First Rate Exchange

ITT corporate partner First Rate Exchange Services is offering ITT Members special rates on foreign currency all year round. The offer covers:

• Over 70 currencies
• Free next day delivery on orders over £500

Phone 0845 070 7741 to place your order (Mon-Fri: 08:30am - 5:30pm; Sat: 09:00am - 5:00pm). You will need to provide your full name and your ITT Membership number for verification.

For more information on First Rate Exchange Services visit www.firstrate.co.uk

I Travel Trade "Copa de España" 5-a-side Football Tournament

The Spanish Tourist Office is organising the first ever travel trade “Copa de España” 5-a-side football tournament. The tournament will be held at Liverpool FC’s Sports Academy on Saturday 24 April.

The programme of events is:

Players arrive at Liverpool
9.15 Transfer to the Academy by coach from Lime Street Station
09:45 Participants arrive Academy
10:15 Coaching begins with LFC Academy Coaches (Outdoor or Indoor astro turf) (Approx. 1hr15)
11.30 Five a side tournament begins
14:50 Closing presentation (Academy Coaches)

15:30 Depart for Stadium
16:00 Arrive at Anfield & Tour
17:00 Early Dinner (or late lunch)
18.30 Awards presentation.
19.15 Transfer back to Adelphi Britannia
Check in – Hotel

It will be a great day out and you will have the chance to win fabulous prizes and trophies, play where the pros play, meet a Liverpool Legend or two, get one over an industry rival and ensure bragging rights for the next year!

Whats included?
- One night’s accommodation at the Britannia Adelphi, in a twin/double room
- Transfer to and from venues by coach
- Light refreshments and sandwiches, oranges etc during the footy
- Coaching session
- Football Kit - (bring shinpads and trainers)
- VIP Tour of Anfield
- Dinner at Anfield
- Medals and trophies

What to bring: footwear and the desire to have a good time!

So sign up for Team ITT today! Contact Paul ‘Rafa’ Evans as soon as possible on 0844 4995 653 or email paul@itt.co.uk

Challenges in the Travel Industry in 2010
3 March 2010

8.45am – 1.30pm
MacIntyre Hudson, New Bridge Street House, 30 - 34 New Bridge Street, London EC4V 6BJ

MacIntyre Hudson and Barclays Bank have specialist expertise in the travel sector and are co-hosting this seminar, presented by a range of specialists, which will give licensed tour operators and travel agents an update on recent changes in financial protection, financing and taxation in the travel industry. We will aim to clarify areas of uncertainty relating to licensing issues, and help you to continue to manage your business through this recession.

Speakers include: Alan Bowen, formerly head of Legal at ABTA, Andy Cohen of the CAA, Andrew Burnham of MacIntyre Hudson, Jonathan Haseler of Barclays and Ian Skuse of Piper Smith Watton.

Places are allocated on a first come first served basis and costs per delegate, including a buffet lunch, are: £30.00 + VAT for ITT, ABTA, AAC and AITO members. All others £50.00 + VAT

Contact Suzanne Gibson to register for this seminar on 02074294147 or suzanne.gibson@mhllp.co.uk

Bicester Outlet Shopping Village

Bicester Outlet Shopping Village is delighted to extend its offer all ITT Members VIP status on production of their Membership card at the Bicester Village Visitor Centre. The offer is now valid until 31/12/10.

Click here for more information.

Smooth Direction Business Consultancy

Smooth Direction Ltd offers a range of business services to all travel and leisure related companies. The range of services includes consultancy, recruitment, marketing solutions and advice on your online offering. The services are all underpinned with the same principles. We give you a fresh and honest approach in everything we do and therefore don’t waste your time. The market is complicated enough without us making it even more so!

Consultancy

We have worked with a wide variety of clients this year completing full business reviews through to specific online projects. We have experience in all sectors within the travel arena so therefore can offer relevant advice to you.

We prefer to focus on SME’s within the sector as we believe this is where we add most value. We really do give you honest advice! If you are doing something well we will encourage you to do more of it. If you are doing something in the wrong way we will tell you and it will not be sugar-coated. We believe this approach saves everyone a lot of time and cost.

ITT members can benefit from discounted rates and also qualify for a free 2 hours consultation with no commitment.

Recruitment
We offer a unique service that has been built up through recruiting for businesses that we know well. This is important for us as we need to really understand the business before we even try and find the right people. As we grow we want to add on more clients but we believe this has to be done in the right way. So before we start recruiting we will sit down with you and figure out your business and its characteristics. We recruit across all skill levels but have specialised in middle and senior management to date. Our rates depend on the work we have to put in. We want to offer value and therefore our rates will reflect this.

Discounted rates are available for ITT members so please make contact and we can discuss your requirements in more detail.

We have just launched our new website - go to www.smoothrecruit.com for more details.

OneDayReview.co.uk

In tough market conditions it is often difficult for you to invest money to improve your online offering. You probably recognise you need to but what is the best approach?

The “OneDayReview” is an ideal and cost effective way to get an expert view and set of recommendations on your website from individuals with vast experience.

The One Day Review works as follows...
· 1 hour consultation on your business to understand the history and objectives.
· A full review of the website from the viewpoint of your customers.
· A full set of recommendations that are practical and will improve revenues.

The entry level OneDayReview is only £500 which represents great value. If we carry out the OneDayReview and you are not happy with the results then you will not have to pay a penny! Therefore you have nothing to lose and no risk.

All ITT members will receive a free upgrade to the Plus Review when purchasing a Basic Review. The Plus Review includes a top level review of two of your nominated competitors.

For more details about the One Day Review, see www.onedayreview.co.uk

For more details on all services please contact Matt Cheevers at mattcheevers@smoothdirection.com or on 07775 422 102

www.smoothdirection.com

TOMS VAT Helpline

There are changes to TOMS from January 2010, as below. Though most ITT members will not be affected.

Martin Pooley is an independent accountant specialising in TOMS VAT. Most fees are success related. Contact martin@pooley.co.uk or Tel 01603 662277 Fax 01603 618051 Mobile 07831 339720 www.pooley.co.uk

2010 changes:

1 If you sell inhouse supplies (eg run a hotel in Italy) along with bought in supplies (eg flights or car hire), you are presently required to include the inhouse supplies in the TOMS calculation at cost. You do not pay UK VAT on them because they are liable in Italy. In future you will be required to take them out of the TOMS calculation at market value and use normal VAT rules. In the case of a hotel abroad this just means continuing to declare VAT abroad. This only applies if you can determine the market value of the inhouse supply eg you also sell comparable accommodation by itself. Operators who are affected by this change will have to adjust their annual calculation but it will not make much difference to their TOMS liability unless they make significantly different % margins on inhouse and bought in supplies. Operators with their own UK hotels may pay more.

2 If you sell UK based educational trips to local authorities you should be using normal VAT rules. In future, TOMS will apply so you will not be able to issue a VAT invoice and the local authority will not be able to reclaim the VAT, assuming you buy in the accommodation etc. This will put operators who buy in accommodation etc at a disadvantage against operators who have their own sites.

3 If you sell accommodation etc to another operator or business which sells on, your sale is a wholesale supply and normal VAT rules apply, not TOMS. At present HMRC allow you to opt to include wholesale supplies in TOMS. In future you will have to use normal rules. This is very rare.

4 If you sell to another business which does not sell on again, your supply falls under TOMS but HMRC allow you to opt for normal VAT rules. In future you will have to use TOMS. Organisers of UK conferences will be affected because their customers will not be able reclaim the VAT unless they change the way they contract.

Sixt Holiday Cars

Sixt is honoured to offer all ITT members a 10% discount. With Sixt holiday, the care and hassle-free holiday product within the Sixt family, you can explore the most beautiful places in the world at unbeatable rates. This is the easiest and most comfortable way as you see all costs at a glance. Our fully inclusive rates includes unlimited mileage, collision damage waiver with full excess refund, third party liability insurance, theft protection, airport surcharges and usually an additional driver. Renting with Sixt holiday guarantees the Sixt quality you know and expect at over 95 holiday destinations worldwide.

It is so easy to get this 10% discount: Simply go to www.sixt.co.uk/holidaycars/ and type in the Promotion Code SXITT09.

These are the best reasons for considering Sixt as your new supplier:

• Extremely attractive commissions
• State-of-the-art booking tools & technology
• Prepaid or pay on arrival programmes
• Worldwide availability in over 95 countries
• 180,000 cars at 3,500 service locations
• The largest BMW & Mercedes Benz fleet in the world
• Partnerships with over 50 airlines and all major international hotel chains
• Sixt has won the top award for customer service and customer satisfaction from “Business Traveller” in US and Europe four times
• Sixt received the "2009 World's Best Award" from the renowned international tourism magazine "Travel + Leisure"

Interested? Get in touch with us: wholesaler@sixt.com

The Cruise Advisor

Cruise specialise Alan Merrey has written a detailed e-book providing all the information and guidance clients who are new to cruising would require. The e-book is available to purchase for £3.95. As a special offer to his fellow ITT Members, this cost has been reduced to just £2.95 per copy. For the minimum purchase of 30 copies, any travel agency contact details can be incorporated. Click here for more information, or contact Alan at alan.merrey@ntlworld.com

T&T Recruit Solutions

T&T a specialist Travel recruitment and training organisation and a Corporate Member of the Institute is offering ITT Members access to discounted recruitment rates.

We provide an extremely cost and time-effective alternative to using your organisation’s internal staff to handle recruitment campaigns.

We provide the complete recruitment service from introduction to appointment.

This service is provided at no extra cost on agreed business volumes.

You will benefit from reduced introduction fee, FREE CRS cross training on appointment, Extended rebate schemes, FREE* Temp to Perms and FREE job advertising with the leading internet and trade recruitment websites.

* Conditions apply.

For Further details please call Jason Blayne, Sales Director on 0871 231 0455 or mail Jason@tandtrecruitsolutions.co.uk, Quoting ITT Media Benefit.

Continental Research Report

Continental Research is offering ITT Members a 50% discount on its latest research report on 2009 UK holiday destinations. The report retails at £150 - the cost to ITT Members is only £75 + VAT. Click here for more details.

Continental Research

Continental Research's 2009 survey will be released in sections throughout the year. The first part concerns travel and the internet which has been summarised into a newsletter available for ITT Members to download free of charge.

Click here for the summary.

ITT Consultants Directory

ITT has launched a Consultants Directory as part of a brand new initiative.

This directory is open to ITT Members only, as we continue to strive in our effort to provide benefits and services to our Members. Consultants must either be individual or corporate members of the Institute.

The Consultants Directory will list consultants by service type, for example: accountancy, marketing, recruitment, training and so forth.

There is a small fee of £100 or £200 for an annual listing; dependent on whether you are trading as an individual or as a business.

If you are an ITT Member and you offer consultancy services to the travel industry, then please get in touch and register your interest in becoming listed on the ITT Consultants Directory.

All you need to do is send the following details to admin@itt.co.uk:

• Your name
  Your company name/affiliation, if appropriate
  A web address and up to 50 words that outlines your service(s)
  An indication of the category under which you would wish to be listed

MERCHANDISE

ITT Tie

The new ITT tie is a must for all those ‘high profile’ social and business events! Subtlely branded, the tie is hand-made and 100% silk.

£16.50 + VAT

Business Card Holder

Fed up fumbling for business cards in your top pocket, bag or briefcase? Made in high quality black leather, the new ITT business card holder is an ideal way to keep your cards safe!

Only £8.50 + VAT

To order:

There are limited numbers available of both products, which will be available mid-February, so order early to avoid disappointment!

To order, contact Paul Evans on 0844 4995 653, or email paul@itt.co.uk