Booking a holiday without an ideal husband can strain relationships

Booking a holiday without an ideal husband can strain relationships

Obtaining cheap last-minute deals is hard enough at the moment – the consistent absence of ‘him’ indoors makes our job more frustrating!

In the line of fire

I have heard it said that if it wasn’t for the travelling public, working in a travel agency would be a great job. I have some sympathy with that, as it seems there are more clients whose only desire is to direct their anger about their disastrous holiday at the agent.

Listening to the criticism is difficult enough but what makes it worse is that, more often they didn’t book with you in the first place.

I recently approached one woman who had been selecting brochures and asked if I could be of help. She replied that she was looking for next year as she needed to forget this year’s holiday. I didn’t recognise her as a regular client, so I made the mistake of asking who she had booked the holiday in question with.

“Direct from Portland,” came the reply, “but in future I’ll book with a travel agent, you can look them in the eye and know what you’re booking.”

I began my technique asking where, when, price etc, in an attempt to divert her from her Portland holiday. She was having none of it! In her view we were all in the same industry, so someone was going to hear about it. I gathered the Portland telesales clerk told her that she had a ‘twin three’ in the hotel. Upon arrival with her husband and 15-year-old son she found she had exactly that – a twin room with three beds.

“I thought I would have a studio apartment for three people. How am I supposed to know what a ‘twin three’ is,” she said. “If you spoke in a language we could all understand instead of ‘travelspeak’ the mistake wouldn’t have happened. My son is 15 and used to looking at page three pin-ups, not at my legs with their varicose veins and cellulite. And as for his father, well no words can describe his disappointment!”

I willed Kate to rescue me but she was enjoying my discomfort too much. Eventually the woman left with an armful of brochures and promises from me that I would obtain descriptions of rooms or apartments before she booked – and translating for her, as best as I could, any ‘travelspeak’.

Have what you’re given

My former boss Graham, from Lipscombe Travel, in Southend recently experienced an example of the demoralising effect that multiples’ dictates from management can have on colleagues. While out shopping with his wife, Mandy, Graham found out how the effect manifested itself in staff attitudes.

While Mandy sought the sales bargains, Graham popped into a Lunn Poly agency for a browse around the racks looking for brochures that he couldn’t obtain as an independent agent. He was approached by a clerk who asked him whether he wanted this or next year’s brochures? “Next”, he replied.

He was handed a Thomson brochure with the statement, ‘we’re giving 30% off next year’. “But I’m not asking for a discount,” he said. “Please yourself, I was only trying to be helpful,” came the reply.

Clearly a case of you will have a discount whether you like it or not! I suggested that the clerk may have recognised him as an agent but he doubted that as he said that he doesn’t get around much these days.

When help is not at hand

Communication between codeshare airlines is crucial and should be obligatory, if distress to disabled passengers is to be avoided.

However, lack of communication seems to be the order of the day.

Kate recently booked a holiday to Nuremberg with DER Holidays and at the time of booking requested wheelchair assistance for one of the passengers. Two weeks later Kate rang DER to confirm the wheelchair assistance. DER advised that it could not be confirmed as it was a Lufthansa-Eurowings codeshare flight.

Under the International Air Transport Association ruling we are told that the carrier has to confirm the assistance but because this flight was booked within the codeshare agreement neither airline would commit themselves. Kate was told she needed a Eurowings flight number but they had had no economy seats available, so, for confirmation of assistance the client would need to upgrade the seat with Eurowings, hence the catch-22 situation. The client made it to Nuremberg Airport but, on arrival, was told that there was no wheelchair assistance. The reason? Because it was a Sunday!

Perhaps Nuremberg should take a leaf out of Bournemouth International Airport’s book. It has just been awarded the Southern Tourist Board’s prestigious Welcome Host Corporate Certificate, in recognition of its high standard of customer care. BIA’s managing director, Glynn Jones, is expecting 300,000 passengers to pass through the terminal this year and realises the importance of providing them with a first-class service. The award underlines this commitment.

Him who must be obeyed

I don’t know about the rest of the UK but clients are becoming bolder with their cheek when seeking out last-minute deals!

As I was reading out the details of a recently arrived fax from Tapestry Holidays, a client reached out her hand to take it from me and said, “I’ll have that and any others you have got for last-minute deals.”

I said that I needed it myself. She responded with, “Well, if you could photocopy them and print out any others I’ll take them home and let ‘him’ look at them.”

‘Him’? These days I find myself wanting to strangle ‘him’! It is always ‘him’ that has to be consulted before ‘she’ books; it is always ‘him’ who is unavailable, or can’t be reached by phone when the ideal holiday appears on the screen.

I am beginning to ask myself if there is an actual ‘him’ or is he simply a device, a means by which a client can make unreasonable demands of an agent while retaining an acceptable and workable level of customer-agent relationship during negotiations.

In this week’s prize period of frustration, ‘he’, the husband of a woman who has been pestering us for a cheap deal for the end of September, is being more awkward. After much effort, I offered her the ideal break at the right price.

Then she said: “Oh! It’s going from Gatwick, he can’t go from Gatwick, he’s adamant”.

“Well, he won’t be going then will he,” I uttered.

“I’ll call again tomorrow,” she said, “there may be something going from Bristol”.

I looked at her dumbly, resisting the temptation to say that: “Pigs might fly!”