April 2009 Archives

So, a no-score for Thomas Cook in this week's Mystery Shopper in Oldham. Mystery Shopper was rightly very annoyed to be left waiting for more than 20 minutes in the shop without even an acknowledgement from the consultants.

Even though there were notices in the shop saying customers could book an appointment if they are busy, Mystery Shopper says she rang the day before and wasn't offered an appointment then.

To be fair to the consultants at Thomas Cook, it's easy to see how when you are rushed off your feet with queues of customers you can let some slip through the net. But to leave a customer waiting for that amount of time without an acknowledgement is poor customer service. How would you have handled the situation?

So by now you will have had a chance to read and digest the new look Travel Weekly. The revamp is part of what we're doing to make sure that Travel Weekly stays fresh and relevant.

The aim is to have a strong website that is your first port of call for industry news, as well as providing a huge library of knowledge to help you do your jobs better. The magazine simply aims to be a really interesting must-read.

We've also launched the travelhub, where you can network with other agents, discussing what's going on in the travel industry and posting up photos - and video if you're really technology savvy. For the new generation of agents, using sites such as Bebo and Facebook is second nature, while if you go on sites such as LinkedIn you can see that professionals also want an online place to network. Therefore it made sense to create a community of travel professionals based around Travel Weekly.

We hope you like what we're up to, let us know your thoughts.

Mystery Shopper was in Ashton under Lyne this week, looking for a bargain self-catering family holiday to Turkey.

It was a straight forward request and all the agents were able to come up with recommendations. However, there was a strange consultation at Thomson, which is usually high-scoring in Mystery Shopper.

Mystery Shopper wrote: "I began to receive negative comments regarding the country, with the consultant saying that Turkey was mainly old ruins and she didn't know whether it was quite suitable for families. This didn't make me feel excited about the holiday. She searched some areas, but was often reading information from the computer screen and asking a colleague."

Did the negativity come out of a lack of confidence about her product knowledge? It is hard to sell something positively if you don't know it well. Should the consultant have passed the enquiry on to a colleague who knew Turkey better?

The confidence of the consultant seems to be a key in scoring well in Mystery Shopper, hence the consultant at First Choice achieving the winning score.

This week's Mystery Shopper in Selby was a simple request from a couple looking for an early-summer holiday in Tenerife. They didn't mind whether the holiday was on a half board or all-inclusive basis, but they wanted to stay somewhere upmarket.

Generally all the agencies did well - all received full marks for appearance. There was little in it between Thomas Cook, Thomson and Co-op Travel, all also scoring top marks for customer service.

Worldchoice Abbey Travel scored less for customer service, getting 6o% of the available marks under that criteria. Mystery Shopper wrote: "I would have preferred her to show me the computer screen as she was describing the holiday details."

How important a sales tool is the computer screen? Are your clients interested in what you are looking at, even if it is Viewdata? Do you show them?

Travel Weekly always likes to pack a punch on its front page, but this week's headline 'Maureen fights fraud' has really ruffled feathers. The story was about columnist Maureen Hill uncovering fraudsters targeting agencies in the West Country.

The letters sent in responding to the story range from agents telling us their own experiences, to agents mystified why this story made the front page, saying it is an everyday occurrence.

Personal Travel Consultant Sharon Hard wrote in saying: "I cannot see why this has made the front page of Travel Weekly...If I got a mention every time I reported someone I would be famous by now!"

As regular readers will know, Travel Weekly has been running an anti-fraud campaign, helping agents fight one of the fastest growing crimes in the country. In February the UK travel industry launched PROFiT, a group dedicated to tackling fraud in the industry. Travel Weekly was the official media partner for the launch.

Working closely with police, our feedback is that the type of scam experienced by Maureen is an ongoing problem and while savvy agents are well-equipped to respond, there are others who are still unaware of the issue and therefore vulnerable. In fact, Maureen has been contacted by another agent in the area saying it was targeted by the same people.

The aim of the front page was to highlight the problem to all agents through Maureen, one of our most popular contributors. Do you think it was worthwhile?

Anyone else overdosed on Easter eggs and chocolate over the weekend?

Our office is awash with people totting up their Weight Watchers points with a worried look on their face.

Now, thinking about our bikini bodies on the beach this summer, we're going to try having a week without eating chocolate and only having one caffeine drink per day.

I have had my coffee this morning and the rest of the day already looks a bit bleak without the prospect of more.

The consultant at Seaside Travel in Peterlee, County Durham, gave fantastic advice to Mystery Shopper this week, who was looking for a break to Tuscany with some culture and wanted to include car hire. She was able to advise on driving in Tuscany, gave recommendations of specific places to visit, knew about some festivals and was able to help Mystery Shopper visualise the holiday. Mystery Shopper wrote in their report: "When describing Italy she sounded both knowledgeable and enthusiastic."

But Seaside Travel only came third, with points lost because, for example, Mystery Shopper was not given a definite quote and was left standing while the agent sat at the customer's side of her colleague's desk.

With such strong knowledge from the consultant, was Mystery Shopper right to give the score they did and although reward the knowledge, not let this override some of the negatives of the consultation? This ultimately gave Seaside Travel a lower score than an agency where the consultant initially thought Tuscany was a city.

We've received a letter from Colin Murison Small from the operator Hidden Greece about a feature entitled 'Lay back and relax'. (Travel Weekly, March 20 - a different headline was used in the online version)

Colin quite rightly pointed out that you can't just lay - you have to lay something, such as a carpet. The word we should have used in the headline was lie.

Colin wrote: "When the next person comes into your shop and says he or she just wants to lay on the beach, try asking what they expect to lay there. You will probably lose the booking, but you will have won the grammatical point."

Sometimes we all need to go back to basics, including the Thomas Cook consultant in this week's Mystery Shopper in Stockton on Tees.

Here's what Mystery Shopper wrote in their report, after waiting more than five minutes to be served:

"I approached her desk and sat down, explaining that I was wanting information on cruises. She was not very welcoming, saying 'Oh, they're very expensive.' This was quite off putting."

I wonder what prompted the consultant to give this response - was she unconfident about selling the product? Was there something about Mystery Shopper's appearance that made the consultant think they couldn't afford the product? Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't the way to sell a holiday.

The consultant at Dawson and Sanderson did well and might have given Thomson a run for its money, but Mystery Shopper gave the branch a low score for appearance, particularly its main window of hand written cards, which lost it ten points.

Well done to Hays Travel for getting the highest score - the personal recommendation and reassurance for the single traveller were rightly rewarded in my opinion. 

The TW Group said farewell last night to publishing director Simon Ferguson. Simon is off to set up his own business and we all wish him the best of luck. We now welcome Roger Williams as the new publishing director, who has most recently worked at Personnel Today.