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MONDAY ASH ALERT: A time for travel agencies to demonstrate their service value
Friday, 19 Apr, 2010
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TravelMole Guest Opinion by Sabre Travel network senior vice president Martin Cowley
It’s been labelled one of the worst disruptions in European travel with industry analysts estimating the cost on the European travel industry to be US$1.5 billion. Following the economic recession, this is the last thing the industry needed.
Situations like these are incredibly stressful for impacted travellers, their friends and families, but how the situation is managed can make all the difference.
Get it right by going above and beyond in helping your displaced customers, and you’ll engender traveller loyalty. Get it wrong and you might as well bid your customer farewell.
So what steps can an agency take to demonstrate their core value and provide the best possible service to their customers? It’s all about getting the basics right….in three simple steps.
1. QUICKLY IDENTIFY IMPACTED CUSTOMERS
Don’t wait for customers to ring you – make sure you use know which of your customers are impacted and what their travel plans are. The agents I spoke to told me they used Sabre’s ‘Traveler Security and Data Suite’, a graphical solution thatinstantly locates travellers worldwide and provides contact information and itinerary details. Using this solution, one of our agency customers, Norad Travel, was able to produce a report in just ten minutes, enabling them to proactively contact their customers before some of them even knew they were impacted.
2. COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE
Regular contact should be maintained with customers. There’s nothing worse than not knowing what’s going on, so if in doubt, over-communicate. Keep customers informed of airport and airspace closures, and their flight status, and make sure you use their preferred form of communication. Take advantage of new mobile solutions like Sabre’s TripCase to provide location-based messaging, and use Sabre Virtually There solution to deliver travel updates, revised itineraries and updated e-tickets by mobile phone and email.
3. QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY RE-ACCOMODATE TRAVELLERS
Discuss all alternative travel options and help travellers decide the best option. Also, think outside the square – one of our agency customers, Portman Travel, organised rail and bus transportation between UK, France and Madrid to get a group of travellers back to the United States. However if travellers want to re-book a flight, do so as quickly and efficiently. Doing so significantly improves the bottom line, so make sure you invest in technology that automates the time-consuming manual process of reissuing, refunding and exchanging tickets. Sabre’s Quick Refunds and Exchanges solution is one option, enabling agencies to manage this process within minutes.
Travel agencies serve an important role in our industry because of their ability to efficiently and effectively service traveller’s needs.
I hope the volcanic ash passes soon so airlines can return flying. But while it hangs overhead, agencies have a unique opportunity to demonstrate their value by going above and beyond for their travellers.
Phil Davies
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