Focusing on a particular niche or destination can go a long way toward a travel professional’s success. However, you can also reap rewards by having a broader knowledge of a specific segment of the travel industry, such as resorts. Selling resort-based vacations can be more than a question of price and location, since clients are likely planning to spend much of their holiday on property. Even within the same brand, not all resorts look alike, nor do they all appeal to a single, vertical market. Yet, expressing this to clients can require a great deal of first-hand experience or extensive training and education.

So follow a few of these best-practice ideas from resort executives at a variety of brands and locations for bettering your resort bookings.

Sell special package offers and promotions. No matter what a client’s budget may be, everyone enjoys getting value for money, and even more so when times are tough. So demonstrate your own value to your customers by telling them about deals that they might not be aware are available to them.

“Seasonal offers and targeted promotions such as ‘Kids Free’ are a great way to add value for potential guests and can also help agents increase resort bookings,” says Kathy Halpern, vice president of sales and marketing, North America, at Occidental Hotels and Resorts. The “Kids Free” promotion is available at all Occidental Grand and Allegro properties through Dec. 17, 2010. The offer is valid for up to two children with one paying adult.

“A single-parent promotion can give parents traveling solo a break and save families hundreds of dollars,” Halpern notes. The company is also offering 30 percent off rates at its adults-only Royal Hideaway Playacar in Mexico through the end of the year. On top of that, you can earn a $50 bonus for each new four-night reservation made at the resort or a $75 bonus for each new four-night reservation made in suite room categories.