Character, Competence and Content
Hank Schrader, USMA '71, Europe Destination & Europe River Cruise Expert
Anne Schrader, Certified Travel Counselor & Certified Luxury Cruise Specialist
September is always a busy month for river cruise travel for our clients, as we have 10 couples in Europe right now or about to travel or who have finished their vacation..
It has not been an easy ride for 4 couples, as historic rain has flooded the upper Danube this week in September 2024. 4 of our clients’ travel was affected by the floods. We have managed to help all, and these situations don’t last long.
After the scramble, and successfully sorting it all out, it got me to thinking, as I often do, about the purpose of our business. Are we as good as we say we are in helping folks have exceptional river cruise vacations?
Anne often emphasizes we are not just order takers; we need to add value to the folks who trust their travels to us;
So, lets take a critical look at the foundation of business and our 3 guiding principles, Character, Competence, and Content and what it means for you if you decide to use us to help you travel better, especially if you are deciding to use us a a resource to plan a river cruise..
Character
Character for me is what we do and why we do it. We believe that we must be trustworthy, respectful and reliable. Character is a relationship building process, as you search for the right person to advise you about river cruising. We must be loyal, supportive and helpful. A more fancy way of saying this is we must provide personalized customer service.
Our class motto for my West Point Graduating Class of 1971 is “Professionally Done”. We also strive to provide you travel services that are “Professionally Done”.
Perhaps the best way to describe our business character, is to evaluate us as we advise you about your river cruise travels. Here are some questions you might ask yourself as you evaluate our services
Evaluation overall is simple—are we the right person to help you?
It is judgement time—do you think we will find you the best option for your river cruise trip?
Do we deliver timely, accurate answers to your questions and concerns?
Are we easy to work with?
Can you trust us to do what is best for you, not us?
Will we solve your pain points about traveling?
We think we check all these boxes with a resounding yes, but do you?
Maybe a little evidence is important here, so this might provide some back up to these questions, based upon past and present clients and other agencies, as we we think we are you best option to help plan a river cruise for your vacation.
Testimonials--We have a Traveller Hall of Fame page on our website along with testimonial quotes on various pages of our site and good reviews help—we use both, as well as A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau to help demonstrate we are the real deal..
The Hamlins on a Bordeaux River Cruise 2024
The Gems of SE Europe Group 2024
It is no surprise that we end almost every communication we have with folks with “Thanks for your trust in us”. It is not just a saying, it is a sincere reminder to us we must earn your trust every day.
Competence
To be a good travel advisor, it means we must understand how to best design a trip that hits all the items, or most of the items, that our clients desire in the trips we help the plan and execute.
You could call this discovery. Discovery is simple—do you, as a prospect, think we can help you get the best possible river cruise for your vacation?
After you become aware of our business, you now want to discover how we can help you. You want to know if we have the experience, knowledge and qualifications to help you, how we operate and what it costs to use us, and do you trust and like us.
It is no different than what you want when you buy something someone is selling—we all make these judgements. Here is where our website comes in—we must highlight how you will have a better trip by using us and how we talk with you in person or on the phone—our confidence and knowledge will help to set us apart from others in our profession..
We also emphasize this in our telephone calls—often spending up to an hour or more teaching and answering questions.
Ok, evidence time—we have taken 26 river cruises, have 3 more upcoming this year and next year, so our first hand knowledge is exceptional. We hold specialist designations from all major river cruise lines, so they know we have been properly trained about their products and services. We have been in business for 30 years. We have helped hundreds enjoy river cruises that match their travel preferences.
We also don’t charge extra fees for our services—we get paid by commissions only, and since the fee is already built into the price of the river cruise, you basically get our services for free, as you will pay the same price whether or not you choose to use us.
When something goes wrong, just like it recently happened to 4 of our clients, we become your adovate to help resolve and reduce problems that may make your vacation less than you expected. We make sure you are not alone.
Content
We believe we must become the best available resource to educate our clients about their upcoming travel. Since no travel advisor can be all things to each travel specialty, we focus on European River Cruising. While we know we are among the best possible river cruise agants in all of America, you may not be aware of the level of competence and respect we hold from past clients and industry companies.
So, how do we build awareness, that ultimately may lead you to use us as your trusted travel advisor? It is our outstanding content on our website and these blogs.
Here are some statistics from the analytics portion of our website (all are from 2024 only):
1) 42,391 unique visitors in 2024.
2) By far our best aspect in building awareness is the excellent content on our website. Over time we have built a great SEO ranking for 2 important areas—we are #1 on Google for Best River Cruise Routes in Europe ( 10,886 visitors) and bounce between #1 to #3 on Europe River Cruise Comparisons (10,873 visitors).
3) We are also rank # 1 for Europe River Cruise Ratings (3,150 visitors)
SEO rankings takes time, but excellent content usually rises to the top, especially if it is unique. As you can see, ours has.
Our river cruise section of our website has over 100 blogs about river cruising (we rank #2 or #3 for river cruise blogs) and 140 day-by-day itineraries of 7 different river cruise lines. By my count there are about 186 day by day routes of these 7 companies listed for sale in 2025, or stated another way, we have 75% of the offerings with our pictures of what you will see and do.
Here is a list to prove this point
Amawaterways 33 routes 33 completed
Avalon Waterways 36 routes 22 completed
Emerald River Cruises 22 routes 18 completed
Scenic River Cruises 22 routes 19 completed
Tauck River Cruises 32 routes 23 completed
Uniworld River Cruises 23 routes 9 completed
Viking River Cruises 18 routes 17 completed
Totals 186 routes 141 completed
We don’t know any other agency who has such a massive number of routes, using their own pictures. We could have only done this by taking 26 different river cruises since 2009—it is a huge investment in time and money to benefit you.
Building content is crucial and doesn’t happen overnight—adding good stuff to our website takes time and energy, as well as research to provide our clients something worthwhile. This is a win-win for all—we are subject matter experts on river cruising and you learn, so everyone benefits.
Our Final Thoughts
Character, Competence and Content—all benefit you when we help you plan your river cruise vacation. Isn’t it about time to: Savor life,,,Make Memories… Visit Dream Destinations…Your River Cruise Journey starts here!
We are travel experts, ocean and river cruise specialists, and Europe destination experts. We have first-hand knowledge of almost anywhere you want to visit in Europe. We know our products and the vendors who sell them to you. We have designed special tours for dozens of clients, led several and will continue to find just the right vacation that will exceed your expectations.
When you are spending your hard-earned money for a vacation, you want an advisor who can match you with the right trip. You want someone who will understand your expectations and fuel your anticipation (or excitement) to get you the best possible trip experience. And, you want someone who can help you with the decision making process. We think we have all these qualities.
Whatever your Dream Destinations are, we are here to help you get the best possible vacation based on what is important to you! We will provide you high quality, expertly planned travel. Please give me a call 713-397-0188 (Hank) or email me at hschrader@visitdd.com . We want to help you: Savor life…make memories…Visit Dream Destinations! Your journey begins here!
ANNE has earned a degree from the University of Houston in Hotel and Restaurant Management. Serving as the President of Visit Dream Destinations, LLC, since 2016, she is uniquely experienced professional travel advisor with over 26 years’ experience in the travel industry. Among her numerous certifications, she is a Certified Travel Counselor (CTC) by the Travel Institute, considered the gold standard in travel agent certification and she is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC) by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), as well Luxury Cruise Specialist also from CLIA. Having traveled often to Europe since 1989, she has expanded on her certification as a Destination Specialist in Western Europe (DS) with extensive first-hand experience in luxury vacations. She holds numerous other specialty designations from individual vendors. An expert photographer, she delights in capturing the true essence of destinations to share with all.
HANK is a certified Western European Destination Specialist (DS) who has been traveling to Europe for 52 years. He is also an Accredited Cruise Counselor (ACC), conferred by the Cruise Line International Association (CLIA). This recognized expert in cruise and leisure travel is a retired Army Officer, and taught World Geography for 8 years. He is a `71 graduate of West Point and has earned 2 master’s degrees. His other Certifications:
AmaWaterways River Cruise Specialist
Viking River Cruise Specialist
Scenic River Cruise Specialist
Emerald Waterways Specialist
Avalon Waterways Specialist
Brit Agent
