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 ARE TRAVEL AGENTS dinosaurs? I’m not alluding to T-Rex’s
in shades with cheesy grins and a stackload of holiday brochures.
T-Rex’s of that ilk, if discovered, embalmed in resin or dancing
the hula in Hawaii, are to be lustily applauded and sent to the
nearest cryogenic lab or Steven Spielberg. I’m referring to
a bunch of people embalmed in musty offices, with no brochures,
or at least none that have been updated since 1960. These people
are called travel agents. They are experts. And their expertise
is all honed into one remarkable line: “What’s your
budget?”
Conversations
like this are commonplace. “I’d like to book the Four
Seasons.” What’s your budget? “What’s the
best rate available?” What’s your budget? “What’s
the best you can offer?” Well, we have a Holiday Inn… “I said Four Seasons.” What budget? “Best
possible of course.” Holiday Inn has 50 percent off. “Could
you come over to my home this weekend so I can set my nasty Rottweilers
on you? Yes, but what budget…?
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In Asia, the
travel agency business has lost much of its cachet with the advent
of the Internet and direct approaches to travellers by airlines
and hotels with cash-registers ringing in their eyes. Business,
unlike George Bush’s Star Wars missiles, has a habit of going
direct. This is the way it should be, fewer middlemen, fewer costs
and better prices. But it overlooks one simple fact.
Travel agents handle airline seat and hotel bed inventory in bulk. They "consolidate" business and thus offer you a better price
Price is based
on volume. The more you purchase, the cheaper the unit price. And
this is where travel agents enter the picture. They handle airline
seat and hotel bed inventory in bulk and thus “consolidate”
business. Since the agent is selling in volume, he or she is in
a position to pass on price advantages to the traveller.
Airlines are
also often bound by rules and regulations to follow a certain pricing
regime. They may offer last-minute inventory at seemingly rock-bottom
rates (especially on the Net) but it is unlikely travellers will
get such a good deal on an advance purchase. Most holiday travel
is planned, if not purchased, well in advance. You have about the
same chance of finding a seat at short notice out of Hongkong during
Chinese New Year as you do of spotting the Pope in Patpong. It’s
unlikely to happen, unless you head north to enjoy the blizzards
that time of year in Mongolia.
Travel agents
also “package” airline and hotel combinations at prices
far cheaper than if these two components were to be purchased separately
– a common mistake. If you happen to be an FIT (frequent independent
traveller) then price is clearly not a worry. Splash out. But if
you fall into the steadily growing ranks of US-AT-THE-BACK, think
again.
Then again,
agents, even the unsmiling ones, perform another valuable role.
They offer a human face – and voice. It is all very well dealing
with bland corporations and glib FAQs on the Net but how many times
have you wished you could actually speak to someone? I mean speak
with a human, not a pop-up window that keeps telling you to fill
in your zip code (which doesn’t exist in several parts of
Asia). The personal element is vital. People have questions to ask
and FAQs prepared by bozos with a zip-code fixation are the problem,
not the solution.
People have questions to ask, and FAQs prepared by bozos with a zip-code fixation are the problem, not the solution
Travel agents
actually pick up a phone. They may ask you about your budget, but
someone will answer the phone. Call an airline and you will be passed
from one recorded voice prompt to another till you are hopelessly
lost in a labyrinth of gobbledegook, or spat out at the end of the
exchange with the useful instruction, “When you are finished,
don’t forget to hang up.” After phone conversations
like this I usually get into a lively mood and want to set fire
to my hair or leap from the balcony. So it is a timely prompt. My
friends tell me that after phone conversations they drink beer,
watch TV, argue, slap their kids around and generally engage in
all manner of normal domestic stuff. None of them actually hangs
up the phone. FOLKS, WHEN YOU ARE DONE WITH THAT CALL, PLEASE HANG
UP.
What agents
do need to do in Asia, apart from working on their smiles, is learn
to provide “service”. Travel agents are not just order-takers.
They are an interface between the product and the traveller. This
means they need to brush up on their general and specific knowledge
in order to answer your questions. They need to know whether that
beachside hotel is actually on the beach or across a four-lane highway
where your kids will go SPLAT, if your connecting flight leaves
from Gatwick or Heathrow. And they need to know where Ouagadougou
is. Service is the key. The alternative is too grim to contemplate
– T-Rex’s with 1960 brochures.
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