Agents must grasp the opportunity presented by the Covid-19 crisis to get the message out to consumers that they are “licensed and bonded”, according to a leading Irish retailer.
Mary McKenna, founder of Dublin-based Tour America, Cruise Holidays and most recently her new Zoom Holidays brand, said: “We’re really trying to get the message out now that it’s never been more important for customers to know what licensed and bonded means. In the past it wasn’t really important to them.
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“But this is the luxury we have as travel agents; our value proposition is we are licensed and bonded and that means the customers’ money is financially protected.”
She continued: “For consumers, this is about loyalty. And if you do the right thing with the consumer, I think they’ll come back. And I’m really hoping that they’ll say you were a good company and not for a tenner go somewhere else.
“So I’m hoping that fickle behaviour changes and that the travel industry will reap the reward of what we’ve done for years, which is good service; being licensed and bonded, and we’ve never been credited for that.
“You only get one opportunity to do this. And people will forget in six or 12 months’ time.”
Short memories
Dorking Travel owner Alistair McLean agreed, saying: “People have short memories unless we take this opportunity now to really hammer home the value of an agent.”
But he said he was not convinced consumers wouldn’t be swayed by price again in the future.
“I hope, going forward, that customers aren’t going to turn around and say, well, actually, I can save £50 by going on.com. I hope they say they will prefer to come in and speak to a human being and if anything goes wrong, experience has told them that they’re in a good place to resolve it.
“I’ve actually had conversations with customers and said, listen, you just sit back, enjoy the sunshine and pour another gin and tonic while I take the rap and get it all sorted out for you. And I’m pulling my hair out, doing all of the work – and like every other agent is, doing it for absolutely nothing!”
But he added: “I do hope that that loyalty will survive but I have to say, I’m pretty pessimistic that it will because people’s habits are that if they can buy something a little cheaper, how soon will they forget that loyalty?”
Personal touch
David Walker of Not Just Travel member The Travel Snob, said he was doing everything possible to give the personal touches that would reassure and remind customers they had made the right choice in booking with him.
“A lot of my clients whose holidays have been cancelled are very deflated and upset, so I’ve sent them something to keep them going. So families that were going on Florida holidays got Disney jigsaws; people going on safaris, got World Wildlife Fund toys. I’ve just cancelled a Borneo holiday today and they’re getting a Lonely Planet Borneo Guide so they can read up as a family about what they’re going to do next year.
“I’m getting really positive feedback from them and because I’m doing this,” he said.
“Clients are recommending me to friends who perhaps booked with the bigger boys, and it’s taking a day to get through to them, or if they’re having to go direct to the airlines. So I see it as an investment. It’s the same as doing advertising. It’s an investment in the future to keep these customers. If I can prove that they made the right choices, they will come back.”
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