TTG Travel Agent Conference 2011
Pin these up on the wall and start your journey to becoming better travel experts.* We also kick off the travel trade’s very own crossword puzzle to help you gain knowledge in a fun way. Have a great start to 2012
10 reasons to use a travel consultant
(for every client who walks in)
1. You’ve googled ‘Paris vacation’ and come up with 17.8 million responses. Need a little help editing those choices?
2. Remember when you used that obscure website to book your hotel, and when you got there, spent your beach vacation overlooking a parking lot?
3. How many hours were you on hold with the airline when your flight was cancelled because of a storm or a volcanic eruption?
4. Did you really mean to spend your honeymoon at that resort whose one tiny pool was filled all day with 12 screaming children?
5. Who knew that when you booked that ‘villa’ in Tuscany, it would be a small room with a kitchenette and no air-conditioning? Funny, it looked much better on your computer screen.
6. No one explained to you that in July, it’s winter time in Rio, and so you showed up there with nothing but five Hawaiian shirts and three pairs of swimming trunks.
7. How about the time you really needed a quick breakaway, and ended up on the Gold Coast during Schoolies and someone threw up on your shoes?
8. Yes, I guess that hotel must have used a telephoto lens when they took a picture of those guestrooms that you saw on their website. No, I wouldn’t have guessed that the photo was taken in 1973.
9. I suppose contacting the Attorney-General to resolve the fact that the Internet site has billed your credit card three times instead of once is the only route to take at this point. Yes, of course I sympathise that the exchange rate has changed and even if they do put the money back in your account, you’ll now get less.
10. It was definitely odd that there were no cab drivers at the airport at 3am when you finally landed in Phuket, but booking a transfer to your very remote hotel would have been a good thing to remember when you purchased your airline ticket and hotel online.
– Adrian Caruso, master business coach, TA Fastrack, Australia
By Martin Symes, CEO, Wego, Singapore
To go (online) or not to go, that is the question
Here are five reasons to help you make up your mind:
Reason 1
OTAs all IPO for millions.
Fact: Every successful online travel business has been an online ‘pure-play’ (e.g. Agoda, Priceline, Wego).
Reason 2
The owner’s kid wants something fun to do.
Fact: The people who set up online businesses are passionate about the online space and put everything they have into the business.
Reason 3
My business won’t survive if it’s not online.
Fact: Nobody will use a Mickey Mouse website with no compelling consumer proposition.
Reason 4
I want to dedicate resources to build a standalone, country-specific, high-quality online travel site.
Fact: Market is still wide open in several South-east Asian countries. But mind you, do it properly – or not at all. Have a dedicated team with relevant expertise and experience; invest in decent technology/design and brand; measure against different metrics to offline business; leverage existing supplier relationships; consider partnering with other local players (e.g. Raja Kamar International); partner with an overseas player (e.g. Wotif/Buffalo Tours).
Reason 5
I want to build a limited web presence to complement my existing offline business.
Fact: A chance to reduce cost/add revenue. Also, trims call times as customers know what they want. Build a simple brand site; use white label/affiliate solutions to extend product lines; deploy shopping engines for core products; retain offline fulfillment processes; offer serious service level commitments; train staff to inform customers of the website’s benefits.
The seven deadly sins
Want to win customers from the Internet right now? Avoid these seven things that consumers complain most about travel consultants:
1. Phone calls/emails not returned
2. Customers ignored
3. Mistakes in bookings/ itineraries
4. Documents not ready for collection
5. Being treated as just another booking, not as a valued customer
6. Basic travel and destination information not provided
7. Not communicating with customers enough
– Adrian Caruso, master business coach, TA Fastrack, Australia
How to lose clients & win complaints
Six tips to follow if you want to lose clients to the Internet right now. Guaranteed to achieve no loyalty:
Tip #1 When in doubt, just wing it.
Tip #2 Over promise, under deliver.
Tip #3 Sell cheap, charge optionals later!
Tip #4 Hard sell! Pressure reaps results.
Tip #5 Refund? What refund?
Tip #6 Fine print! What a customer doesn’t know…
– Sheldon Hee, former general manager of Tradewinds Tours & Travel in Singapore, who urged travel experts to drop the above practices and instead build trust, invest in professionalism and hone their customer service to be in the right club of winning clients and losing complaints, not the other way round
This article was first published in TTG Asia, January 13 issue, on page 4. To read more, please view our digital edition or click here to subscribe.
