INSIDE THIS
WEEK Contents
NEWS Hot Stories
Top-10 Atol-holders boost capacity by 15% Tui to launch three river cruise vessels Gender pay gap widens at some firms Virgin boss vows to ‘return to growth’ Agents face paying out for drone delays
Round-up WIN!
Brunei backlash; Lata; Roe; Garrido Accessible travel; If Only; AWTE/ITT
A place on a fam trip to Vilnius in Lithuania page 30
08 10
Avalon fams; Advantage touring; Dublin 12 Special Report
14
State-of-the-market round-table Talk Back
Flybe, Jet2 pilots, travel can heal Brexit
NEWS YOU CAN USE Product ITC Travel, Jet2holidays
Operator Titan, Premier, Haven, Saga Cruise Crystal Cruises, Avalon, Riviera
17 04 19
20 21
FRONTLINE Comment Jacqueline Dobson, Barrhead 22
This Week In… 1974, 1994 and 2009 24 A Day With… Thompson Travel, N Ireland 26 Mystery Shopper Derby
36 DESTINATIONS
The US Gulf Coast: New Orleans to Tampa Moon Landing: Space celebrations
MOON
38 45
Vermont: Visit the state in the summer 50
LANDING Find out where to send clients in the US to mark 50 years since first lunar landing
page 45
Turkey Antalya: History and activities abound 56
BUSINESS
WTTC Global Summit 2019, Seville: Brexit, trafficking and Obama advice
62 WHAT
LUCY DID THIS WEEK
Apr 11 1
2 3
Lucy Huxley Editor-in-chief @Lucy_Huxley
Hosted a Travel Weekly Business Breakfast at Disney on customer service and innovation, with Tui, IBM, Ocean Holidays and Virgin Atlantic.
Started reading through the piles of entries submitted by all of you for this year’s Agent Achievement Awards.
Broke my arm and fractured my elbow at the roller disco with my daughter after a child stacked it in front of me and I went flying!
11 April 2019
travelweekly.co.uk3
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Create a winning formula T
his week we held a Travel Weekly Business Breakfast on customer service and innovation, which you’ll be able to
read about in a future edition. In a typically fascinating session, our expert panellists
gave some examples of great customer service they’d received, with common themes being transparency, speed of reaction and the ability to turn an enquiry, complaint or crisis into an opportunity to surprise and delight. Another recurring topic was the importance of contact
with real people – with technology a tool to enable good service rather than an answer in itself. The timing of the discussion couldn’t have been more pertinent as it came shortly after I’d experienced both extremes of the customer service spectrum in high street travel agencies. My requirements weren’t particularly complicated – helping a relative to pick up some foreign currency for an overseas trip – but the difference in experiences couldn’t have been more stark. We were the only customers in the first agency, but after
four-and-a-half minutes, we still hadn’t been acknowledged, so we left. In the second, we were greeted by a friendly and attentive agent, but unfortunately they didn’t have the currency in stock. In the third, not only did they have the currency, but the agent gave us a great rate, offered us a cup of tea and chatted enthusiastically about the trip ahead. If the winning formula for customer service is being able to deliver what the customer wants, when they want it, and in a way which will make them want to return, there’s no prizes for guessing which agency gets my vote.
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