Travel companies are beefing up their online storefronts to attract self-bookers, but that doesn’t mean travel agents don’t play an important role in booking travel products.
“Travel agents are the experts on finding the best travel solution and presenting it to the consumer in a way that makes them want to buy,” says Lee Rosen, president of agent technology solutions provider TRAMS.
But agents can’t rely solely on in-demand products or sophisticated technology to lure travelers and remain important to suppliers — they must become marketing and sales dynamos, Rosen asserts. Here’s how.
Tap Into Travelers’ Histories
The greatest value that travel agents bring to the table is their past experiences with their customers, Rosen notes. Each time a traveler books a trip with an agent, the agent learns another piece of crucial information, such as where the traveler has been, what type of trips he prefers, what level of accommodation he seeks, how much he wants to spend and what his family is like.
Key: Agents must mine that information and promote travel products that make sense for the traveler. As agents make the best matches between travelers and products, they build loyalty into their client relationships, Rosen says.
That loyalty is very lucrative to travel suppliers who want a full house or sold-out flight — which means that by leveraging their own experiences with travelers, agents become the key intermediary between a supplier and the customers their businesses hinge on.
Use Web To Manage Sales
Where agencies used to need elaborate management systems, now they can rely on the Web for rapid, efficient customer management — whether they’re managing customers, suppliers or other agents.
Rosen suggests that agents “use the Internet to retrieve customer and product information, distribute and track that information as well as store it in a customer database.”
By using the Internet to manage their clients, agencies also open themselves up for incentives from suppliers who use the Web to promote their products. For example, a hotel may offer agents a steep discount for steering a client to its Web site over its competitors — or for booking that hotel over all other hotels when possible.
Lesson Learned: Though agents used to be used a basic transaction processing tool, their real value today is in knowing the customers, creating detailed databases and influencing how and where consumers purchase their travel products, Rosen claims.
For more information about how agents can remain relevant in the online travel landscape of the future, check out the current issue of Travel Distribution Report.