Vacation.com officially introduced its new member web portal, Agent Universe, which is now “live” for Vacation.com agents. The largest travel services marketing organization in terms of number of agency locations announced Agent Universe in May during its 14th International Conference & Trade Show onboard Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas.

The new online portal offers members a more robust website to quickly access exclusive Vacation.com programs, booking tools, and supplier information to maximize their profits. Vacation.com said it began training its agents and agency owners on Agent Universe in June and migration to the new portal has gone smoothly. Additional training classes are scheduled for each week in July and more training sessions will be added as necessary. The live training webinars are also being recorded so members will have access to them 24-hours a day, seven days a week. There are also user guides and quick tips for Agent Universe usage available right from the homepage.

“During our International Conference, we promised our members that Agent Universe would be available to them shortly, and we delivered on that -- which is extremely important,” said Vacation.com President John Lovell. “Now our goal is to make certain that every agent feels completely comfortable with the new system. That’s why we are spending a considerable amount of time on training and support. Once our members understand how much easier this portal is to use, compared to our old one, they will be much more efficient in accessing and leveraging Vacation.com’s marketing tools to promote their businesses, and achieve greater productivity and sales.”

Agent Universe includes such features as customizable quick links, a calendar of events and promotions, global site search functionality, news alerts, and a live chat function, along with direct links to Vacation.com suppliers, programs and trainings. The new portal also includes a members-only community on Facebook, more robust reporting of agency supplier sales, and administration controls for the agency owner/manager to manage their users, archived promotions, and more comprehensive, intuitive navigation menus on interior pages, as well as a more contemporary look and feel.

“The transition into Agent Universe was very easy for me and my agents,” said Vacation.com member John Krieger, president of Cruise & Tour Center in Dallas. “We found the navigation very intuitive and it was easy to find the Vacation.com program information. Our booking engines were immediately accessible and the calendar feature highlights the events and promotions from Vacation.com that we need to focus on for the week.”