01/16/2014
President's Letter
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Agents Are The Human Travel App
COLUMN | PRESIDENT'S LETTER | MARK MURPHY | JANUARY 15, 2014 2:05 PM ET
I get asked for travel tips on a regular basis. The requests come from family, friends, Facebook and television producers.
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The television producers want me to share tips so their viewers can better understand how to handle the myriad of travel situations that can happen on any given day.
A couple of weeks ago we saw a travel disaster developing right in front of our eyes. It was happening in the Northeast as a nasty snowstorm descended upon us, forcing thousands of flights to be delayed or cancelled. Numerous outlets called to get my take on what people should do to make sure they got to their location.
One Fox News producer had to cancel a segment, but still needed some information for his personal use. He was scheduled to fly out at the peak of the storm and wanted to know what he should do.
My answer?
“Next time book with a travel agent.”
Indeed, that’s one of my top travel tips for consumers whenever I’m asked about it, and even when they don’t ask. Consumers have the false sense of security that they have it handled when they couldn’t be more wrong. It typically dawns on them after disaster strikes.
As they say, timing is everything. That’s why I try to make sure people know that travel agents are alive and well and should be a first call in the planning process, not a desperation call when things go awry.
Travel agents have all had those calls from past customers who need a bail out of their own mess.
It starts with “I need your help … but I didn’t book this particular trip with you….” The agent shows some mercy, despite the booking not being made by them, and typically throws the hapless traveler a lifeline.
But what about all of those great travel apps, you might be thinking? Yes, there are some great tools out there to assist a traveler in different ways, but they don’t replace the human travel app known as a travel agent.
Consumers would be well served to seek out a travel professional that can assist them for a variety of travel requests. One place to start is on www.TravelTribe.com. A consumer can ask a question based on an area of expertise, gather some answers from a variety of trained agents, and choose one to connect with.
Travel agents would be well served to have a dynamic website that allows consumers to research and plan a trip, ahead of speaking to them. That’s what most travelers do anyway, yet almost every travel agent has yet to create a content rich website solution.
Instead, the consumer’s immediate instinct is to visit up to 22 different websites in search of the information they’d like to see. That’s right, 22 sites!
I’d suggest that travel agents spend five minutes at Agent Studio to see how they can create a one stop, content rich website that gives the consumer what they need while positioning the travel agent as a true professional. The consumer would spend more time finding the information they need while having access to personal advice.
Just think about this the next time you call a company and you get that automated attendant who is “here to help”. How fast do you hit that 0 button to get a real human? Now apply that to the next time you want to book a trip. Maybe the best app we’ve had for travel all along has been a human app: the travel agent.
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