| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 14/08/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 51 |
| Copyright: Other |
It can take a few pearls of wisdom to keep up with clients’ requests
Booking seats to Sydney during the Games was an Olympic achievement but running after difficult customers deserves a medal
Finding the key to successTuesday evening saw me speeding across the county to Bournemouth Airport for its spectacular car give-away night. Stupid really, because if I’d read the invitation carefully, I’d have realised that I’d got the date wrong. So Wednesday evening saw me speeding across the county again, this time being rather more confident of the route!
Along with 60 other agents I registered my attendance, checked in by Vicky McManus, Bournemouth Airport’s marketing manager and her assistants Sarah and Erin. As we gave our names we selected a number of car keys corresponding to the number of bookings we’d made, departing from Bournemouth Airport during a set period.
One key would match the winning set in a glass container and open the star prize, a Mini Cooper. When I asked Vicky why they’d chosen to offer this particular model she replied that it was emblematic of Bournemouth Airport itself – ‘small and reliable’.
It was an informal evening with agents invited to avail themselves of a buffet supper, a glass of wine and a game of Scalextric, just to get us into motor mode! I took the opportunity to chat to some other local agents about the sorts of requests we’re all getting at the moment. High on everybody’s list of grievances was the problem of securing single rooms.
Gillian Welby, manager of Excelsior Travel in Bournemouth, agreed that there simply isn’t enough of this sort of accommodation to meet the growing demand.
A recent survey suggested that only one family in four now conforms to the stereotype of mum, dad and two children but operators are still not tailoring their products to reflect this trend.
Becky Wells of Atkins Travel, Lymington, Gillian and I have all noticed a rise in the number of clients asking to depart from Bournemouth Airport and are pleased that we are able to offer an increasing number of operators, large and small, to meet their requests. The exceptions are First Choice and Sunworld – heck, it’s their loss, we’ve got the business if they want it!
We sat down clutching our keys excitedly as Sue Underwood, general manager of Bournemouth’s sister airport, East Midlands, thanked everyone for their support and smashed the glass to reveal the winning key.
Neil Gates of Bath Travel in Totton, Hampshire, was the stunned winner. I felt my protective mothering instincts come surging to the fore as the 20-year old accepted his prize. I offered him my congratulations and some advice not to drive too fast or too close to other vehicles. He has assured me he’ll be very responsible.
Everyone said how much they’d enjoyed the event and how imaginative Vicky and her staff had been in creating it. I’m sure it’ll pay dividends. Agents are eagerly awaiting next year’s incentive already.
All white on the night
I wonder if sometimes we don’t stress enough the difficulties of meeting some clients’ requests? My clients seem to take it for granted that I can move heaven and earth on a daily basis to fit in with the most trivial appointments in their diaries.
I had trouble this week obtaining seats to Sydney around the time of the Olympics but was eventually successful. Swelling with pride at my achievement, I phoned the client to tell her the news.
“Can’t you get seats going out two days later,” she asked, “only I’ve got an appointment with the dental hygienist and you know what it’s like trying to get in to see them!”
It took some doing but I finally persuaded her that her teeth could wait and that she wasn’t in imminent danger of losing her pearly whites to gum disease if she put the appointment off for a little longer.
Room for criticism?
My associates at the local Tourist Information Centres are also suffering from clients with high expectations. As you will appreciate, bed and breakfasts in the West Country are difficult to find on peak dates, so when one assistant found a room at the rate of £16 per person per night for a couple of foreign visitors, she was quite pleased with herself.
Her pleasure was short lived however, when the following day the clients revisited the tourist office to complain. The room was comfortable and well appointed with stunning views they said but the wife found it noisy: “But that property is double glazed,” replied the clerk. “Yes, but when you opened the window, you could hear noise,” insisted the woman.
Tommy Cooper would have said ‘don’t open it then’ but I don’t suppose they would have appreciated the humour-
Len Barnsdale of Sky Holidays and I discussed the use of terms such as outskirts, outer limits and bordering on, all of which are open to widely differing interpretations. As Len said, clients will always hear what they want to hear, so, if the desired area is Villamoura and the property is described as being ‘on the border between Quarteira and Villamoura’ the client will assume they are going to Villamoura.
And while operators will state that a property is in one area, the hotel guide might state another and a local map will add a third possibility.
Len and I decided that agents should use the term ‘roughly in such-and-such area’ so as not to be too definitive!
From the mouths of babes
A client had phoned to tell us that her boyfriend, booked to travel with her and her two small sons, could not now get time off work to come and could she amend the booking to show a female friend travelling?
No problem we said, so she called in the following day with her little boys in tow.
She gave the name of the friend who would be taking her boyfriend’s place, at which her five-year old piped up: “He’s not coming now, is he mummy, ‘cos he said some nasty things to you the other night!”
A red-faced mum made her excuses and left.