Published on Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Carrier to pilot out of hours service for agents

Luxury operator Carrier is offering agents out of hours support to deal with urgent requests that can't wait till the next day.

It will have a small team working extended hours for a trial period, it said.

Head of Sales Rick Milne added: "Although this is only a pilot currently, we're hopeful this can become a viable way to offer support outside of normal working hours to our key partners."

The operator has also decided to divert funding from its suspended Preferred Partner Programme to boost override commission.

It will spend the money usually set aside for events, training and educationals for its VIP agents to guarantee override commission to key agents on bookings from 1 January to 31 March.

Carrier said the commission will be paid at the end of the quarter rather than at the year end to help agents' short-term cash flow.

An additional override payment will be made immediately to those agents that had bookings that went ahead in 2020.

Managing Director Mark Duguid said: "Knowing that it was impossible for partners to hit their targeted overrides last year in such unprecedented times, exceptionally, we are offering to pay a guaranteed override to recognise our partners' support in such a difficult year."

Carrier has also launched a Travel Made to Order service, which allows customers to amend or postpone a booking at no extra charge.

Head of Marketing Natasha Towey said: "Customisation of our booking conditions to suit individual needs is an inherent part of our bespoke service and has previously existed behind the scenes, but today's consumer and current climate means it has become even more valuable, so Travel Made to Order provides agents and their clients with more visibility and transparency earlier in the customer journey.

"We believe the Travel Made to Order service will help our agent partners get more bookings over the line."