Tui has pledged to improve service levels at its trade call centres, with long call wait times for independent travel agents deemed ‘not acceptable’.
Chief marketing officer Neil Swanson, speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, said the operator was already working to improve service at its trade-facing call centres, based in the UK and overseas, as part of its strategy to increase distribution through third-party agents.
It follows feedback from the agents about call wait times and below-standard after-sales care.
More: Tui promises new pricing and commission structure for trade
He said: “Clearly we’ve got the people out on the road, but we need more than 14 people supporting independent agents.
“And that’s around our contact centre support and making sure we’ve got the right team at the end of the phone who have got the right level of product knowledge and are able to respond in a really timely manner to queries and questions then agents have got.
“We’ve got a programme in place at the moment to improve that service.”
Swanson said more than 90% of calls through Tui’s customer call centres were answered within 30 seconds.
“That needs to be the same for the trade team, and it will be the same. If we don’t get that right, then people won’t be selling us,” he said, adding: “All I can say is that it’s not acceptable for people to be waiting any length of time at all.”
The operator has already outlined plans to enhance support on the road and over the phone for independent agents with an expanded team of 14 staff, up from the current eight.
A similar move has already worked for Tui’s cruise line Marella Cruises, with sales up more than 100% through some agents as a result of ramped up trade support, said Swanson.