Next month, my colleagues and I will be pulling on our wellies and teaming up with the National Trust to get planting, says Andrea Smith, a Holiday Village agent based in the Peak District
I’ve been doing this job for 25 years, yet I often find myself falling at the first hurdle. ‘What’s the weather going to be like?’ is so often a client’s first question. And my honest answer is: ‘Who knows?!’
I can tell clients what it should be, based on historical seasons, but I’ve had clients caught in Palma’s August storms, Greek wildfires and now flash floods in Valencia. I’m also old enough to have noticed the hurricane season getting longer, later and stronger in the Caribbean and the US. There is no denying climate change is with us. The question is what, as individuals, can we do about it?
With so much information out there, it gets confusing. We know our customers see documentaries accusing the travel industry of greenwashing. So shouldn’t we understand exactly where clients’ money is going if an operator asks if they would like to make an environmental contribution? Shouldn’t we be able to explain it?
Branching out
Well, I haven’t a clue based on the limited information I get. So when I was asked while making a booking if my client would like to donate £57 to plant a tree, I wasn’t minded to even ask the question. But it did give me an idea – because we all agree that trees are good.
I approached Paula Nuttall of The Holiday Village with the idea. I’d thought about how much more comfortable I would have been asking my client to donate the more affordable amount of £2.50. And wouldn’t it be great if I could also hold my hand on my heart and say to them: ‘I know exactly where your money is going, because not only is The Travel Village Group buying the trees itself, but our colleagues are actually getting out there, shovel in hand, to help plant some of them.’
You might have to collect quite a few £2.50 donations to equal £57, but wouldn’t a larger number of agents get behind an amount that is more affordable for their clients? And wouldn’t more clients agree to help? Low cost, high volume – it certainly works for McDonald’s and some airlines I could name. So was it worth trying?
Paula was enthusiastic about the idea, so we began working through the practicalities. How could we be sure that the donations would be accounted for properly? And if we managed to raise funds, where would we plant our trees?
Tree-mendous
Paula began talks with Midcounties to set up back-of-house procedures, while I contacted the local general manager of the National Trust.
The charity has pledged to plant 20 million trees over the next few years, so the general manager didn’t mind taking my call. They told me they could buy a tree and get it in the ground for £5, which would allow us to start making a difference with only two £2.50 donations.
Now all our ducks are in a row, we have announced the scheme to The Travel Village Group employees and business owners, and hope they will support it. Paula and Phil Nuttall are donating our first 50 trees, so next month, my colleagues and I will be pulling on our wellies and teaming up with the National Trust rangers to get planting.
£2.39 for a Snickers is nuts
To any airport staff reading this, you do an amazing job in often difficult circumstances. But airport management, do you ever ask your airside concessions to justify their prices? Last month, en route to Morocco, we were charged £14.50 for a glass of prosecco and £20 for a glass of red wine at one airport. They may have earned more commission from my table’s round than I can from booking the average family’s annual holiday. A Snickers bar was £2.39 – and it’s only made in Slough. To give this some perspective, I bought a Snickers halfway up Mount Toubkal in Morocco in a village accessible only on foot or by donkey – and it cost £1!