The Untapped Revenue Stream: Why Small Travel Agents Should Consider Outsourcing to Boost Sales and Customer Satisfaction

The travel industry has witnessed significant changes in recent years, forcing travel agents to rethink their strategies to stay competitive. Amid the flurry of holiday bookings, small travel agents often focus on the core elements, such as flights and hotels, while the smaller but lucrative components, such as attraction tickets, excursions, travel insurance, and airport transfers, are often overlooked. This article delves into this untapped revenue stream and how small travel agents can seize this opportunity through strategic outsourcing.

The Dilemma for Small Travel Agents

Many holidaymakers book the significant elements of their holiday many months in advance. However, the smaller details are often left until the last minute, sometimes even until they are on holiday. This creates a golden opportunity for travel agents to offer additional services and improve their bottom line.

Unfortunately, small travel agents, with limited resources and manpower, find it challenging to capitalise on this opportunity. They are often so busy managing the primary booking operations that they lose out on these potential revenue streams.

The Opportunity: A Pre-Departure ‘Customer Services’ Call

What if every passenger received a call six weeks and then two weeks before departure? It might sound like a daunting task, but it’s a strategy that could pay off handsomely.

The beauty of this approach is that it doesn’t have to be a sales call. It can be positioned as a customer service call, a ‘holiday reminder’ that simultaneously offers a chance to reconfirm all booking details. This offers a natural opportunity for the agent to introduce ancillary products or services that the customer may find valuable.

The closer the call is to the holiday, the more likely the customer is to make additional purchases. After all, these are items the customer will likely purchase anyway, so why should the agent miss out?

The Solution: Travel Outsourcing

Implementing such a strategy would be a daunting task for a small travel agency juggling multiple responsibilities. This is where outsourcing comes into the picture. By using an outsourcing solution, travel companies can both create a superior customer service experience for their clients and generate additional revenue.

A well-trained, outsourced post-sales team could manage these calls professionally, offering a customer-centric approach that seamlessly integrates upselling. At the very minimum, the expense of the outsourced post-sales team will be covered by the additional revenue. At best, the team will become a real profit centre.

The Benefits: Superior Customer Experience and Additional Revenue

Outsourcing offers several benefits. First, it allows travel agents to focus on their core operations while ensuring that the smaller but crucial details are handled professionally. This not only increases efficiency but also enhances the overall customer experience, leading to increased customer loyalty.

Secondly, it opens up an untapped revenue stream. With the right approach, the additional sales from these calls can significantly increase profits. By offering services that customers are likely to purchase anyway, travel agents can capitalise on a previously untapped revenue stream.

Conclusion

In the rapidly evolving travel sector, small travel agents need to continually adapt and innovate. While the core elements of travel bookings remain important, there is significant potential in the smaller details. By leveraging outsourcing, travel agents can tap into this untapped revenue stream, enhancing their profits and offering superior customer service. After all, in today’s competitive environment, every opportunity to generate additional revenue and enhance customer satisfaction is worth exploring.

Harnessing the Power of Quality Assurance in Travel: Mitigating Errors and Maximising Efficiency through Outsourcing

In the fast-paced world of the travel industry, mistakes are almost factored in as a ‘cost of doing business.’ But when it comes to travel, these errors can be enormously costly, impacting the bottom line significantly. A small slip, like booking the wrong date for a ticket, can cascade into a costly error, while an oversight in the meal plan can leave a massive dent in the financials. Fortunately, there’s a solution – a robust quality assurance (QA) process, enhanced by the benefits of outsourcing.

The High Cost of Errors in Travel Booking

Take the scenario where a family of four is planning a long-haul trip during high season. A simple mistake of booking the wrong date could result in the need to purchase new tickets, potentially costing the travel company an additional £3000.

A seemingly innocuous oversight, such as misunderstanding the terms for a meal plan upgrade, can also lead to hefty unplanned expenses. Imagine a travel agent books a holiday, assuming a free upgrade from Bed & Breakfast (BB) to Full Board (FB), but the offer was only valid when booked in conjunction with a specific airline. The cost difference of £50 per person per day for a two-week holiday for a family of four translates to a significant £2800 that the travel company would have to absorb.

Leveraging Quality Assurance for Optimal Efficiency

A comprehensive QA process, particularly when reinforced by an outsourced team, can catch these mistakes within hours of the booking, significantly reducing the chances of incurring heavy costs. With various outsource locations across different time zones, it’s feasible to have a team checking bookings as they’re made, or even overnight.

Take, for example, the situation where a travel company in the UK collaborates with an outsourced team in Manila, which is eight hours ahead. When the UK business day ends at 6 PM, the Manila team can start work at 1 AM UK time, checking all bookings made the previous day. Any errors are flagged promptly, and the client can be contacted before the business day starts. Apologies can be issued, and accurate pricing details provided before any significant loss occurs.

A Multitude of Benefits with an Outsourced QA Team

Outsourcing QA for travel bookings offers numerous advantages beyond timely error detection. It provides an additional layer of verification, ensuring that all elements of the booking align with the clients’ needs and preferences.

One common error is booking accommodation that doesn’t match the clients’ specifications. For instance, two business colleagues might be booked into a single room with a king bed instead of separate rooms. The QC process can easily detect and rectify such errors.

Another potential oversight could be flights with unnecessarily long connections, causing undue discomfort to the traveller. The QA team can spot such anomalies, enabling the travel company to modify the itinerary for a smoother travel experience.

In the case of group bookings, the wrong allocation of passengers to rooms can be a logistical nightmare and costly to correct. QA checks ensure that such logistical errors are caught well in advance, saving the travel company from unexpected costs and potential damage to their reputation.

Reducing the Impact of Human Error

Despite the best efforts, human errors can occur, especially in high-volume booking environments. Misspelling a client’s name on a flight ticket could lead to denial of boarding and the necessity to purchase a new ticket. A vigilant QA team can spot such errors, ensuring they’re rectified before causing inconvenience to the traveller or loss to the travel company.

Moreover, some bookings might require specific documentation or visas. An outsourced QA team could help verify that all necessary documents are in order, mitigating the risk of last-minute travel disruptions.

The Bottom Line

While the challenge of mistakes in the travel industry might seem daunting, the solution lies in implementing an effective quality assurance strategy. Outsourcing this critical function not only ensures a rigorous checking process but also offers a myriad of benefits such as error detection and rectification, cost savings, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Indeed, the cost of not implementing a robust QA process is far greater than the investment in a dedicated outsourced team. It’s high time travel companies realised the value of quality assurance and leveraged the power of outsourcing to safeguard their reputation, improve customer satisfaction, and boost their bottom line. It’s not just about preventing errors; it’s about creating a culture of excellence and continual improvement, a journey that begins with effective quality assurance.