Big Apple of temptation
As an agent I’m simply not interested in who shares hotel rooms and for what reason. As long as the room is paid for and I’ve made a little commission the client is free to share with Batman if that’s who takes their fancy.
But, time and again, we have to listen to complicated explanations from clients who want to ensure we are aware of their high morals.
My former colleague, Mandy, received a visit from a mother of 60ish and her 40-year old-daughter who booked a three-night stay in New York for themselves and the daughter’s boyfriend.
Later on in the day a young man called in to ask about the flight to New York that the two ladies had booked him on. Mandy’s curiosity was aroused as this chap couldn’t have been more than 19 – was he really due to share a room with a 40-year old girlfriend and her mother? Is this the stuff of which teenage boys dreams are made these days?
The mother rang to explain that it was only for matters of economy that the three were sharing and that there was nothing untoward about it. Mandy couldn’t help feeling this was a missed opportunity!
An eye for a bargain
All serious shoppers know that the real bargains are to be had overseas; cars, for example, cost far less in Holland than they do here while Levi jeans are a mere snip in the US.
A recent consumer survey confirmed the awful truth that the poor Brit is paying over the odds for pretty much everything and this is having an impact on the travelling public.
No longer do people want to go abroad simply for a holiday – retail savings are another incentive.
My client, a motorbike enthusiast, was enquiring about flights to Delhi. After we had begun checking a few companies he announced that he was thinking about buying a new bike.
I found myself wondering whether I’d saddled myself with a dud. It didn’t sound to me as though he had money enough for both the bike and the flight, but I kept quiet and pressed on.
It soon transpired that he had devised a way of having his cake and eating it. In a bike magazine he had seen an advertisement for a trip to Delhi that promised to fly the client out there where he could purchase a Royal Ensign bike. The client could then ride back. The trip promised a ú3,000 saving and an adventure to boot!
How can we compete with such deals?! I’m beginning to wonder if we shouldn’t all club together to buy products abroad ourselves which we could then turn into incentive packages. What about a free pound of Edam and a bag of tulip bulbs for every weekend break to Holland? Well, it’s a start!
Hollywood hopeful
Life has been rather hectic in these parts of late, leaving me little time to put on my travel agents hat. Instead, I have had to wear the Grandma mantle, looking after my very active baby grandson while his mother makes her television debut.
She is a participant in a documentary to be screened by Meridian about the brave souls who set up in business.
My daughter has bought a franchise of the very successful Stagecoach Theatre Arts Regional Schools that opens for the start of the new term in Dorchester next month.
With the cameras following her every move, things have been quite stressful, but, as a seasoned pro myself (six minutes on cable TV and there’s not a thing I don’t know about the business!), I was able to give her some helpful advice, for which, I must say, she could have been more grateful.
The most recent days filming took place in her home and, although she told me I wasn’t needed, I felt duty-bound to pop my head around the door to ask if anyone would like a coffee. I hadn’t heard anyone shout ‘It’s a wrap!’ so I assumed they were still recording.
Imagine my disappointment when I realised they weren’t. I’m now trying to think of some way of appearing casually in the next scene.
I’ve offered to put in an appearance as a cleaner, as I’d noticed some pretty heavy-duty cobwebs around the beamed ceiling in her sitting room, but this suggestion was met with a resounding no.
Oh well, I’m not defeated yet… and she’ll have the cameras around until May!
The camera never lies
After seeing a recent edition of We Can Work it Out the way forward is clear; we should all be selling video cameras with every holiday!
A couple who had travelled to Bulgaria for a wedding anniversary break on a Balkan Holidays last-minute deal, thought they had secured a bargain at ú199 per person. Until the roof caved in that.
The wife was sitting on the balcony when disaster struck and the ceiling fell on to the dressing table. Fortunately, her quick thinking husband was able to reach for his camcorder to capture for posterity (and no doubt prosperity!) their narrow escape.
The pair were moved to another room, but took a dim view of what had happened to them. Upon their return they complained to Balkan Holidays and received a reply to the effect that the company regretted the incident but was unwilling to offer any compensation. Into the fray strides Judy Finnegan and invites Carl Sayonas of Balkan Holidays to comment. Carl explained that they hadn’t offered the couple any compensation as they had taken out insurance.
This, in his view, should have covered them for this, albeit unlikely, occurrence (it hadn’t). He did add that the company had not seen the video, and that this new evidence might prompt a rethink.
So, we should arm our clients with a camcorder and a list of unlikely eventualities not covered by insurance. I think a straight 10% commission from any compensation deals sounds fair.
By the way, when a ceiling does collapse, is it considered an act of God, or the act of a cowboy builder?
n Maureen Hill is working temporarily at John Perry Travel, Blandford Forum