Licence toÉgo nowhere
Sal got a rude awakening on Saturday from a frantic client calling from Alicante Airport. Her client had booked a Virgin Holidays villa holiday in Costa Blanca complete with hire car but discovered when he arrived at the airport he had forgotten his driving licence.
He told Virgin staff at the airport there was no problem as Sal had taken a photocopy of his licence at the time of booking. As requested by Virgin, Sal had indeed taken a copy and had duly forwarded it to them. Sadly for the client, Virgin’s office was closed, so there was no-one to verify the details.
The client then suggested that Sal contact his brother and ask him to break into his home, retrieve the lost licence, photocopy it and fax it over to Alicante Airport. The brother in question just happens to be a policeman. On hearing of the request he could muster little brotherly love.
“Even if I did get into the house, I could never find the licence, his house is a tip!”
Our client was left to the mercies of local taxi drivers and, armed with the phone number of the DVLA, vowed to collect his hire car by hook or by crook on Monday morning.
Too much hot air
Educationals can prove invaluable back in the office, and it’s surprising just how much detail – however trivial or irrelevant – sticks in your mind.
However, there will always be questions you won’t be prepared for, as Penny found out this week.
An elderly gent sauntered into the shop and asked for a brochure on the Gambia. I handed him the Gambia Experience brochure which he flicked through, nodding approvingly. He looked up and asked me if I’d been there. I said I hadn’t but that Penny had.
Penny leapt into action describing the location of the hotels and recounting her wonderful stay. He allowed her to finish and then said: “I’m interested in the air conditioning É which hotel has the noisiest?”
Penny could answer any questions on the flora and fauna of the land, native culture, food and flight times, but she was forced to dig deep into the banks of her memory when it came to which hotel air-conditioning service topped the noise register. While she conjured a response I was left thinking what a peculiar way to choose a hotel he’d adopted.
Then, another obscure question. “They don’t have line-dancing around the pool, do they? Only I don’t want any more of that, I had enough of it in Mexico.”
Penny assured him that, as far as she was aware, line-dancing has yet to catch on in the Gambia.
Losing out to telly sales
It’s not been our Sal’s week, she’s been suffering from hayfever. Itchy eyes, a runny nose and sneezes forced her to surf the Internet for a cure. She wished she hadn’t as it revealed a list of things to avoid that would mean a complete change of lifestyle!
Smoking and drinking were at the top of the list – she enjoys both in moderation – open windows were a no-no as was running through fields – she lives in a place called Cherryfields and while she no longer runs she can manage a steady trot if it’s worth it).
Having to suffer has not affected her work and it was with great enthusiasm that she greeted a chap who marched in and demanded a Sunworld Turkey brochure. Sally joined the client at the brochure rack and handed him the Sunworld brochure along with a Tapestry one, adding that she had visited Turkey with Tapestry. Where was he thinking of staying?
“Oh I can’t stop to talk about that,” he said. “The wife’s on the phone this minute booking one from the telly!” In a flash he was gone.
Give us a clue?
I have just received the latest edition of the World Travel Dictionary and it has made me wonder why we haven’t developed a code which would enable us to express our feelings about our clients without offending them, and, at the same time, put operators in the picture about what’s really going on.
We all encounter situations where the client sits in front of you, red-faced and with veins bulging from their neck, demanding you ring the operator. The same operator you rang 15mins ago and you know won’t have managed to telephone abroad yet.
But, you go through the motions. It’s now you need Travelspeak so that you can say ‘I know you’re doing all you can, but he won’t leave my desk until you have an answer and I’ve had enough as well and after all, it is your fault he’s here in the first place and you can forget about offering him 10% of his next holiday – this one’s going for your jugular!’
Dropping in for a bargain
Five minutes before closing and in wander the last of the big spenders. Their miserable faces suggested we were the last in a long line of agents visited with no success.
“What special deals have you got?” asked the husband.
“When would you like to go?” I asked
“You tell me,” he replied.
One of those, I thought. Time for a different approach. “Do you fancy anywhere in particular?” I smiled.
“You tell me where you’ve got,” came the reply. Difficult to keep smiling, but I tried. Without wishing to appear sarcastic, I suggested it would speed things up if he gave me a clue as to where he wanted to go, when, and how much he was willing to spend.
“That’s just it. We want a bargain. We’ve left it late to book deliberately!”
I tapped away for availability for four days’ time and quoted prices.
“What!” He expostulated. “No-one will pay those prices. They won’t get rid of them if they don’t drop the cost.”
The wife nodded in agreement – he knew it all. “We’ll call back when the prices have dropped a bit. It’s ridiculous paying all that for a fortnight’s holiday!”
I didn’t have the inclination to tell him that the prices were for one week onlyÉ