PATIENCE and an ability to keep a straight face should be included under essential requirements in any travel agent’s job description.
A top 10 list of strange requests from customers, published by Midlands Co-op Travel, underlines the need for these skills. Among the more bizarre requests was someone asking for a sea view in mountain-locked Austria, and a naturist skiing holiday.
The need to know the smallest details, such as how many coat hangers there would be in a hotel wardrobe and how a suitcase should be packed, proves just how anxious some customers get when booking a holiday.
Other classics include a holidaymaker heading for Spain who asked for ú100 worth of potatoes, and a woman who requested an extra seat on the aircraft for her pet dog.
One adventurous couple wanted to explore the possibilities of getting married underwater.
And in an unrelated incident, a man wanted to get to Italy straight away to stop a wedding.
“With requests like these our staff often have to be quite diplomatic, but we understand that people do have worries about foreign travel and we will always do what we can to allay their fears,” said a spokeswoman for Midlands Co-op, exercising her own skills in diplomacy, we presume.
There is no doubt that any travel agency in the country could come up with their own top 10.
If you can better the ones mentioned here let us know.
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