p14-15 on the frontline jan16 14/1/09 17:07 Page 14
news from the frontline
ttglive.com
Brochures, polar bears and
In the latest of our From the Frontline features,
Charlotte Walsh finds out what it’s like to be a
travel agent as she spends a day with Bath Travel
I
t’s 11.15am in Petersfield’s Bath Travel
Charlotte’s assignment
store and the customers are coming in
thick and fast. When a woman asks for ■ To learn the ropes as a travel agent,
cruise brochures I try to look professional help customers and work on bookings
while riffling randomly through the Greece and
Cyprus programmes. No cruises there.
She wants to spot polar bears and I can’t
remember where they live – is it the north or
south pole?
After a few seconds I triumphantly grab a
Hurtigruten brochure with a grizzly brown bear
on the front – it’s a bear at least.
Eventually I find the right ones and she
leaves with a smile on her face.
Lesson One: There are so many brochures! Fiona Jeffery: experience Andrew McGregor: trainee
BATH TRAVEL has been in Petersfield for 20 front of the office is very tidy and inviting.
years. Housed in a quaint 500-year-old building, One of the trade’s biggest miniples, Bath
it’s in the heart of the Hampshire market town. Travel is known for cruising, but scanning
I’m here for the day under the watchful eye the two walls filled with brochures I quickly
of manager Fiona Jeffery, who joined the com- discover they sell just about everything.
pany in January, after 12 years working as an I like to think of myself as a bit of a brochure
agent for Thomson. expert, having specialised in writing about
There’s not much Fiona doesn’t know about them for TTG, but I’ve never seen such a range.
travel: when I quiz her on the best place in I’m in awe when Fiona shows me an entire
Florence or where to head for a UK break, back room lined with shelves of them. Charlotte is unfazed as she talks to Kuoni about a tailor-made holiday
she buzzes with ideas. Each brochure has a big orange sticker
In my three years on TTG I’ve picked up a fair reminding customers to book with Bath Travel. large range of operators, and she takes pride
amount of travel knowledge, but I still manage Fiona explains just how frustrating it is when making sure she selects the right deal for each
to forget country capitals and the names of she does all the legwork to find someone a customer.
hotels I’ve stayed in, so I’m impressed. perfect deal, only for them to book direct with I assumed it would be easy to pick the supplier
Today the shop is staffed by Fiona, trainee the operator. once you knew what someone wanted, but
Andrew McGregor who started in September, I silently curse myself for not shoving the Fiona explains she has to take into account
and Val Riley, who looks after administration. sticker under the nose of the polar bear which countries suppliers specialise in, their
Bath Travel still uses handwritten files, so woman. commission rates, service levels and how well
there are filing cabinets full of records, and the Fiona explains that the agency works with a they’d suit the customer. And all that’s
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46539ATLANTIS_TTG_LHP.indd 1 9/1/09 16:16:21 46539ATLANTIS_TTG_RHP.indd 1 9/1/09 16:15:24
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