Last week, in our story headlined "Thank God We Used a Travel Agent," we examined whether more travelers would start to use professional travel advisors after dealing with cancellations, rebookings, confusion and a lack of service from online travel agencies amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Travel Leaders Group took the question a step further by conducting a quick poll of its agents - and 95 percent said yes, they do expect to see an increase in inquiries from travelers who have not previously used a travel advisor. Some of the reasons cited by respondents:
- "Yes, I think people are going to have a lot of questions about safety, procedures, etc."
- "Yes, I think they will have a lot of questions, and it's up to agents to BOOK the travel, not just be a source of answers."
- "Yes, people are finding that these third-party travel companies do not have their best interest at heart. The internet has become so saturated with inaccurate information, people want to have someone they can go to that they trust."
- "If people are working in their normal lives then I can see more people wanting to use an agent. But with more people possibly at home with nothing to do, I feel people still think they can get better results than agents."
One of the advisors who felt there would be no change, said, "No, I feel at this time it will remain the same! Those that use agents and have had great experiences will continue. Those that do their own and didn't get burned, will continue in that direction for a short term."
Becky Powell, president of Protravel International, which is part of Travel Leaders Group, said some advisors are already seeing new clients.
"Protravel advisors, who utilize our marketing campaigns, have seen requests from new clients. Protravel has engaged in a bi-weekly client communication program, which is sent to clients on behalf of our advisors," Powell said. "The message tells them we are thinking of them and we are ready when they are to book their next vacation. Cathy Brooks-Oliver, based in our Scottsdale office, reshared this message on her social media and received two bookings from new clients. Many existing clients forwarded this message to their friends and family and have received new clients as referrals. We have also seen an increase in corporate clients who have never booked leisure now raving about the services of their travel advisor when they needed to get home during this crisis. A number of them are saying, 'I will only book through a travel advisor when I am ready to travel for business or leisure'."
Roger Block, president of Travel Leaders Network, said the poll results and anecdotes tell him business could increase for many advisors when travel opens back up.
"Our agents believe strongly that more people will not use the big OTAs, mainly due to so many customer emails that said 'I know I shouldn't have used Brand X, but I did, and now trying to get something modified has been a nightmare'," Block said. "Do I think it be a huge wave of people? Probably not, but I do believe traditional travel advisors will gain market share from OTAs, especially for more complicated trips. I think that trend will continue and accelerate a little bit, with people now understanding the value a travel advisor really does offer clients."
To prepare for a possible influx, Block said he's urged agents to continue to communicate with their clients, "not to sell travel, just to check on them, see how they're doing, and let them know they will be there for them when the world gets back to quasi normal."
Travel Leaders also is sending "aspirational marketing pieces" to clients to encourage dreaming of future trips.
While rebooking and securing refunds for clients, travel advisors experiencing a slowdown are encouraged to participate in webinars and online training programs.
"We've had almost 7,000 agents in the last two months sign up for various education programs - specialty topical seminars, three sessions on how to communicate with customers who need to rebook, webinars on health issues and how to cope with the stress of this situation," Block said. "The agents are very responsive as far as attending the webinars to try to improve their skillsets. Vendors are offering great content training programs. This is a perfect time to go through training sessions. You will be amazed at how it will pay dividends in the future."
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
