29/05/2017
Hello everyone, just want to share this interesting article with you.
I think I'm using my travel agent wrong
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I follow the rules: I don't expect them to price match foreign OTAs, I don't ask for Mauritius but only want to pay for Maldives. But even so, I think I'm using my travel agent wrong.
WE NEED TO GET TO KNOW ONE ANOTHER
My doctor just bought a place in Northcote and hosts regular puppy parties for her cavoodle. My hairdresser is secretly ashamed she still lives with her parents, despite having just moved back after over a decade in the UK. My travel agent is open on Saturday.
I don't know anything about my travel agent because the nature of our relationship is almost purely business with very little non-travel related chitchat. And that's the problem.
All my travel agent really knows of me are a few constants: my name, passport details and that I've got an annual insurance policy. She knows where I've been but not where I'm going.
The basic relationship I have with my doctor and hairdresser, on the other hand, means they are informed to a certain level about me and can thus provide a better, more personalised service. Take my hairdresser, for instance. I walk in with a picture of a haircut I think I'd like and she says it won't work because she knows the closest I'll come to styling it is putting it up in a mum-bun.
When it comes to my travel agent, we don't know each other well enough to go much beyond flights, transfers and accommodation, which means I can still end up with a few travel regrets.
But it's not my travel agent's fault. How was she to know that I'd want a couple of nights in Bath en route to Wales if I didn't tell her? Perhaps if she knew me better she'd know of my love of Jane Austen (my doctor knows this) and would have obviously suggested Bath.
I NEED TO LET HER DO HER JOB
Does anyone just go into a travel agency any more without being armed with a slew of online quotes and TripAdvisor reviews? When a client comes in politely demanding you book them x,y and z, are you really going to push was an alternative or addition?
Before we even exchange niceties, I'm already throwing an itinerary at my travel agent. I've looked at dates, destinations, scoured the web for flights and hotels and then watch as she tries to make sense of my plans.
Having a little information before heading into a travel agent is understandable and even preferable, but treating them like they're a computer simply doing the legwork wastes everyone's time.
I have to learn to trust my travel agent. She's a trained expert who can likely do what it takes me hours in just a few minutes. And with a little background knowledge and room to manoeuvre will be able to suggest a holiday free from regret.
