Advantage2011: Travel agent leaves Mary Queen of Shops speechless
Friday, 09 May, 2011
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A travel agent achieved the seemingly impossible task of silencing retail guru and TV personality Mary Portas during a session at this year’s Advantage conference in Madrid.
Portas, one of the conference’s keynote speakers, had just addressed the audience, urging agents to modernise, to offer a more customer-focused, environmentally-friendly, specialist service when she was silenced by Jackie Steadman, a director of Travel Time World.
That’s interesting, conceded Steadman, an ABTA board director, but how do we prevent customers from mining us for our specialist knowledge then going off to book online?
Portas starred. "It’s that really what they do?" she asked. Yes, yes, murmured the audience. How many clients do that, the usually unflappable Portas wanted to know. When she was told the figure was about 50% she appeared stunned, then shrugged. "I dunno," she managed after a few seconds’ silence. "I don’t know the answer."
However, Portas didn’t gain the title Queen of Shops for nothing, and she quickly recovered and suggested agents try linking up with partners, such as luggage companies, to offer clients added value.
It’s been tried, interjected some from the audience, but still people book direct. Someone suggested agents could charge for information, which Portas agreed was a possibility. "I’d pay," she said, before admitting not everyone would be prepared to shell out for such service. "You have to offer a layered approach."
Portas said it was important to emphasis the safety booking with Advantage agents. After walking down high streets across the country, she said she felt travel agencies had not moved with the times.
Earlier she told the audience that it was the laziness of retailers that had allowed the digital revolution to take over; they had failed to spot that consumers had changed, that they were more knowledgeable and that they no longer want to be told what to buy.
"You have to shift your marketing away from this will change your life to "I understand your life, I get what you want". It’s about offering integrity."
She said the travel trade could learn from luxury fashion brands who had transformed their marketing in recent years. "The high gloss has gone; now they are saying we understand your world and we want to be part of it."
Portas also warned agents not to dismiss the green revolution. "The world has gone green, it’s cool to be green and consumers want products that are good for them and good for the world."
Admitting that it was hard to claim that travel was good for the environment, Portas suggested agents showed clients how they could give back to countries they visited, such as the British Airways Change for Life programme.
She said travel should no longer be about offering the swankiest hotel, it was more about selling an experience: telling travellers about a great restaurant or a hidden walk.
"Consumers are behaving better and they want us to behave better too. People know that greed has got us the world we have today and most now want to be more generous," she said.
Service was the new selling, she said, warning that it could make or break a business. Get the service right, offer specialist advice, and you’ll survive on the high street was her message. But how to stop people from taking that advice to book online, even the Queen of Shops couldn’t say.
By Linsey McNeill
* What do you think of Mary Portas‘ advice? Share your views by clicking on ADD A COMMENT below.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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