Silver Travel Advisor’s Lisa McAuley argues the sector would grow if businesses strived for frictionless processes and a client-centric mindset
Are we easy to do business with? Are you as an individual easy to do business with? These are questions I posed recently to the Silver Travel team. I was minded to ask not just to keep us on our toes (I never want to become complacent), but also because throughout peaks we’ve been on the receiving end of both good and bad business partnering.
The EoDB (Ease of Doing Business) index was launched by the World Bank in the early noughties and essentially ranks the world’s economies, calculated using an assessment of rules and regulations within each country. Currently, New Zealand takes the top spot as the easiest country to do business in.
This got me thinking: if the travel industry adopted an EoDB ranking, who would come out on top? Whether you’re at the top of the tree – for example, the biggest Atol holders – or whether you’re an individual homeworker, the travel industry is hyper-competitive. But no matter what your size or scale, striving to achieve a high level of ‘easy to do business with’ should be something you give a lot of attention.
Partner support
You may ask, why’s that? Well, last year Forbes published an article entitled ‘Are you easy to do business with?’ in which the author cited that many people in her industry said it was necessary to support the big brands due to demand. However, given a choice, she said many would rather work with the ‘challenger chimp’ – a second-tier competitor – simply because they were regarded as more responsive and supportive and offered greater flexibility. In short, the challenger chimp would get the business because they were easier to deal with.
The article went on to talk about ‘frictionless business processes’, which made me reflect upon points in my career working for large corporations. I’d like to think that I personally was easy to do business with. However, I must acknowledge there were times when the infrastructure I worked within made that more difficult.
Looking back, I took a company-first rather than partner‑first approach. I’m not saying that’s wrong, but I wonder now whether I could have challenged the status quo a little more, or whether I accepted that the ecosystem I found myself in was so established that it was deemed to work and I should therefore leave things alone. I think any former colleagues reading this may likely say the former rather than the latter is true!
Consumer feedback
At the recent Destinations travel shows, I spent time talking to hundreds of consumers and listened to their stories, of which there were many. The Silver Travel team and I gathered invaluable feedback, both positive and negative, and I’d like to think offered impartial advice to many of the shows’ visitors.
The negatives we heard ranged from disgruntled consumers having issues with travel insurance policies to solo travellers feeling disadvantaged due to hefty single supplements. On the positive side, however, there was an overwhelming appetite to travel and spend money on holidays. Across both shows, I recall only three conversations with individuals who were still nervous about post‑lockdown travel.
We saw ‘challenger chimp’ brands at the shows, many of whom are partners, and it was heartening to hear stories of record-breaking sales from their teams. A follow-up email from one person who visited our small stand stated they loved chatting to us and that they’d finally found someone who cared! We’re in the business of caring, so on that basis I’d say we’re easy to do business with.
Let’s not overcomplicate partner relationships. It’s been said many times that the travel ecosystem is complex; few consumers understand nor care about such complexities. If each of us strived for frictionless processes at all times, empathy towards partners’ needs and a customer-centric mindset, then we could all add value and grow together.
Thank you to all those partners who are easy to do business with. I hope you know who you are and, equally, I hope you view us in the same way.