5 Post-Trip Touchpoints for Travel Advisors to Consider

The travel advisor-client relationship doesn’t end when the vacation does. In fact, the days right after a trip can be the most valuable time to build that connection. 

While many agencies send out automated post-trip feedback requests, more personalized touchpoints are necessary to build longstanding partnerships with clients. The importance of human connection can’t be overstated here. By showing genuine care and interest for a client well after the commission has been paid, travel advisors can ensure trust for all their future travels.  

Here are five post-trip touchpoints that advisors use to maintain communication with clients. 

Ask for Photos

When welcoming a client home from their trip, asking for their best photos is an effective way to get the conversation going. After all, advisors want to bear witness to the precious memories they helped create. 

“Sometimes you pour years of planning into some of these trips,” Keri Vita, a travel planner with LBAC Travel, told Travel Market Report, “and when it comes to fruition, it’s great to see it.” 

Seeing the fruits of their labor can help travel advisors feel more inspired to take that next step with their client, whether that’s asking for a Google review, a tag on social media, or a call to discuss their next trip. At the same time, it makes clients feel more connected to their travel advisor – continuing this shared experience beyond the pre-planning or mid-trip communication. 

One travel advisor even uses those photos to treat their clients to a heartfelt gift. When a client attaches an image to their testimonial, which she uses on her website, Christina Vieira, CEO and lead travel planner, Showcase the World Travel, turns it into a standing photo canvas and sends it to them. 

“It’s a subtle reminder of the memories we helped them create—and I want them to look at that canvas, smile, and think of me for their next adventure,” she told TMR.   

Send a Useful Gift

Speaking of gifts, Vieira has long been a champion of thoughtful gift-giving, another way that advisors can stay top-of-mind for clients. While some agencies send clients branded merchandise, this advisor has taken a fresh approach. 

It all started when Vieira was new to selling travel and specializing in Disney. She would send her clients things like Mickey/Minnie Mouse ears and luggage tags. But post-Covid, and as her business evolved and restructured, she wanted her gift-giving to be “more intentional, elevated, and aligned with my clients’ true needs.” 

Now, she gears her gifts specifically to her clientele, which is primarily busy mothers who do everything for their family and often forget about a little thing called self-care. 

“She doesn’t want more ‘stuff.’ So, I started sending a Starbucks gift card midway through the planning process, along with a note insisting it’s for her—not the kids,” Vieira said. 

Post-trip, Vieira sends her client a DoorDash gift card to use when she first returns from the trip “so she doesn’t have to think about dinner.” Vieira is also working on a partnership with a laundry service “so an empty bag can be waiting on her doorstep when she gets home—and come back 48 hours later with her clothes folded and ready to go.” 

These thoughtful touches in a travel advisor’s service can go a long way in maintaining post-trip connections, Vieira noted. She said the key is to be in tune with the client and their needs surrounding a trip. 

“I want them to tell their friends about their travel advisor who is an expert enough to know they would be stressed about dinner and laundry when they got back,” she said. “I have not been gifting in this capacity long enough to see an increase in referrals and repeat business because of it but that’s the ROI I care about.” 

Set Up a Post-Trip Phone Call 

Ultimately, the goal is to keep in touch with clients and help plan their next getaway. A post-trip phone call, ideally conducted within the first two weeks of a client’s return home, can be great for relationship building and information gathering. 

Learning about a client’s preferences doesn’t end after their first discovery call – the call after the trip could be even more fruitful in that regard.  

“Each time [you have a conversation], it’s more and more about them from the conversations before,” Vita said, “and it becomes more personalized. That’s not something any algorithm or automation can replace.” 

For example, Vita recently learned from a post-trip phone call that a client really prefers having a bathtub in her hotel room – “You can bet that’s in my notes, and I’ll never forget that now,” Vita said. “The feedback is important to my process. If there’s something they wish I had told them beforehand, I want to know about that, too.” 

Of course, different clients have different communication preferences. Many don’t want to be cold-called, and it’s important to learn over time whether they respond better to text, email, DMs, or something else. It’s there that advisors can suggest scheduling a phone call to take a deeper dive into what worked and didn’t work on their trip. 

Advisors should ask about specifics, such as details about flights, airport transfers, hotels, and tours. They should also ask open-ended questions that will get their clients talking that go beyond whether they enjoyed something or not. 

If a client doesn’t respond to a request for a phone call, continue to follow up. Some clients get busy catching up with work and readjusting to daily life but are still willing to chat when the time is right. 

Host a Celebratory Get-Together 

Ann Sadie Osten, of Sadie’s Global Travel Ltd., is also adamant about having a post-trip call – and even takes this to the next level with some clients. After a longer vacation, Osten and her agents will invite the client to the office for a celebratory in-person meeting. 

To set the stage for a lively discussion, the advisors will prepare wine and cheese from the destination. Then, they’ll ask all about the trip in a fun, conversational way – not in a “20 questions”-type way. The most important open questions she asks are: 

What was the highlight of your trip? 

Talking about the best parts of the trip, especially in person, helps the advisor share in this memory with the client and share a bond. Plus, it helps the advisor know what gets the client excited when planning future travel. 

Is there anything I could have done better to prepare you before you left? 

Osten stressed that if the client has negative feedback, advisors shouldn’t get defensive about it; instead, simply say, “That’s great to know. I’m glad you told me that.”  

The feedback an advisor gets about certain destinations is great to know for helping other clients, as well. “We can’t be everywhere all the time and know changes at different destinations, so the more we can learn from clients, and do it in a constructive way, the better,” Olsen said. 

What is the next trip you’re thinking of taking? 

Finally, an advisor should open the door for planning the client’s next adventure. “You can have their next trip booked in the next couple of months. You’d be amazed,” Olsen said. 

Pass Along Re-booking Incentives 

Communicating with clients about during- and post-trip re-booking incentives is another crucial part of the follow-up process. This is especially true for certain suppliers with strong re-booking discounts, such as Disney World and Sandals and Beaches Resorts. 

Usually, these need to be booked either during or immediately after a vacation, so timing is key. If there’s a specific during-trip incentive, then that’s a pre-trip conversation to be had, but will require a post-trip conversation to follow up on it, as well.  

For both during- and post-trip deals, travel advisors should clearly explain the terms, conditions, and benefits; instruct clients how to keep them on as the agent of record when booking; and reassure clients that the offers are legitimate and of great value. 

“These during- and post-travel booking incentives are a very effective sales tool.  It is important for advisors to be aware of these offers, inform their clients, and follow up promptly upon their return,” Vita said. “You want to be sure that if your client is enjoying their vacation enough to want to return, that you are servicing the booking and maintaining your relationship with the client. If you have recommended a certain cruise line or resort to them, then you should be credited for their future trips, too.”