A leading travel agency boss has restructured his business to allow frontline staff who are “on their knees” to focus on core sales or customer care roles.
Speaking at Travel Weekly’s Future of Travel Spring Forum, Travel Village Group chief executive Phil Nuttall said he had created a four‑strong support team that “takes the pressure” off salespeople and the care team.
“We’ve sandwiched the business to protect salespeople so they can sell and we’ve protected care teams so they can talk to customers, deal with new bookings and try to bring the service levels back up,” he said.
More: Firms must ‘offer flexibility but have eyes open’ to retain staff
Supplier call wait times will hamper trade’s recovery says TTNG chief
Gallery: Travel Weekly Future of Travel: Spring Forum
“To do that you have to put a support team in the middle to take the pressure off salespeople and the care teams because otherwise they’ll leave the industry, end of.”
A visibly emotional Nuttall told delegates the step was necessary as staff come under pressure to deal with cancellations and changes in addition to forward sales.
People are on their knees
He said he and wife Paula were working every day and night to provide support for customers.
“Some people don’t get it, they don’t see the human side of this,” he said. “People are on their knees.”
The Advantage Travel Partnership chief executive Julia Lo Bue-Said said she could “understand” the emotion expressed by Nuttall.
“My frustration is this is not going to change tomorrow or in two months; there are too many issues,” she said. “The sector is not supported and we don’t help ourselves sometimes. Businesses cannot cope like this for evermore.”
Gary Lewis, chief executive of The Travel Network Group, described mental health and supporting members during the restart of travel as the “number-one challenge”, adding: “These agents never turned off their phones.”
Lewis said the challenges were felt particularly keenly by smaller members, a view echoed by Nuttall who said not all agencies had the finances or options to bring in additional staff as he had.
Jenny Jackson, owner of Luxury Travel Gurus, said agents like her were struggling under the weight of increased admin, long wait times and limited resources. “We are down and depressed,” she said. “I have got one telephone for anyone to get hold of me; the time issues are horrendous.”
More: Firms must ‘offer flexibility but have eyes open’ to retain staff
Supplier call wait times will hamper trade’s recovery says TTNG chief