If you’re reading this, then you probably don’t want to have your travel agent cringe every time he or she hears that it’s you, with a question, on the phone, or spies an email with your return email address.
So, here are nine tips about how to avoid that dubious distinction.
1. Travel agents know changes happen, but please have your dates right when you have an agent start planning. It’s incredibly frustrating to get a trip together, especially if it involves additional work by a tour operator to check availability, and then be told “Oh, I forgot to ask my spouse, we can’t go that week.”
2. Let your agent know what is and isn’t negotiable, re: dates, hotels, nonstop versus connections etc. Few things elicit more in-office swearing than a client who has insisted that they HAD to travel on specific dates or a specific airline, and then after receiving a quote calls back and says, “Oh, I found this cheaper price by just leaving on Tuesday.”
I had one recently where the cheapest return flight I found involved a 6:35 a.m. flight out of Rome, Italy. The client stated that there was no way they wanted to be at the airport before about 9 a.m., and asked for the next cheapest option. Then a few days later she sent an email saying their husband had found that exact same fare with the 6:35 a.m. flight and they just decided to book it.
3. If you have a budget, that’s okay, just be up front about it. If an agent hears “I HAVE to stay at such and such hotel, so I’ll pay whatever it takes,” a good agent will probably check a few different options to try to find the lowest price.
But when that same agent has put together a really discounted package, one that impresses others in the office, and then hears “Oh, I didn’t realize it would be that much, what else is there?” Given a rough number, a good agent can tell you upfront or in short order if it’s possible, or may be able to tell you the closest available alternative.
4. If you have a quote already, especially if it’s some deal because your brother-in-law works for an airline, or you have some friends who might rent you their timeshare, or a special student rate, let your agent know up front. Again, a good agent will be either able to say, “Let me see what I can do,” or, “There’s simply no way I can match that.”
5. If your agent sends you an itinerary to read and approve, please read it before you approve it. No one is perfect, it’s easy to mis-hear, mis-read, or just flat out make a mistake with spelling or a date. But days or weeks after a trip is paid or a ticket is issued is too usually too late to fix things.
6. If plans change and you decide not to go, or you booked something else, let your agent know. Most agents will try to hold space for a client as long as possible, even asking for extensions from tour operators and cruises lines. Ditto, agents often keep the research note. It’s just courteous to say, “Sorry, no thanks.” And if you feel embarrassed, email makes it easy to avoid a personal conversation. We’d rather know than not.
7. If an agent finds a great little hotel you had never heard of, and in looking at that hotel website you then see that there is a 10 percent discount for booking online, please don’t do it. That 10 percent is our commission. If you’ve found the site on your own and we can’t match the price, then we will tell you to go ahead and book.
8. If you think an overall price sounds high it’s understandable to check around, especially if you are working with a new agent, but do respect the time an agent puts into something
And if you find something that’s a lot cheaper, especially if you have a relationship with a travel agent, let them know. Sometimes there might be an incredible deal out there agents can’t touch. Recently, some resorts have been giving great deals when a time-share presentation is involved, but many suppliers will price match with any legitimate quote available to the public.
Sometimes, too, an agent can figure out before you book that a special is completely nonrefundable and nonchangeable. Or that you might not be booking what you think you are booking.
Many airline sites, for example, do not include tax in their rate quotes. And recently one traveler who was a relative of a V.I.P. client liked a last-minute seven-night Kauai package I had put together, but came back insisting that Expedia was cheaper by about $200.
I worked with my tour operator for over an hour trying to figure out a way to match, and finally asked him to email me what he had found. One little detail, no car rental. He said he just assumed that all packages had cars included.
9. Finally, the easiest one. If trip planning has been difficult, or time-consuming, or your agent had to spend a lot of time after hours working on it, just remember to call or email with a “Thank You.” It’s a crazy business these days. A little appreciation goes a very long way.
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Thank you for a great article. I wish I could give this out to every cilent I meet!
The general public have no idea just how complicated this business is; they
see the $69.00!!! airfare deals, never read the small print, and assume way too much. More clients need to take respondsibility for their trip and READ the information given to them. It would head off so many problems.
Janice, several of these tips actually can be avoided by YOU prior to starting the work on your client’s trip. How so? By simply ASKING.
and NUMBER NINE?……….Customer Service is a “thankless” job, after all, it’s YOUR JOB………..:::::::::smile:::::::::::
Great article, though, I would use it as a preference to all trip planning.
Frank, the problem with what you suggest, that WE ask questions, is that not all clients will tell the truth. We’ll ask about budget, and will get the answer “it doesn’t matter”. Ask about dates, and I had this one recently, and was told “we want to come home the same day the ship returns”. I worked and worked to get a decent airfare, only to have the client tell me that they found better by coming home the following morning.
I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift. Also, even if it is OUR job, it’s still nice to hear a thank you. It’s just polite!
On July 22nd, 2009 at 10:30 am John Felker
I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift. Also, even if it is OUR job, it’s still nice to hear a thank you. It’s just polite!
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I “deal” with the same people YOU encounter, so, I do get the drift. And, we BOTH know, in most cases, the traveler wants CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP. I worked as a Res. Agent many years ago. Dealing with both travel agents and the flying public, I always looked for the cheapest fare. The traveler can be fickle, changing their minds constantly, it comes with the territory. But, I like what Janice said in her article. If I were a travel agent, I would use that information to educate myself on my client and go from there, even possibly getting the client to fill out said information IN WRITING as a reference point. Heck, if a client came back to complain about something, you could simply say you have it in writing. PROBLEM IS, the traveler thinks they are “internet” educated and have the same resources you have via the computer. They no longer place that 100% trust in your ability to plan their trip.
As far as it’s nice to hear a thank you, TRUST ME, I know. My remark was tongue in cheek. See the smile?
Well written article, Janice. it makes sense.
wow. do independent travel agents still exist? i thought they were pretty much a lost civilization … my travel agent of more than twenty years quit the business earlier this year and i’m sorta lost about what to do next.
I some how wandered on to this site. Yes, travelling public can be miserly, trying to get the cheapest trip – a bargain. I would say almost 90% fall into this category. You can’t blame them, it’s their money they are spending.
Travel agent’s just try to maximise their commission. 90% of the travel agents fall into this category.
So there will be stand-off between these groups, a natural result.
I personally don’t trust a travel agent to give me the best advice, these days you have the same resources on the internet they have on their computers. So spend a bit of time if you have it, and cut out these guys completely. Will not gaurantee you a great holiday, but no travel agent can..