happy Birthday to Eric H. on 2/12!

We are really emphasizing “Great Guest Service with a Smile” and “Going Above and Beyond” for every guest during our 25th Anniversary year of 2015. Everyone should be READY TO ASSIST – meaning you should be attentive to any guests in the lobby, standing, SMILING and greeting any guests within 10 feet of the desk. Nice job to Anne, Roxie, Antonio, Keysha and Rafael who got great guest comments this week!

PLEASE READ MESSAGES!

Guys, with all of you working alone, we need EACH of you to take the responsibility to READ all of your e-mails, the Gazette, and When to Work messages. This is the ONLY way we can communicate things to you immediately. There’s nothing more annoying than to have something in the Gazette for 3 weeks in a row and send out messages and then get a call from someone asking the very thing that was addressed in all of these messages – like “I can’t find the 2 Day Base ticket in Universal’s Instant Ticket Wizard”. We would rather get a call than have you make a mistake, but PLEASE READ YOUR WHEN TO WORK MESSAGES AND THE GAZETTE!

DO MORE THOROUGH CLOSINGS

When handing over the tickets and reading EACH ONE to the guest as you hand them over, please be more thorough with your closing. Again, make sure the guests know which parks are included with the tickets, how long they have to use them (most of the time it’s 14 days), and ask if they need DIRECTIONS. Most of the time the guest can use the GPS directions on the back of the FunPak. But if the attraction you are selling is not there, please be sure you give accurate directions. If you are not sure, use Google or MapQuest to print directions for them.

OUR BODY: THE UNIVERSE WITHIN

This attraction is now permanently closed. Please do not sell it or the CSI combo.

LATENESS

We need everyone to BE ON TIME. When you’re late, it makes YOU look bad, the HOTEL look bad and AGS look bad. You lose sales and commissions. We are kind enough to give you a 7 minute grace period, but anything after that is considered late. Continued tardiness will lead to reprimands and termination.

RESERVATIONS FOR CERTAIN SALES

Remember, there are certain attractions that require reservations. Here are a few: all dinner shows, including Wonderworks Outta Control Magic Show; Kennedy Space Center Admissions that include “Lunch with an Astronaut”; any excursions with Grayline or Florida Dolphin Tours; Revolution Off Road; Forever Florida; and Boggy Creek 1 Hour Airboat Rides (not necessary for ½ hour). Excursions with Grayline and Florida Dolphin Tours DO NOT pick up directly at the hotels unless the guest pays extra for it. Please make sure the guest is aware of this!

NEW SHIRTS

For any of you that do not have the correct size for your shirts, we have new ones in the office. Please bring your old ones in to have them traded out for the correct size.

RED COACH ONLY FOR FLORIDA

Just a reminder that the ONLY company to be used for bus service anywhere in Florida is Red Coach (with Grayline as a backup). If you are approached by someone else to do shuttles or transfers, they cannot be used because we have to have insurance certificates on file for any transportation companies that we use.

SEA WORLD INCENTIVE – COMBOS

From January 19 – February 1, sell the most combo tickets and you receive TWO – 3 Day/3 Park tickets!

NO USING UNAPPROVED TAXIS

There is to be absolutely NO USING any unapproved Taxi or Limo companies. All taxis must be either the CONTRACTED company by the hotel or depending on your hotels situation, handled by the bellman or Front Desk staff. Anyone using an unapproved taxi or limo company will be terminated.

DISNEY CONVENTION TICKETS

Please check your inventory for Convention tickets. If you have any dated prior to 7/1/2014 or with a reservation number lower than 12878701, they are expired. Please let Rick S. know. Thanks

DISNEY FLORIDA RESIDENT TICKETS

Don’t forget, if you have a Florida Resident asking for the Discover Disney 3 or 4 Day pass, you can book them for this on our homepage. Remember, you DO NOT collect money but put the credit card info in the system. Print 2 copies of the confirmation page. Give the guest one, write your name on the other and turn it in.

SUGGEST HIGH PROFIT TICKETS

We know that it’s been slow out there, but Spring Break is right around the corner! Keep a positive attitude and hang in there. Let’s really push our high profit tickets! Make sure you suggest Blue Man Group with EVERY Universal ticket sold. Dinner shows should be suggested to every guest. Don’t forget Legoland! This is our highest profit daytime attraction. But don’t forget it’s CLOSED Tuesdays & Wednesdays!

MANAGER VACATIONS

1/28 – 2/3 – Ana Maria                                                                                                                               2/6 – 2/14 – Armando                                                                                                                               2/14 – 2/22 – Rick

SEA WORLD INCENTIVE – COMBOS

From January 19 – February 1, sell the most combo tickets and you receive TWO – 3 Day/3 Park tickets!

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY

Saturday 1/31, the MOD is Kymry. Rolando will be in the field helping.

Employee Notes: Happy Birthday to Susan on 2/3 and Florence on 2/5! Don’t forget the Harry Potter Weekend at Universal Studios from 1/30 – 2/1!  All activities and events are included with regular park admission!  This is a great way to sell the 2 Day Park-to-Park/3rd Day Free tickets!

We are really emphasizing “Great Guest Service with a Smile” and “Going Above and Beyond” for every guest during our 25th Anniversary year of 2015. Everyone should be READY TO ASSIST – meaning you should be attentive to any guests in the lobby, standing, SMILING and greeting any guests within 10 feet of the desk.

SHOPPERS ARE STILL OUT

We still have shoppers out on a regular basis. We have them registered as guests at each of our properties and they will be visiting your desk just like a regular tourist. They are checking for appearance, sales ability, courtesy and honesty. They will be making purchases and we will be checking to make sure that all purchases are recorded correctly in the POS. Additionally, Dollar is sending shoppers around to check on all of you using proper procedures for booking rental cars. We will continue to terminate any employee who is dishonest or does not follow the correct procedures.

UNIVERSAL REPORTS – MATCH UP

When you run your “Universal Summary Sales Report”, you must match up the total sales with what’s in your POS. If they do not match, you must run a “Detail Report” and return the FIRST SET of any duplicate tickets. Every week, Laura has a huge stack of tickets that have to be returned. Please return them yourself.

MOD / LEAD SCHEDULE ON AGS HOME PAGE

We are now posting the MOD / PM Lead schedule on the left side of the AGS homepage. Please use this as a reference. If it’s office hours ( 9am – 5 pm), feel free to call the office. Otherwise refer to the posted schedule.

DISNEY CONVENTION TICKETS

Please check your inventory for Convention tickets. If you have any dated prior to 7/1/2014 or with a reservation number lower than 12878701, they are expired. Please let Rick S. know. Thanks.

LEGOLAND

As of Tuesday, 1/20, Legoland is FINALLY back up! Just a few things to keep in mind: Buy An Adult at FULL Price, Get a Child Free should ONLY be used if the guest asks. We make much less profit on these tickets so it’s better to sell the regular $10 off tickets and you make more commission. If there are an odd number of tickets e.g. 3 Adults and 2 Children, be sure to do 2 Adults and 2 Children in the Gifting store and the additional adult in the Guest Service store. If you do BOGO’s, the adult ticket MUST be at FULL PRICE – absolutely NO discounts. Also, don’t forget the park continues to be CLOSED Tuesdays and Wednesdays through February 11th. The following week, they WILL be opened on the 17th and 18th, and then CLOSED on Tuesdays and Wednesdays AGAIN until March 10th, at which time they will be open 7 days a week through the summer.

4 PARK TIMESHARE OWNER’S TICKET

Katwyn will keep you updated on where they tickets are located as we consolidate the remaining inventory. Please make sure you read these messages. January 28th will be the LAST day we will sell these tickets for the guest to get 4 Days of use. Remember, these tickets are ONLY GOOD FOR ONE ADMISSION INTO EACH OF THE 4 MAJOR PARKS – no repeating any park, no hopping and no upgrades or changes whatsoever.

SELL HARD TICKET INVENTORY

If you are at a location that has any HARD TICKET INVENTORY (odds and ends), please try to sell these tickets FIRST. This includes any Universal tickets, 7 Day PTP Gifting tickets, miscellaneous Disney tickets (especially TOMS or Hopper TOMS. We really need to get rid of this inventory, even if it means splitting a family and printing some tickets and giving the rest of the family hard tickets. Thanks!

SEA WORLD WEEKDAY TICKETS

Please make sure you are reading all “details” when selling these tickets. If you are doing any advance purchases, remember this ticket is BLOCKED OUT from 3/14 – 4/12 and from 6/20 – 8/9. Also, for those of you doing the GIFTING tickets, they are still working on the Free Parking issue. The tickets are still NOT scanning for FREE parking at the parking plaza. If a guest is made to pay for parking, be sure to tell them to keep the receipt and bring it back to the desk for a refund. Sea World will reimburse us.

DISNEY FLORIDA RESIDENT TICKETS

Don’t forget, if you have a Florida Resident asking for the Discover Disney 3 or 4 Day pass, you can book them for this on our homepage. Remember, you DO NOT collect money but put the credit card info in the system. Print 2 copies of the confirmation page.  Give the guest one, write your name on the other and turn it in with your deposit.

W-2’S MUST BE PICKED UP IN OFFICE

Guys, we still have a lot of you that haven’t come in to pick up your W-2’s. Remember, you MUST come in to the office to pick up your W-2 and SIGN for it. You can also pick up any referral money you have.

ORLANDO TREE TREK ADVENTURE PARK

Everyone is invited to visit the newest Orlando attraction – Tree Trek Adventure Park.  Go to www.orlandotreetrek.com, click on “Book Now” and choose the time on your choice of days:  Now through Wednesday, 1/28.  Use your name and this VIP Complimentary Discount code: G100 for a maximum of 4 people.  Be sure to wear closed toe shoes.  Take advantage of this FREE offer!

BREAK POLICY – MUST BE SIGNED

Although this is not new, we are finding that a handful of you are disregarding the policies we have in place and leaving property on a regular basis. So this will clarify it for everyone.

SEA WORLD INCENTIVE – COMBOS

From January 19 – February 1, sell the most combo tickets and you receive TWO – 3 Day/3 Park tickets!

MICHEL RUNNING THURS – SUN

Michel is now running Thursday – Sunday. If you need him, call (321) 527-1527.

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY

Saturday 1/24, the MOD is Kymry. Rolando will be in the field helping.

Employee Notes: Congrats to Darren for 1 year on 1/27! Happy Birthday to Karen on 1/28 and Liliana on 1/30! Please welcome Mayra Romero to AGS!

We are really emphasizing “Great Guest Service with a Smile” and “Going Above and Beyond” for every guest during our 25th Anniversary year of 2015. Great job to Jose P., Barbara and Anne Narzynski who received great guest comments! We will be working on an incentive for great Comment Cards and Trip Advisor comments to coincide with this focus.

SEA WORLD UPDATES

The Length of Stay tickets are back! When selling any Sea World Multi-Day Products, you MUST ask your guest if they prefer going to EACH PARK ONE TIME or if they want UNLIMITED ACCESS for 14 days. If they only want ONE admission to each park, sell them COMBO tickets. If they want 14 days UNLIMITED, sell them the Length of Stay tickets. Be very careful when choosing the tickets in E-Z Ticket! If you charge for Combos and print LOS by mistake, you will be charged the difference.

FLEXTICKETS

With the return of Length of Stay tickets, we will now go back to selling the 5 and 6 Park FlexTickets as before. For the 5 Park Flex, you will print the 3 Park Unlimited Universal ticket along with the SW/AQ Length of Stay ticket. For the 6 Park Flex, you will print the 3 Park Unlimited Universal ticket along with the SW/AQ/BG Length of Stay ticket. The 4 Park Bundle will remain the same. You will print a 3 Day Base Universal ticket along with the SW/AQ COMBO ticket – NOT Length of Stay.

WET ‘N WILD LENGTH OF STAY

Wet ‘n Wild no longer sells Length of Stay tickets at the gate or online. However, OUR tickets give 14 consecutive days of UNLIMITED use! Use this as a selling tool for Wet ‘n Wild sales. Also, after we deplete our current inventory, we will only be carrying ONE TICKET for both Adults and Children. We will let you know when this happens. Remind your guests that the park closes if the temperature is below 70.

LEGOLAND

We are sorry that Legoland has been down this week, but it was out of our control. There were several accounts that had the same problem as us. When it comes back up, we will let you know, and once this happens, PLEASE CONTINUE to push these tickets! They are some of our highest profit tickets and you make the most commission!

CIRQUE “PROMO” STARTING 1/20

Don’t forget that for all shows starting 1/20, if you are booking tickets through CONNECT, you must once again use the “PROMO” category when entering the number of Adults and Children. Cirque is offering special pricing and in order to get this rate, you must use “Promo”. If you don’t, you will be charged the difference for the loss.

4 PARK TIMESHARE OWNER’S TICKET

All tickets have now been distributed. If you are low on tickets for do not have enough tickets to finish a sale, please call Katwyn or the MOD. We will need to move them around in order to deplete the inventory. January 28th will be the LAST day we will sell these tickets for the guest to get 4 Days of use. Remember, these tickets are ONLY GOOD FOR ONE ADMISSION INTO EACH OF THE 4 MAJOR PARKS – no repeating any park, no hopping and no upgrades or changes whatsoever.

READ WTW MESSAGES – GAZETTE
Guys, obviously because most of you are on your own, it’s VERY IMPORTANT that you read any messages that we send out. We can see when you read the WTW messages and many of you are NOT. Also, please read the Gazette. We put a lot of important information in here and we get very disappointed when mistakes are made that could have been avoided.

W-2’S MUST BE PICKED UP IN OFFICE
Every year, we have W-2’s that go to the wrong address or are lost, so in order to avoid that, you MUST come in to the office to pick up your W-2 and SIGN for it. You can also use this as a time to pick up any referral money that you have.

BREAK POLICY – MUST BE SIGNED
When you come to pick up your W-2, we are also having each of you sign a break policy. Although this is not new, we are finding that a handful of you are disregarding the policies we have in place and leaving property on a regular basis. So this will clarify it for everyone.

SLOWER TIME – MAXIMIZE SALES!
Obviously it’s gotten slower and we have moved into Convention Season. Don’t get down – stay positive! Many times people here on conventions have their evenings free, so it’s a great chance to sell the higher profit night-time attractions. Treasure Tavern and Sleuth’s are GREAT for couples and conventioneers. Blue Man Group and Cirque are also good! Don’t forget the Disney Convention tickets too! If you’re at a hotel that doesn’t have these tickets and you need them, call a manager or the runner to have them transferred to you.

SEA WORLD INCENTIVE – COMBOS
From January 19 – February 1, sell the most combo tickets and you receive TWO – 3 Day/3 Park tickets!

PIRATE’S FAM 1/16 & 1/24
Please take advantage of this FAM! Especially if you are new or if you haven’t seen the show in a while! There’s no better way to sell something than to see it for yourself!

MICHEL RUNNING THURS – SUN
Michel is now running Thursday – Sunday. If you need him, call (321) 527-1527.

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY
Saturday 1/17, the MOD is Kymry. Rolando will be in the field helping.

Employee Notes: Congrats to Rafael for 3 years on 1/17! Happy Birthday to Bryan Campos on 1/23! Please welcome Maribel Ramirez to the AGS Team!

We are really emphasizing “Great Guest Service with a Smile” and “Going Above and Beyond” for every guest during our 25th Anniversary year of 2015. We will be working on an incentive for great Comment Cards and Trip Advisor comments to coincide with this focus. Stay tuned!

SEA WORLD UPDATES

Please make sure you are opening the “PDF” file to print tickets. We are finding that if you use “html”, sometimes the Bar Codes are not printing. So be sure to click on “View” from the PDF version and then print those tickets.
Weekday Tickets – Be sure to ask your guests what day they are visiting the park. If they are not sure, or think it may be on the weekend, sell the “Any day” tickets. The Monday – Friday tickets are good for both Adults and Children through 6/19, with a Blackout period of 3/14 – 4/12. Gifting Tickets – Free parking IS included with the Gifting tickets. If the ticket does not say it yet, you can be assured that it IS included. They are trying to get the verbiage fixed on the actual tickets so there will be no confusion.  that they are only good for ONE visit to each park on the ticket.  Discovery Cove – Discovery Cove bookings continue to give 14 Days of Unlimited use of both Sea World and Aquatica. If the guest wants Busch Gardens as well, you will book the “Ultimate”. Remember, children must be AT LEAST 6 YEARS OLD to be able to swim with the dolphins. Also, the park will be CLOSED Tuesdays – Thursdays through February 12th. Also, we are having an incentive from January 5th to January 18th and the person that books the most Discovery Cove admissions will receive admission for 2! If you have someone doing Sea World and Aquatica, it’s only $80 more to add Discovery Cove!

LEGOLAND

We are having a lot of problems with some of you selling Legoland tickets and not letting the guest know that the park is CLOSED Tuesdays and Wednesdays through February 11th! The Water Park continues to be closed until March 21. Please ALWAYS check the calendar before selling tickets. Also, when selling the tickets, be sure to ask your guests if they want to take the FREE shuttle. The shuttle must be booked at the time of the sale because it fills up. When booking the shuttle, not only do you have to fill out the names, but there is a reservation form with the name and address for each person before you can print the tickets. Don’t worry about selecting the number of people at the bottom, and you can put in any name and address. Once you complete for all people and hit continue, it will allow you to print the shuttle tickets.

UNIVERSAL’S 3RD DAY FREE

The 3rd Day Free on the 2 Day Park-to-Park tickets is BACK and now able to be sold through June 7th. As always, we will automatically give a Free Day on the 2 Day Base ticket and you will print the 3 Day Base ticket in Instant Ticket Wizard.

MULTI-DAY PTP W/ WET ‘N WILD

Don’t forget that when a guest wants ANY 2 Day or Higher Park-to-Park ticket WITH Wet ‘n Wild, we ALWAYS print them a 3 Park Unlimited ticket in Instant Ticket Wizard. This instead of only giving them 2 admissions, this ticket gives UNLIMITED admissions to USF, IOA, and WW for 14 consecutive days. This is the same ticket we print for the BUNDLES.

CIRQUE CLOSED – “PROMO” 1/20

Cirque sales will be done at the regular pricing for shows through 1/10. They will be DARK from 1/11-1/19. When they return on 1/20, if you are booking tickets through Connect, you must use the “PROMO” category. This shows up when you choose the number of adults and children on the BOTTOM TWO sets of tickets.

4 PARK TIMESHARE OWNER’S TICKET

The 4 Park Timeshare Owner’s ticket has now been taken out of Connect. You must sell the HARD tickets out of your inventory. Please be sure the guest understands the restrictions on these tickets (no changes, no upgrades, ONE VISIT to each of the major parks, no more than ONE park in a day). Please be sure to order more through your Supplies Request Form if you run low.

HARD TICKETS ARE ACTIVE

When there are hard Disney tickets in inventory, these tickets ARE ACTIVE and DO NOT need to be swiped. This includes the 4 Park ticket, Convention Tickets, Water Parks and DisneyQuest. Please make sure you count them at the beginning and end of your shift, and minus out any tickets sold from your inventory.

SHOPPERS CONTINUE

We will continue to terminate any employees who are dishonest and not recording sales correctly, or who are not following correct rental car procedures. We will NOT tolerate dishonest or theft in this company WHATSOEVER.

UNIVERSAL INCENTIVE

Unfortunately we fell short of our goal for Universal sales by more than 3,000 tickets. We will have more incentives coming!

MOD FOR SATURDAY – KYMRY

Saturday 1/10, the MOD is Kymry. Rolando will be in the field helping and to take your calls.

Employee Notes: Congrats to Jon F. for 6 years on 1/12, Rolando for 7 years on 1/10, and Chris for 4 years back on 1/10! Happy Birthday to Diane on 1/12, Carlos on 1/15 and Rick S. on 1/14! Let’s make this year the BEST in the history of AGS! Set goals, sell high profit tickets, SMILE and give GREAT guest service!