High Service Trumps Supplier Overtures

The meeting business is better than ever, said Tim A. Davis, president of Suzi Davis Travel/American Express in Bloomington, IL, adding that the one thing that stands in his way is suppliers who act as best friends one day and try to steal his business the next.

“It’s all part of the continued devaluation of travel agent…I don’t mean to be cynical but…[suppliers] love you when you have a 100-person group, but they’d rather book the business directly, even though they couldn’t do it with the quality or the personal touch that a local agent can provide. I’m proud of our industry but we could do so much better if agents and suppliers could get on the same page,” said Davis.

Up to 15% of Suzi Davis Travel’s $35 million revenue is meetings and incentive business, and it is growing, said Davis, explaining that travel agencies, and his in particular, can offer more value to clients than traditional incentive houses. “People aren’t looking for the cheapest price but the most for their money…like getting seven nights in Hawaii instead of five nights in San Francisco. Our rate structure allows us to be more competitive [than incentive houses]. Clients have become disenchanted with ‘the big guys’ who might…look at an incentive client as a fat cow and charge them a 20%-25% markup; companies who charge an arm and a leg have worn out their welcome.”

Disloyal Cruise Lines: Davis’ agency has handled a number of meetings and incentives at sea during his 32 years in operation and what irritates him most are cruise lines that approach his clients directly, even though he may have handled the client repeatedly over the years.

“…The cruise lines hire salespeople who are told if they don’t get a certain number of deposits that day or that week, they’ll be out of a job. Once they get your client’s name and email, it’s like getting gum off your shoe. These are kids who haven’t been there more than three weeks, calling your clients, offering them incentives that you can’t even offer and convincing them to book directly. You can be a multi-million dollar producer for the line but when you tell them you’ve handled that particular client’s last ten cruises, they’ll tell you they can’t release the space because it’s already been paid in full…  These are people lacking integrity and moral fabric that are willing to destroy relationships over a $2,000 booking,” he said.

Davis says the issue is not limited to cruise lines but applies to tour operators and other travel vendors as competition for business has increased.  With the advent of social networks like Facebook where suppliers can make their pitches more easily to clients, he said that the situation has gotten worse. “It’s hypocrisy — stroking agents with one hand and highly incentivizing sales teams to get the client to book directly with the other. No one at a cruise line is going to get an award for referring his direct client to their local travel agent,” he said.

Protecting commissions: Davis said he sometimes sends his clients to sea with a letter from the agency, in case they are approached while on board the ship. The note clearly states that while Davis appreciates everything the line can offer to increase his clients’ comfort during the cruise, the client still belongs to him. He also said he follows his clients very closely: “We babysit them so they don’t have any chance or desire to wander.” 

Davis tends to book his meeting groups and individual clients with preferred suppliers where he is a bigger fish in a small pond and has more leverage when asking a cruise line or tour operator to protect his relationship with his clients, he said. He noted that his affiliation with American Express also helps in this regard; Suzi Davis Travel has been recognized for the past five years as a Representative Excellence Award winner. “We go to our sales rep and say, ‘This is my client. He got taken in by one of your Web offers but you can see by his history with you that we’ve booked him four or five times. Please add our IATA number to the booking,’” he said.
Davis urged suppliers to review their policies when it comes to retailers and adjust them to be fairer and reduce some of the concern he and other agents feel.  While some might charge fees to overcome this conflict, Davis refuses, saying that the client shouldn’t be put in the middle of an uncomfortable situation. “We don’t want to put them under the bus,” he said.