Middle East conflict 'highlights areas for operational improvement'

Agents and operators say the Middle East conflict has highlighted areas for operational improvement and “stress-tested” systems not fully activated since the pandemic.

Barrhead Travel managing director Nicki Tempest-Mitchell said the timing of the initial attacks on a weekend highlighted the need for instant access to data out of hours.

She also plans to speak to airline partners after agents and operators were left “out of the loop” on repatriation plans.

Tempest-Mitchell told a round-table discussion hosted by Travel Weekly and Hotelplan UK: “The war kicked off on a Saturday morning and I realised I didn’t have reporting at our fingertips. We have now set things up to enable us to access that data far quicker.

“We also realised that airlines took control in this crisis, and sometimes operators and agents were out of the loop on repatriation flights.

“We were sometimes having to talk to customers six times a day to ensure they were informed. I plan to speak to airlines to ensure in future the agent can own the customer.”

Tempest-Mitchell said she was pleased with Barrhead’s response, including setting up a 24/7 support team, but added: “We will have a bigger response team for future crises as the initial team we set up just grew and grew.”

Newmarket Holidays chief commercial officer David Sharman agreed liaison and sharing of client data was an important issue, but said processes had largely worked well.

He said: “One of the great processes that kicked in was having customers’ phone numbers, with their agents’ permission, so we could contact people directly and urgently when needed. About 90% of our agent partners have been fine with this.”

However, he confirmed the escorted tours specialist had taken lessons from the response, adding: “Operationally, this was in a lower part of our season, but it did stress‑test our systems post-Covid.

“Had this happened in [the peak period], we wouldn’t have had enough people on the air element, so that’s a learning for us to address.”

Titan Travel director of trade distribution Shane Lewis-Riley said: “There have been some really good learnings about when to lean in with agent partners to offer help and when to leave them alone. Touring is a relatively small part of their business and many had bigger issues to sort initially.”