Half-hearted agent money saving schemes waste time – TravelMole Guest Comment by Travel 2 managing director Maria Whiteman
When we asked travel agents what their biggest frustration in working with us was, we could have been opening the floodgates for all kinds of responses.
Luckily, we were confident in the service already on offer, and that we would whole heartedly act on the findings.
No one at Travel 2 was surprised when the majority of agent niggles were in relation to the use of 0870 numbers in the industry.
We were already looking at the financial implications of changing our numbers to low cost, but with all travel businesses claiming they were more committed to travel agents than the other, it was time to deliver a ‘put your money where your mouth is’ move.
On May 1 we rolled out a bold decision to change all our previously 0870 numbers to freephone numbers.
The investment is expected to cost us more than £200,000 per year, and that doesn’t take into account the additional time and resources dedicated to ensuring we have reservations staff that can cope with an increase in call volumes.
As a trade-only tailor made long haul specialist, Travel 2’s commitment to supporting agents is of paramount importance. Anything other than changing to freephone numbers would have been half hearted and a waste of time given how passionately our agents felt about the topic.
In just the first few hours of the big switch our call volume increased significantly and the feedback has been phenomenal, particularly from independent agents and homeworkers. They are delighted that we have ‘reinforced our bond’ with agents and taken a ‘positive and generous initiative’ – all comments that a managing director dreams of hearing.
Working in partnership with travel agents is the only way to nurture successful business relationships and we see it as our job to take the financial risk out of the decision. It costs nothing to call Travel 2 but the product choice, value and support you will receive is priceless.
Phil Davies
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