| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 17/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 57 |
| Copyright: Other |
Watering the house plants won’thelp agents’ commissions bloom
BA’s suggestion that we spend our time tending clients’ aspidistras is not growing on us. At least Abta knows how to treat us with respect
ABTAdo was a top night outWere it not for the efforts and generosity of Stewart Davie, general manager of the Berners Hotel, London, and Ian Mounser of Superbreak who, between them, organised my overnight stay in town, this Cinderella would not have made it to ABTA’s 50th birthday ball.
Having been invited by Time Off to this auspicious event, my excitement at the prospect of a glamourous evening out soon evaporated when a lack of accommodation in the capital became apparent. I was on the verge of putting my frock back into mothballs when Superbreak’s superman Ian Mounser, hearing of my plight, sprang into action and came up with a room at the Berners Hotel. The room proved so comfortable that I could quite happily have settled for dinner in it and a long soak in the bath!
However, the birthday celebrations beckoned and I headed for the Grosvenor House Hotel. There I fell in with a fun crowd of genial folk who were clearly in the party mood. The company at our table was great and included Time Off’s Ken Bates and account manager Bhav Patel. It was lovely to meet Wendy, the company’s reservations manager – I always like to meet a face to match the voice I hear so often!
The champagne reception hosted by Luton Airport set the evening sparkling and as we sipped it we were welcomed by ABTA’s new president Stephen Bath. Awards were made to past presidents and their contributions and achievements were applauded.
A super meal followed accompanied by a choice of fine wines. Robert Turner of Hyde Barker Travel, Nottingham, was especially pleased to find his plate heaped with good food as he explained he’d only recently had an encounter with starvation. It seems that he and a friend had trawled three counties – Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire – on the Monday evening in search of a restaurant meal but to no avail. Not a bistro could he find open; clearly Monday is the restaurateur’s day of rest!
Happily today was Wednesday, he was in London and he tucked in with gusto. I think he felt he’d more than made up for his involuntary dieting!
P&O donated the magnificent prize of a cruise worth £6,000 which was to be awarded to the victor of the evening’s competition. By a process of elimination, Hayley-Jo Wiltshire proved to be the one favoured by fortune and she was overwhelmed. When asked who she would be taking on the cruise, she announced that she’d only just split with her boyfriend. I’ll leave you to imagine the din created by the men offering their services.
We got top quality entertainment from The Weapons of Sound, a band who drummed up explosive sounds on an array of bizarre instruments from gas pipes to dustbins. Just as exciting were The Three Degrees and Edwin Starr. All in all, ABTA entered its second half century looking fit at 50!
Gearing up to impress
One of our clients wanted to impress one of his own clients and insisted Kate book an Audi TT Roadster convertible for his trip to Zurich and was adamant he would ferry his VIP and buying customer around in nothing less.
Kate obligingly set about the task but soon realised it was going to be more difficult than she had imagined. Every car-hire company she contacted in the first instance stated categorically that it was not possible to hire that particular model. Amongst those firms was Europcar UK.
When she phoned Europcar in Zurich, however, her request was met with the prompt booking of the desired vehicle. There is clearly a lack of communication between the UK and European offices but then, when you consider how dreadfully fractured and damaged British relationships with our European neighbours have become of late, it’s little wonder.
You’d like the tale to have a happy ending I know. It doesn’t. Our client’s secretary rang Kate to thank her for her efforts but added it was raining cats and dogs in Zurich, rendering the convertible redundant!
Let them walk the dog-
You may have been outraged, as I was, to read the suggestions made by British Airways’ new consultant that travel agents make up the shortfall left by cuts in commission by offering additional services to clients, such as dog walking and house sitting.
Such ideas cannot be taken seriously and aresurely offensive to all of us who work hard in a low wage industry while airlines cream off more and more profit.
In any case, even if one did take up these suggestions, we’d be putting the bona-fide dog walkers and house sitters out of a job, leaving them without the funds to buy a holiday from us!
These comments remind me of Marie Antoinette’s “Let them eat cake” remark, being equal in arrogance and impossibility. That these comments haven’t been thought through in any serious way adds insult to injury; after all, there are implications for anybody undertaking to work for a client in any other capacity.
What if the wretched dog runs away or, worse, dies in your care? Say the house gets burgled – what then? You take on a less onerous task and offer to do the washing up your client has left in their hurry to get to the airport only to chip their fine china!
You agree to water plants and feed fish but you poison the koi carp with baby bio and are left wondering why bonemeal isn’t encouraging the busy lizzies to flourish.
I know being an agent isn’t a profession in the same way as teaching or nursing is but it would be nice to be treated with a little respect from members of the same industry.