At times this industry shocks me, and on Friday I was shocked, but in a very pleasant way, by the team at Western and Oriental Travel.
A colleague of mine had been dealing with a client for ages, and then all of a sudden the client goes to the tour operator direct, to see if they will cut us out of the loop to get a cheaper price. W&O so did they right think, by telling us straight away. They were extremely polite to the client, took the booking, as I think the client then felt embarrassed by the situation, and then called us and told us that our commission would be paid. - The honorable thing to do. ! - Thank you W&O.
More business coming your way......
Great to hear that there are still some morals in business these days.
I have created many websites, including for cheap cruises, cruise deals and a new one attacking cruise holidays.
Just a shame more operators don;t operate the same way! Put's Kuoni to shame i say. I use W&O as much as I can now, price with kuoni cos w&o don;t have a way to price online, but then nearly always call w&o to book!
You also get a no attitude, there staff are really helpful and actually know what they are talking about, same can be said for carrier who i like too, and peltours are excellent
That's fantastic! Great to see a Tour Operator working with an agent rather than biting the hand that feeds...?! W&O have sister companies that are also excellent - great friendly knowledge and advice - and supporting us agents - eg. Rainbow Tours & Regent Holidays (who I have booked a couple of things with recently and been impressed by the level of service and expertise - thanks Joanne at Regent!)
It is always good to hear of Operators doing this and knowing whom to support. I would of course mention Travel 2 who also do this.
I wonder if any other operator wishes to go on record that is there policy?
Hi
There are a few of us out there supporting independent agents - We at If Only also take this approach, we are determined not to bite the hand that feeds us as we are 95% through the trade.
We concentrate on offering very competitive prices and having the very best knowledgable and friendly reservations team. Its tough enough for agents to get enquiries in a difficult marketplace without agents having to battle obstacles when dealing with operators as well.
Dominic
If Only
Dom that's shameless self plugging is that, on the back of someone else praise lol, you have to
get in when you can in these hard times tho hehe
That's really good to hear. I am new to the forum and pleased to hear that not everyone is after ripping the other off.
We are building a new log in function for true independents to sell direct to the public. Anyone interested in offering luxury villas drop me a line.
Cheers
Andy
I have recently put in two CV's for SEO jobs, one was with Western & Oriental, but heard nothing back. Perhaps I should buy a holiday from them and then call Customer Services, I may get a reply.
Mind you, I am 48 years old and still don't know what I want to do for a living! Work for someone else or stay independent.
More than happy to! Somak Holidays has a policy of not undercutting agents. We gave an agent who has NEVER booked with us a £22k booking last week, because it was better for the client who would get a preferred rate and has also inspired the agent to now start booking with us.
Who else does THAT??
I'm glad to see Somak have changed there policy.
Dear Somak Sales,
We sent you an email earlierr this week with a near identical situation, whereby we suggested a Kenya safari with Somak, a tour operator suggestion and a lead all initiated by us, a Somak brochure was posted to her, but then a younger family member books them all with Somak directly online. When we followed up on the client we were thanked for our services but als ...
Our email to Somak contains name and client address and evidence of the booking lead.
We would be really grateful if Somak could get back to us with regards to this matter.
Gallivant Travel Agency
Helder & Celia Lemos - Managing Partners