Retention in the Travel Trade
THE glamour of the travel industry comes from the people who work in it. They are the ones who can make ticketing, hotel booking and price comparisons look good. They are the ones who tell you with a smile, while you are seething with rage, that all seats are taken on the flight that you want, but willy-nilly they get you on that plane anyway. You see them as efficient, smart and oh-so-lucky to be in the travel business, getting to see the world on free tickets!
The truth however is far from that. They are usually underpaid and move on to greener pastures to seek their fortune. Radha Ninan of Bon Voyage has faced her share of woes heading a travel agency. The moment her employees are trained enough to tackle the customers, without her personal support, they leave. What about a judicious increase in salaries to keep them happy? It isn't as simple as that, says Ninan. With the advent of online booking, people rely less on travel agents. After incidents like the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre, travel for pleasure seemed to just fall apart. Airlines fell on bad days and slashed the commissions they used to pay to the trade. This obviously affected travel agents like Ninan who couldn't afford a raise for her employees to retain them.
Bon Voyage decided to change things their way. First of all, it went online. It became possible to have people search her website for details of tourist packages, hotel options and airfares. Then Ninan decided to let her employees work from home.
"I gave them the equipment that they would have had in the office and let them work from home via computers and the Internet," says Ninan. Her employees enjoyed this and looked no further, since it gave them a job that knocked out the daily commute, and offered them the flexibility to work on a near-entrepreneurial commission basis that accrued them better savings than before. The result? No further outgo for Ninan and Bon Voyage.
At the same time, Ninan took her business to an online vendor who gave her a highly effective, result-driven direct mailing and e-mail marketing programme. She could use the database of other member agencies of the vendor and had her people working from home, send e-mails targeted at specific age groups and corporate houses who wanted good packages for their incentive programme. In the process, Bon Voyage received high commissions, bonus overrides and exclusive offers for their clients. She kept a few of the agents who were willing to work for the same salaries at a smaller office and reduced the outlay on hired premises. To make up for the lower salaries, she offered them "working holidays" where they accompanied travel professionals on tours.
She gave her employees pro-rata free tickets for two and specially reduced deals for their children. Throughout the year, travel agents receive discounted deals on airfare and hotels as well as incentive rates from car rental companies, which she put to good use by disbursing them among her more efficient team members. Radha Ninan is today a happy employer and has happy employees because, as she says, "I take care of them and feel that innovation is the key. You take care of the mind, and the body follows!"
There is criticism that technologies like electronic ticketing and online credit-card payments might create a situation that will negate the need for travel agents. But people will always need to know where to go for the best deal. Travel professionals have every breaking bit of information at their fingertips and can think of a dozen different ways to save their client's money, a commodity that will never go out of fashion!
The people who make travel easier need to be looked after. Perhaps travel agencies need to break free like Bon Voyage and look for ways to motivate and retain their executives. After all, it can only be your travel agent who will know that you prefer a non-smoking, aisle seat and see that there's a welcome drink and a complimentary bottle of wine in your room as you walk into a hotel of his choosing!
SUJATA PATNAIK
aa@cnkonline.com
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Opportunities
