Labelling clients is just the ticket to make the boss turn a deaf ear

Labelling clients is just the ticket to make the boss turn a deaf ear

Arrogant customers are often so keen to bag all the attention, they don’t give a thought to who will be netting the profits

Best kept secrets

The Four Seasons Hotel in London was the venue for a presentation of Castilla y Leon. Having accepted the invitation from Mundi Color’s Tony Mansicola, I had to confess I knew nothing about the area. Tony explained that this is the latest region in Spain to embrace tourism.

Wandering around the workshop chatting to hotel, restaurant and tour representatives, I wondered how Spain had managed to keep this region a secret for so long. I discovered that Castilla y Leon boasts 112 historical monuments, 200 castles, 11 cathedrals and three World Heritage sites, as well as many sports facilities including golf, mountain climbing and canoeing.

Birthplace of the Castilian language, this area is relatively unknown in comparison to Spain’s bustling tourist resorts but represents the real Spain, where only pure Spanish is spoken and the gastronomy is traditional and unspoiled.

The region’s outstanding cuisine and fine wines provided a treat for the agents when they sat down to dinner prepared with produce from the area. A truly Spanish feast.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the chance to taste the pudding as I had to leave to catch my train back to Dorset. However, I had enjoyed a relaxed and informative evening in good company and I thank the minister of tourism for Casilla y Leon and Mundi Color for such kind hospitality.

Can’t believe your ears

Nigel returned from a diving fam trip in the Cayman Islands, reminding us that it’s tough at the top. Along with five other males and five females, he enjoyed seven dives in three days but he paid the price for diving with a cold when he came back deaf in one ear. One office wit suggested he just nod his head to everything that was said to him, but he heard fine when everyone asked for a rise. His hearing improved later when he heard a lady with a rather haughty voice asking for baggage labels.

Jude responded with: “I’ll have a look but I don’t think we’ve got any at the moment.”

Then Nigel queried: “It’s unusual for you not to have received labels with your tickets. You did book your tickets here didn’t you?”

“Oh no, I booked them on the Net,” she retorted. “Anyway, what difference does that make, after all, it is free advertising for you isn’t it?”

This remark rendered our boss dumb but it is a further illustration of how the Net-buying public view any travel agency as a branch of WH Smith, in addition to an information source.

Stop for pregnant pause

A recent telephone call to Sarah Bonner of Australian Pacific Tours left me with feelings of guilt.

I was booking a camping tour in Australia and needed some advice. I knew she had taken the same tour in May of this year so I called her on her mobile.

Sarah told me to hold while she pulled the car over at the side of the road to answer the call. In mid-sentence, I heard her being rebuked by a grumpy male voice asking her whom she had come to visit as the place she had pulled into was a private caravan park.

I managed to explain that the single room supplement in the upgrade box of the brochure had confused the client, myself and the tour operator. Sarah dutifully said she would sort the matter out and give us a ring back.

The next day Sarah rang back and cleared up the confusion but then went on to say she had spent the night in hospital. Her baby is due in a couple of weeks and she had experienced a few ‘twinges’ after speaking to me the day before, so had rushed to hospital. It was a false alarm!

An old wive’s tale has it that a ride on a motorbike over rough ground will bring on a birth, but it seems that a phone call from a confused agent can have the same effect! Is there no end to agents’ versatility – and can we impose a service charge for each novel use of an agent’s time?

Are the people right?

Giving clients the benefit of our knowledge and experience when helping them choose the right holiday at the right price is difficult enough without having to ensure they holiday with the right people.

One client popped in to say she and a friend had enjoyed their holiday but there had been one problem – all the guests in the hotel appeared to be the same age as themselves (the hotel was one used by Saga Holidays). I was surprised, assuming a hotel which houses guests of the same age group wouldn’t present a problem. But this client had been appalled by the dress code of the Saga group. “By the end of the holiday, I felt I would scream if I saw one more pair of men’s legs like sticks of celery wrapped in baggy shorts,” she moaned. She suggested we keep a Saga brochure on hand to avoid booking independent clients into hotels “overrun” with Saga clients.

Operators have the same problem. I was told by Sabina of Mosaic Holidays that she was held personally responsible by the parents of a young girl who fell in love with the captain of the gulet on which they were holidaying. Apparently, this nubile young miss had refused to fly home, choosing to sail off into the sunset with her lover. Sabina was blamed for booking the family on a gulet holiday in the first place.

Room with a view

A friend who works at a tourist information centre had an enquiry recently from a US client who had learned of a condominium for sale, at the bargain price of £60,000, at Mudeford, Dorset, complete with superb views of Christchurch harbour.

Upon making enquiries, she later had to explain to that the condo was in fact a rather humble one-roomed beach hut with a ground rent of £1,100, available between April and October – but that he had got the price right!