Price Competition with the “Big Boys”

Can a Home-Based Travel Professional compete with the big agencies or the Internet?

I recently received a magazine that comes regularly from a very large organization who does travel as well as other things.  The front 2 pages are always cruise and tour specials.  So, I thought I will check to see how their pricing compares to what I can get.  To my surprise, I beat every single special by at least $100.  A home-based agent beat goliath!!

 

In the travel industry there are consortiums.  These are organizations of travel agents coming together to buy travel packages, tour, and cruises in bulk and allow travel agents to book into the block.  There are scores of these consortiums.  The biggest of all is Vacation.com.  In order to become a member, an agency has to meet many criteria.  This is very hard for some home-based agencies.  But if they can get in, the special pricing is extremely competitive and will beat the internet and the giant travel companies.  So, yes, we can be competitive.

 

Although price competition is important, there are other factors that make the home-based travel agent special:

• The personal service that home-based travel agents offer is just as important, and maybe more important, than the priced..  Home-based agents are service driven.  They will go to your home, office, club or wherever you need to meet with them.  They may even fly to your city to meet you at your convenience.  The hours they work are not 8-5 5 days a week, but from morning till late at night any day of the week. 
• They also form a personal relationship with their clients.  They have been known to take people to the airports, baby sit children and animals, be at their client’s homes with meals and a multitude of other services you never find from a brick and mortar agency who has “store hours”.  Bottom line, home-based agents care about their clients and they become friends.  This goes way beyond the small saving you “may” find on the internet.

As travel agencies build volume with their preferred suppliers, the special pricing and other offers increase.  A relationship builds with that supplier and as the agent is faithful to them, they in turn are there for the agent when an emergency or need arises.  So many times a client is handed their documents with a smile and told to “have a wonderful trip” and behind the scenes the agent has been working day and into the night or nights to fix a problem that occurred.  The client will never know the sweat and tears that went into putting that trip together.  Fortunately, most travel is without incident.  But there are many times we are up late at night or early in the morning trying to hold a dream trip together.  There are times we think a job at McD would be great.  But we love what we do and that crises passes. 

 

To build a great relationship between a client and agent, communication is the key, the same as any relationship.  Let the agent know your likes, dislikes, dreams and wishes.  Most agents keep files on their clients and can begin to watch for special travel that might be of interest.  The travel industry is huge and probably has some interesting facets that you never knew about before.  Let us share them with you.  The world is a fascinating place and we know how to explore it.