Agent’s holiday kicks off with spate of bookings
Josie Klein
An agent’s relaxing seven-night break got off to a manic start after he helped four clients and took three bookings within 24 hours of leaving for the airport. Lee Harrison, co-owner of
Malvern World Travel, was on his way to Bristol airport by car the night before flying to Rhodes when he received an enquiry from a new customer about a cruise. With his wife Hilary, who is
also the company’s co-owner, at the wheel, Harrison researched and booked the client’s holiday, which cost around £2,000. “Knowing that we would be on
holiday in Rhodes for a week, we tried to clear away as much of our work beforehand,” said Harrison. “The night before we left home,
we took a booking from a regular cruise client and he mentioned his daughter might be in touch with us to book her own cruise. “As we were heading to the
airport, I checked my iPad while Hilary was driving and saw we’d already had an email from her asking to book a specific cabin. “With the aid of technology, I was
able to log in to Complete Cruise Solution, check all the details and book
Lee and Hilary Harrison in Rhodes
As we were heading
to Bristol airport, I checked my iPad and saw a request for a cruise and specific cabin
the cabin, which cost around £2,000.” Harrison’s workload did not ease
up when he landed in Rhodes as he had more enquiries to deal with. He secured a Fred Holidays
booking to Spain, a Jet2 trip to Crete and rearranged a passenger’s flights – all on his first day on holiday.
Southampton Cruise Centre introduces online bookings
The Southampton Cruise Centre is now able to take bookings online for ocean cruises. Phil Nuttall, group chief executive of parent company The Travel Village Group, said the business had to offer an “open all hours” policy to capitalise on the volume of visitors going to
southamptoncruisecentre.com outside the sales team’s normal operating hours and during peak periods.
8 28 SEPTEMBER 2023 Harrison added: “We had a pretty
intensive rail and Spain enquiry for clients with very specific requirements – we confirmed this booking with Fred Holidays for £4,800 shortly after arriving in Rhodes. “We also had a slight scare when
clients travelling to the Scilly Isles from Exeter suddenly found themselves going nowhere as the M5 had been closed. After landing in Rhodes, we spoke to Premier Holidays and got them put on a later flight.” Harrison added: “There’s never a
dull moment in travel, but that’s the joy of working seven days a week!”
Ski flights to Austria outstrip pre-pandemic levels by 8%
UK flights to Austria for the start of the ski season in December are exceeding pre-pandemic levels by 8%, figures show. The number of scheduled services is also up 18% on December 2022 via the gateways of Innsbruck and Salzburg, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium in partnership with Ski Solutions.
Gatwick imposes third daily flight cap in past month
A daily flight cap has been imposed at Gatwick where almost a third of National Air Traffic Service (Nats) control tower staff are off work for medical reasons including Covid. The airport is limited to
800 flights a day, affecting thousands of passengers on 164 flights, with restrictions remaining until October 1. This third limit on flights at
Gatwick in the past month is designed to prevent delays and last-minute cancellations. Johan Lundgren, chief
executive of easyJet, the largest airline based at the airport, said: “Gatwick and Nats need to work on a longer-term plan so the resilience of air traffic control is improved and fit for purpose. “Our call for a more
wide-ranging review of Nats remains so the broader issues can be examined.” A Nats spokesperson said:
“We will continue to recruit and train air traffic controllers at Gatwick as fast as possible to ensure we return to a fully resilient operation as soon as we can.” A Ryanair spokesperson
called for Nats’ chief executive, Martin Rolfe, to step down, adding: “We call on the CAA to immediately intervene and protect passengers from this ongoing UK air traffic control shambles.”
Sterling’s rise in value makes east Asia a ‘bargain’ – Post Office
East Asia “looks a bargain”, according to the Post Office Travel Money Long-Haul Holiday Report. It found a surge in sterling’s value means holidaymakers’ money will go further. Brits planning winter-sun holidays can expect to pay less than a year ago in more than 88% of destinations surveyed. Vietnamese resort Hoi An is the cheapest destination for the second year.
travelweekly.co.uk
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