Doing The Travel-Agent Pivot: More Than Ever, Travel Means Turning On a Dime

Travel agents say they are increasingly being called on to pivot on a moment’s notice, to change client itineraries after trips have been planned—or even while they are in progress. Reasons are many: health emergencies, terrorist incidents, airline or cruise cancellations, or just the whims of clients who suddenly decide they want to add a new stop or change to a different hotel.

Veteran agents say they are well prepared for any last-minute client request, and take pride in their ability to handle whatever clients throw at them. Susan Farewell of Farewell Travels in Westport, CT, said, “For travel designers like myself who are creating itineraries and managing independent travel, it’s necessary to be able to keep in touch in real time with traveling clients and be willing to improvise on the spot—and not just for emergencies.”

Gone are the days when a travel professional would set up a trip and make changes only in an emergency or if a flight was cancelled, Farewell said. “Now there is flexibility with independent itineraries. If you want to be in that four- or five-star service level, you have to be able to change on a dime.”

Recently, for example, Farewell had a family of five traveling through Greece. On the last day, they had a car and driver taking them from Athens to Sounion to see the Temple of Poseidon. They texted her the night before asking if there was a chance they could go to the beach. She was able to arrange that through her partners in Athens, who got the clients a message early the next morning to “bring bathing suits.” After they visited the ruins, the driver brought them to a beach and gave them a mobile phone, asking them to call him 30 minutes prior to wanting to be picked up. “It worked out beautifully,” Farewell said.  “The client was happy, and paid an extra 50 Euros, which was well worth it.”

Another couple was visiting Prague on a walking tour, with a guide who told them them about Kutna Hora and other towns in Bohemia. “They wrote to us asking if we could arrange for them to visit it; two days later they were on a train heading there, and a guide met them at the train station when they arrived. We had a full day planned out and they took the train back to Prague in the late afternoon.”

While those are benign examples, the recent past brought too many cases of terrorist incidents or political instability that precipitated the Travel Agent Pivot. Said Jackie Cross of Refined Journeys in Fresno, CA, “My clients don’t scare easily and neither do I, but had a family going to Istanbul for five days. They were still planning to go after the airport attack, but then changed their minds after the coup attempt because it would have affected their trip as far as access to attractions and so forth. So we put together a trip to Croatia.  We tried to simulate what they were looking for in Turkey by emphasizing history and culture in a beautiful place.”

Cross also recently had clients in Britain, planning to go to Paris, when there was another incident in France. She changed their itineraries, leaving them in England a little longer, and then on to Spain.

And, of course, clients simply change their minds—and some more frequently than others. Masha Balenzano, president of Global Travel Concepts in New York, recently had a client sailing on a yacht through Europe for several weeks. He would visit his hotel each day and every day decide he did not want to stay there. The same went for restaurant reservations. “We had to cancel those hotels and restaurants and in fact lost money on that segment of the trip, though we made up for it on the rest,” Balenzano said.

Certain types of travel, particularly cruises, which must be paid in full, entail less pivoting. But it’s still best to be prepared. Scott Kertes of Vacations By Design in Garden City, NY, said, “I encourage travelers to have my email address and give them my cell number. I will happily intercede at any point and help them change plans.”

Bottom line, said Kertes: “I wholeheartedly believe that travel consultants today simply must make themselves available to customers while they’re traveling and take advantage of the available technology.”

It’s also critical to have reliable contacts on the ground, agents agreed. “We are able to touch base on the ground with people interested in working with our clients,” Cross said. “The whole thing with travel professionals now is that it’s not about sales, it’s about the relationships that go with it. That’s how we prove who we are to the customer. If you don’t know that, there’s no point of getting into this business.”

Once clients arrive at a destination, Farewell keeps in touch through text, email and, when necessary, phone. She even communicates with some customers via What’s App, the mobile messaging service that’s free even on international messages.

Mostly, though, she relies on text—and “is here for them 24/7.”

Balenzano said that while her agency only has five staffers, “we respond any time of day or night.”

In the end, agents say, the best approach is always to be proactive and anticipate issues before they become crises. Cross tells of working with an artist who plans to lead a river cruise on which he will teach sketching and painting. The original idea was to cruise in France, but now they are discussing a change to elsewhere in Europe to forestall any issues. “We need to have a good idea of how the trip will go,” she said.