Search Travel Market Report

ALGV
riviera
maestro
Riviera
mainlogo
  • News
  • Tours & Packages
  • Cruise
  • Hotels & Resorts
  • Destinations
  • Retail Strategies
  • Niche & Luxury
  • Well-Being Travel
  • Training
  • Who We Are
    • Anne Marie Moebes
    • Barbara Peterson
    • Brian Israel
    • Daine Taylor
    • Dan McCarthy
    • Denise Caiazzo
    • Jessica Montevago
    • Marilee Crocker
    • Mary Gostelow
    • Paul M. Ruden
    • Steve Gillick
Sponsored By NCL
Sponsored By NCL
riviera

How the Best Group Travel Advisors Keep Calm and Stay Efficient

by Richard D’Ambrosio / March 06, 2019
How the Best Group Travel Advisors Keep Calm and Stay Efficient

There are a number of apps and programs, including Facebook, that allows you to communicate with a number of people at once. Photo: Shutterstock.com.


The average travel agent who builds a book of business based on individual travelers and families eventually hears about how lucrative group travel can be. Many dive in, selling their first speculative tour, or developing a trip with an affinity group.

Then reality sets in. Two dozen clients, all leaving at the same time, but all with different needs, come crashing into the agent’s life. Through trial-by-fire, these agents learn that group travel isn’t easy if you don’t have the right processes and systems to make you efficient.

Amoira Johnson, CSS, a group travel and events specialist, conducted her first group trip about 15 months after she became a travel agent (in September 2016), a destination wedding with 134 people.

“I was, thinking, ‘Volume, that’s great.’ I went into it blind, not knowing how much it takes to get 134 people from point A to point B, coordinating all of their activities,” said Johnson, owner of Travel with Me Amoira, a Cruise Planners franchise in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Johnson survived, and today, her agency is currently working on 22 active groups, including family cruises, school reunions, two destinations weddings, and a vow renewal.

“The amount of work for an agent managing a group increases more than incrementally because the size of the group and the related tasks are correlated,” said David Chait, co-founder and CEO of Travefy.

“Communicating with everyone, ensuring everyone has their travel documents, sharing details with suppliers accurately, all can reduce an agent’s efficiency,” said Chait, whose company’s software is especially popular with group travel specialists because it allows agents to automate and streamline a number of time-consuming tasks, like itinerary building. “If you’re able to capture efficiencies, you can unlock group travel profits.”

“Group travel is both exciting and intimidating,” said Claire Gilbert, owner of Fine Tours and Cruises, in Alexandria, Virginia. “It’s nice to have that much business concentrated on one destination and in a narrow timeframe. But you have to enter this understanding it is going to be a lot of work. Every member thinks they are the only client – and the most important client, too – so developing the efficiencies to make them feel that way is very important.”

Chait and several agents talked with Travel Market Report about group travel, and they provided these tips to make your business more efficient and effective.

Streamline your communications
One-off conversations, either verbally or in writing, will greatly diminish your efficiency, said Johnson, who leverages closed Facebook groups extensively. “My clients are from all over, and this eliminates me having to manage all of the different time zones. They can go and see what is going on at their convenience,” Johnson said.

“It’s extremely time-consuming, 60-70 people asking you the same questions all of the time,” said Gilbert. Like Johnson, she uses Facebook groups to communicate news and answer questions. Using tools like these also helps build camaraderie in advance of the group physically meeting each other, Gilbert said.

Larissa Parks, an independent travel advisor based in Waldorf, Maryland, agreed. “The key to a great group trip is to create a sense of community. That means creating those spaces where everyone can communicate in advance,” Parks said.

For group members who don’t have a Facebook account, typically more elderly clients, Gilbert relies more on phone and email. Gilbert and Parks also recommend tools like Zoom meetings for video and web conferencing.

Learn Google Sheets or Excel
Every group trip should have its own profit and loss statement, agents told Travel Market Report, linking what your clients will be doing on the trip with your expenses and revenues. This is where having a solid foundation in tools like Microsoft Excel or Tableau can help keep an agent organized.

“It may look like you have 100 people on the same itinerary, staying at the same hotel, dining at the same restaurants, but you have 100 people making important personal choices, like choosing different day excursions. That’s where you run into organizational complexities, and the pain points arise,” Chait said.

“Spreadsheets are my friend,” said Gilbert, who uses them “for everything” from budgeting to calculating costs, contingencies, and overall group pricing. “I came around to it over time, as my smaller groups grew larger and the logistics became more complicated,” she said.

For example, Gilbert tracks rooming lists in her spreadsheets, pre- and/or post-trip hotel requests and bookings, as well as insurance policy purchases.

As the group gets closer to departure date, complexity tends to increase. This often triggers final decisions or changes in client choices. In many cases, one individual’s choices can trigger new work for an agent.

For something like ground transfers, it may take just one individual’s new choice to put you over the capacity on a bus you’ve hired. Having spreadsheets tracking in one place what clients are doing helps keep Gilbert on top of any choices she might have to make.

“It’s inevitable. You get that call; ‘I hear so and so is getting airport transfers. Can I get them?’” Gilbert said.

Travefy is reviewing offering agents a tool to enable group trip members to make more custom choices directly online.

“These triggers and caveats are the reality of the business. If one client says yes to this, then you may need to do that,” Chait said. “A system that shows you you’re over capacity on something like a tour bus can help you avoid problems in front of your clients, and save you a lot of embarrassment.”

“Not everybody can handle the volume of group travel, and if you mess something up, you could look like a failure to every other person on the trip,” Johnson said.

Automate and outsource as much as you can
Depending on which CRM and booking tools you use, familiarize yourself with ways those tools can automate tasks like invoicing, workflows, and payment schedules.

Gilbert and the others highly recommend working with tools that offer embedded forms on your website, where you can automatically capture as much information as possible, and reduce or eliminate manual data entry.

Parks uses Dubsado for a good deal of her back-of-the-office tasks, and is exploring how the tool can embed client portals into her website so she can have a more personal, ongoing dialogue with individual customers. “These private pages can be opened and closed depending on the stage of the booking process, which will help me a lot,” Parks said.

While Parks is a big fan of technology and software, she also creates a hard copy file for each of her clients for back up. “I’m old school, too. If I have a conversation, an email, it goes in their folder. It can be tedious, but if my power goes down, I can pull out my files and have hard copies of everything.”

Finally, all of the agents that Travel Market Report interviewed highly recommend forming strong personal relationships with local DMCs. Having that rapport to quickly solve problems and offload tasks can take a lot of work off a travel agent’s shoulders.

  2
  0
Riviera
Related Articles
Advisors Get Firsthand Australia Feedback at New York Times Travel Show
Add Civil Unrest to List of Potential Traveler Interruptions
Lost Passport While Traveling? It Doesn’t Have to Completely Ruin a Vacation
What Types of Travel Social Posts Get the Most Shares?
Advisors Have to Work Harder to Deliver Authentic Culinary Travel Experiences
With Political Unrest Growing, What Protection Does Travel Insurance Offer?
Look-a-Like Travel Booking Websites Could Cost Consumers
Low Unemployment Impacts Travel Advisor Hiring
Travel Sales Will Remain Strong, MMGY Survey Shows
Travel Agent ‘Comeback’ Continues to Confound the Public

MOST VIEWED

Brought To You By
  1. U.S. Will Require Negative COVID-19 Tests for All International Visitors
  2. Thailand Introduces New Tourist Tax for International Travelers
  3. Op-ed: Five Travel Predictions for 2021
  4. Marriott to Open Seven EDITION HOTELS in 2021
  5. Kauai Reopens to Tourists with New Travel Rules in Place
  6. Caribbean Destinations, Hotels Work to Meet to New CDC Requirements

MOST EMAILED

Brought To You By
  1. U.S. Will Require Negative COVID-19 Tests for All International Visitors
  2. Caribbean Destinations, Hotels Work to Meet to New CDC Requirements
  3. Kauai Reopens to Tourists with New Travel Rules in Place
  4. ASTA: CDC Testing Requirement ‘Threatens to Create a Logistical Crisis’
  5. What Advisors Need to Know About the Latest COVID-19 Relief Package
  6. American Airlines Launches Health Passport to Help Passengers with COVID Test Requirements
Tip of the Day

I think being in contact with [my clients] gave them more confidence in me and the suggestions I offer.

Linda Kinsey, Custom Travel & Cruise

 Share...
Daily Top List
Brought To You By

5 Things Every Travel Agency Should Do To Boost Business

1. Specialize
2. Give a personal touch
3. Find your niche and sell an experience
4. Maintain a high standard of quality
5. Become a salesman…but inspire trust

Source: Azavista.com

 Share...
Previous Daily Top List
Riviera
TMR Recommendations
Daniel Zim
Zim Travel Law, PLLC. Demystifying Complexity with Down to Earth Advice. Attorney Advertising.
hbar
Rodney Gould
Rodney E. Gould concentrates in travel and tour-operator litigation and regularly counsels travel-related entities worldwide.
hbar
Tom Carpenter
Carpenter Law Office - Representing clients in the travel and tourism industries. Attorney Advertising.
hbar
Top Stories
Video: Why Consumers Should Use a Travel Agent in 2021
Video: Why Consumers Should Use a Travel Agent in 2021

The latest episode of TMR's MasterAdvisor tackles the big question for consumers. 

Read...
Federal Mask Mandate for Planes, Airports, and Trains in U.S. Signed into Law
Federal Mask Mandate for Planes, Airports, and Trains in U.S. Signed into Law

A new executive order is reinforcing face mask policies on interstate U.S. travel. 

Read...
American Express GBT Acquires Ovation Travel Group
American Express GBT Acquires Ovation Travel Group

GBT will take over the $1.7 billion travel management company.

Read...
ACTA Calls for Advisors and Agencies to Support Association
ACTA Calls for Advisors and Agencies to Support Association

'We are asking every travel agency and travel agent to please consider joining ACTA now, so that we can continue to fight for you in 2021.'

Read...
Video: What Can Advisors Do About Late Commission Payments?
Video: What Can Advisors Do About Late Commission Payments?

FROSCH Travel's Marc Kazlauskas talks to Daniel McCarthy about how advisors can approach late or missing commission payments from suppliers.

Read...
Reports: Europe and Brazil Travel Restrictions from U.S. Will Not Be Lifted
Reports: Europe and Brazil Travel Restrictions from U.S. Will Not Be Lifted

Despite news breaking Monday that travel restrictions would end, the timeline for unrestricted travel is again unclear. 

Read...
News Briefs
  • Consumers Deterred by COVID-19 Are Banking on Traveling in Early 2021
  • ASTA Asks Advisors to Fill Out Survey on COVID Impact
  • Travel Edge Completes Two-Day Virtual Event
  • World Travel and Tourism Council to Host COVID-19 Summit
  • Travelport Launches COVID-19 Response Microsite
  • World Travel & Tourism Council Postpones Global Summit
TMR Outlooks
Expedition 2020
Wellness Outlook
Distribution Outlook
View All
Advertiser's Voice
https://img.youtube.com/vi/-C65Uqm5evk/0.jpg
Video: Why Consumers Should Use a Travel Agent in 2021
About Travel Market Report Mission Editorial Staff Advisory Board Advertise
TMR Resources Webinars Calendar of Events
Subscribe to TMR
Select Language
Do You Have an Idea Email
editor@travelmarketreport.com
Give Us a Call
1-(516) 730-3097
Drop Us a Note
Travel Market Report
243 South Street, OysterBay, NY, 11771
News|Leisure Travel|Land Vacations|Cruise|Canada Retail Strategies|Well-Being|Luxury|Training
© 2005 - 2021 Travel Market Report, an American Marketing Group Inc. Company All Rights Reserved | 243 South Street, Oyster Bay, NY, 11771 USA | Telephone (516) 730-3097| Terms and Conditions
Cookie Policy Privacy Policy