Not a house of fun
How are you coping with ‘Summer Madness’?! Summer Madness faxes from Hayes and Jarvis have been arriving every 48hrs offering deals which have to be booked within a set period, normally 48hrs. If the motive behind this harebrained scheme was to send agents completely loopy then it’s having the desired effect on me if nobody else.
The Hayes and Jarvis agency sales team have explained that the strategy is a ploy to use up seats and to enable agents to compete with direct sell and Teletext rivals by providing competitive prices. It is anticipated that it will end soon. Not soon enough, according to some agents who have contacted me.
An example of the flaws in this grand scheme was embodied by our client who had popped in looking for a last minute deal. She was attracted by an offer of an all-inclusive holiday in Antigua at a cost of £599 per person. Having never been to the Caribbean before she decided that it would be wise to mull over the details with her partner that evening before they committed themselves.
The following morning she returned eager to book. Sal accessed the system to find that the price had risen to £649. Horror! The client’s face fell as Sal phoned reservations to be told that the £599 price was valid only if booked the day before. By now the 48hr deadline was up and so was the priceÉ
“I would have preferred to book with you,” the client said, “but I have seen a similar all-inclusive holiday on Teletext with Style.”
Not wishing to lose a sale, Sal rang Style Holidays.
The holiday described by the client was indeed available to agents at an extra cost of £100 per person. When she asked why it was so much dearer, Sal was told that the £100 was the ‘agent’s commission’. It was news to us that Style were paying 20% commission, but I digress.
The upshot of it all was that Hayes and Jarvis lost a booking and so did we. The client booked direct with Style.
The following day the new 48hr fax from Hayes and Jarvis arrived. Surprise, surprise! The price of the all-inclusive holiday to Antigua had dropped back down to £599. We rang the client in the forlorn hope that she may not have completed her transaction with Style, but she had, adding that she’d eventually paid £569 per person and that the reservations clerk with whom she’d booked had suggested that if she booked by midday he would upgrade her room as well.
I can appreciate the logic offered by Oliver in Hayes and Jarvis agency sales when he speaks of selling off seats quickly, but it is difficult to do this in practice. It’s not worth drawing up a window card to advertise the offers because if the conditions aren’t stated clearly enough we lay ourselves open to charges from the trading standards authorities.
Clients who are told of the booking deadline at the time of their enquiry often feel that they are being pressurised into booking and this is not helpful to the relationship between client and agent.
As our client said, buying a holiday is unlike buying anything else; buy a dress and you get to try it on first so you can make an on-the-spot decision. With a holiday, there are so many more things to consider – time off work, transport to airports etc. I have to say I sympathised with her.
All’s well that ends well
Regular readers of this column may recall the story of the bride whose fiance’s ex-wife was withholding her signature from the divorce papers and holding up the wedding. The good news is that the happy event is back on track! The bad news is that when Bridget at Premier went to pick up the seats for the honeymoon, they had gone.
The whole itinerary that we had spent so long on had been thrown out. I blinked back tears and dialled Chris Jeavons of Passenger Sales at Singapore Airlines in the hope that he could remedy the sorrysituation.
Chris works with both operators and agents and is the calming voice you need to hear when you’re on the verge of reaching for the Prozac.
It took some searching, holding one seat here and another there, but he eventually managed it. I told the client of the efforts involved in securing her seats hoping that she would appreciate how hard agents and operators work for the public, and this information had the pleasing effect of inducing her to book immediately before anything else could happen to spoil her special day!
Driven round the bend
Years in the business help you to develop an eye for sorting the genuine punter from the malingering time waster.
However, to begin with, you must assume that every enquiry is genuine and to be pursued with enthusiasm – which is just what I did with the woman who sat down in front of me.
“I’ve been to the bank,” she said (my smile broadened) “they’ve told me it’s not worth paying the money back on the car loan, so I thought we’d have a holiday instead.”
She said she had four children and wanted a mobile home in France, as far south as possible.
After a while, Motours came up with what she’d asked for at the right price.
“That’s too far down.”
“But you said ‘as far south as possible’!” I replied.
“Yes, but that’s too far. How would you like to drive that far with six kids in a car?”
“Six?” I queried. “I thought you told me you had four children?” I said, worrying suddenly that I’d missed a turn in the plot.
“You’re right. I mean four.”
Doubts loomed large and hairy in my head. If she can’t decide how many children she has what chance have I got asking her to decide about a holiday?
Fortunately, Fate took her away from me at this point when she stood up and pointed to a bus.
“Gotta go, that’s my bus. I’ll be in touch!”
I bet she won’tÉ