The pandemic forced us to adapt our businesses and we have been rewarded for it, says Thompson Travel’s Sharon Thompson.
Watching the Pride of Britain Awards recently, the campaigner Jill Allen-King, aged 82, struck a chord with me.
She has spent 50 years improving the lives of blind and partially sighted people by campaigning for better access for support animals and tactile paving at pedestrian crossings – even bells on buses.
Despite gradually losing her sight, she didn’t give up; she adapted to live life to the full and to remain as independent as possible. She said her life is fulfilled and, instead of moaning about things, she adapted to the changes.
Low-fare airlines petrified us, and world disasters affected us – yet we probably don’t realise how much we adapted to cope
That word ‘adapt’ resonated with me. How much have travel agents and companies had to adapt during our careers? How many have given up because obstacles were in their way?
Low-fare airlines petrified us, and world disasters affected us – yet we probably don’t realise how much we adapted to cope. However, put into perspective with what Jill’s had to face, we have not really had to adapt that much.
Adapting to change
Giving up was something that did come to my mind during 2020 and 2021. The stress of our industry has been beyond anything I’ve dealt with in my career. Surprisingly, we adapted. We all did.
Coming out of this horrendous period has forced us to adapt our businesses and we have been rewarded for that. Simple, practical things have helped.
Our business thrives on face-to-face repeat business, so working only from home didn’t really suit us.
Coming out of this horrendous period has forced us to adapt our businesses and we have been rewarded for that
We moved our opening time to 9.15am – not a huge change but all my team can get their kids to school and not feel late for work.
We didn’t reduce wages either, which helped to foster a happy team – something that is a good basis for any business.
We implemented virtual payments, which reduced admin time and allowed us to look again at our merchant provider and reduce our costs.
We moved our opening time to 9.15am – not a huge change but all my team can get their kids to school
We looked at the split of our business between the tour operation and travel agency sides – and created teams to look after specific types of holidays.
In an independent agency, it’s so easy to ignore staff expertise in a particular area and have a ‘muck in’ approach to sales.
Focusing on sales
Focusing on this gave us a notable increase in sales compared with pre‑pandemic levels.
We employed staff with no previous travel experience and now have a full team. Adapting to this was difficult as people needed to start making sales immediately.
We should give ourselves much more credit for being able to adapt to every situation that is thrown at us
One new staff member is Polish and she has proved to be excellent, as she now has a new customer base of fellow Poles, broadening our sales.
All of these changes just go to show we should give ourselves much more credit for being able to adapt to every situation that is thrown at us.
Robbie was a true gentleman
I would like to pay tribute to our very dear travel friend, Robbie Smart, who died suddenly on November 25, aged 44. He was well known in the travel industry across Northern Ireland and Ireland, and represented Travelport and Bedsonline.
Our thoughts lay with his family and the difficult road ahead they now face
We held him in the highest regard and he was a true gentleman and friend. Robbie always greeted us with a hug and a smile when we met at conferences, roadshows and award ceremonies. He was a devoted husband to his wife Emma and father to little girls Holly and Robyn. As we watched his funeral remotely, our thoughts lay with his family and the difficult road ahead they now face. Be thankful for today because in one moment our entire lives can change.