A DAY WITH... TRAVEL WEEKLY ON THE ROAD
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Ben Jaxen Ireland @ben_ireland_11
Great meeting Michelle and the team at @KINVER42 for @travelweekly feature - lovely independent high street agency
BEN’S DAY AT KINVER TRAVEL CENTRE
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with your customers is so important, not just for the repeat business, but for the word-of- mouth referrals.”
Old-fashioned techniques A quick look around shows the shop offers everything from cruise and safari to typical bucket-and-spade breaks and UK holidays. Classic Collection is also a popular operator, and called to increase the level of commission it pays Kinver midway through Travel Weekly’s visit. Kinver doesn’t keep computerised records of booking data, but they still see trends. “It’s old-fashioned, but we have a sense of what people are interested in from talking to our customers,” says Michelle. “I know Majorca is popular, but if you asked
me how many bookings we made last year I wouldn’t have a clue.” Based on that logic, villa holidays, trips to
watch Formula One racing and “any holidays that are complicated to organise” have proven popular. “It goes in trends. Last year we sold lots of Canada, but a few years back everyone in Kinver was going to Brazil.” Her point is, a good travel agent doesn’t
need to rely on data to find the best holiday for their client, but needs to offer added value and expertise to convince people to book with them rather than online.
Moving on from Monarch With Birmingham its closest major airport, the collapse of Monarch was a shock. Not only did Kinver have to close its doors and abandon new bookings for two days, so staff could rearrange 26 holidays, it also had to explain to customers who were loyal to Monarch. “A lot of people really liked Monarch,”
says Michelle. “I know airlines such as Jet2 have filled some of the routes, but we’re still without a Birmingham to Lisbon flight.”
Looking to the future The four-strong Kinver Travel Centre team are all part-time and Sue has now taken a back seat. “She officially retired in August last year,” Michelle says. “She still sells holidays to a select few customers. She just takes longer holidays herself.” She adds: “Travel has changed massively in
15 years. People still want to come in, but the challenge now is getting seen.” To make a splash, Kinver has started hosting
events including at local pub The Fox Inn, where 10 operators such as Prestige Holidays, Fred Holidays and Great Rail Journeys exhibited. The day of our visit they had two artificial palm trees ready to put outside to draw attention. Michelle says the future is “more events” and praised new recruit Victoria Jones for “fresh ideas to let people know we
Kinver is a sleepy town, with no train station, so it’s probably for
the best that its local agency is full of character. The Elite Travel Group member has clients in destinations such as the Bahamas and California, and customers keep coming back, with referrals and repeat bookings making up the bulk of business. But although word travels far, keeping up appearances in the village is paramount – though that’s no problem to an agency whose co-director Michelle can name half the people who walk past. A fierce pride in being a local business that links the village of about 7,000 people to the world shines through our conversation. They know what their clients like without keeping computerised records, but are always keeping on top of industry developments to make sure they offer all the trending destinations. A recent refresh of staff has brought new ideas in a bid to stand out to make the most of a footfall much smaller than most high street agencies enjoy.
are here” such as a table full of brochures in front of the shop – sometimes with balloons – on sunny days. Window offers remain popular and the agency has realised that the technique translates to Facebook as well. “It’s about standing out on the high street and making people remember there’s a local agent in the village,” she says. You don’t need computerised records for that.
29 March 2018
travelweekly.co.uk 31
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