Heather Morgan
Unit 9 – Retail Travel
Assignment 1 – The Retail Travel Environment
Lauren Henry
The main task of retail travel agency is to supply the public the public with travel products and services. They do it on behalf of their suppliers. Basically we can say that a travel agency operators as a broker, bringing buyer and seller.
There are eight types of retail travel agents: Independents, Multiples, E-agents, Homeworkers, Call Centres, Holiday Hypermarkets, Miniples and Consortia
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Independents – Independent travel agencies are single businesses that are not part of a chain and are often managed by the own. An example of a independent travel agent is: Destinology
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Multiple – Multiple travel agencies are travel agencies that are part of a national chain of retail outlets. Examples of multiple travel agents are: TUI and Thomas Cook.
left1143000E-Agents – E-agents are companies that specialise in selling holidays and other travel products via the internet. Examples of E-agents are: Expedia.com and Booking.com
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Homeworkers – Home working travel agencies are companies that specialise in employing people to sell holidays and other travel products from home. An example of a homeworking travel agent is: Travel Counsellors
Call centres – Miniples and multiples all have call centres, this means that they can have retail travel agencies in high streets but also people can book holidays via the phone. An example of a call centre travel agent is: Cruise 118
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Holiday Hypermarkets – are travel agencies that are in large premises and offer all products and services. An example of a holiday hypermarket is: First Choice
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Miniples – miniple travel agents have a small number of branches (One or two) and they are often located in a particular region of the country. An example of a miniple travel agent is: Althams Travel
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Consortia – a group of independent travel agencies forming one large company under one name. An example of a consortium is World Choice
Products and services
Travel agents offer a wide range of products and services, they fall under eight categories: information on holidays and travel, booking traditional package holidays, booking a tailor-made holiday or a dynamic package holiday, ancillary services/sale, booking flights – Scheduled and charter and booking accommodation.
Information on holidays and travel – Travel agents offer this free service, asking customers who come into their stores if they need help or any assistance with enquiring about a booking (past, present or future).
Booking traditional package holidays – Travel agents offer traditional package holiday product, the package holiday (flights, accommodation and transfers) is chosen from a brochure for a certain date flying from an airport at a certain time to a specific hotel. All of the details which the customer requires are in the brochure and then booked through the travel agent. The two well known tour operators: Thomas Cook and Thomson both do traditional package holidays.
Booking a tailor-made holiday/ dynamic package holiday – A tailor made holiday is when a package holiday is booked but not through the same company, the agent may book accommodation, flights and transfers from three separate different companies, this means the customer gets the holiday at a cheap price as the travel agent could spend a day comparing prices on all three components. A dynamic package holiday is when the customer books all three components without the help of a travel agent, this affects travel agents as they are losing work and commission due to people being able to book their own package holidays on the internet. Destinology offer the service of providing customers with a tailor-made holiday choice, allowing their customers to have the best kind of holiday on a personal level.
Ancillary services/sales – Travel agents offer ancillary services as extra products, the main things they try to sell are: holiday/ travel insurance, airport parking and currency exchange. Travel agents try to sell extra products so the customers do not have to worry about doing those things on their own and the agent will get some more commission. Many travel agencies have a bureau du change in store making it easier for customers to change up their money without the hassle.
Booking flights
Scheduled flights – these are flights that are set to a timetable and often released 18 months before the flight actually takes off, no matter if the plane is half full it will depart. Scheduled flights are less likely to have delays (unless for a good reason).Travel agents can book scheduled flights for customers on many different websites and systems. The agent can also amend the booking if the customer needs to go to that destination earlier or later than originally booked. Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, American Airlines are airlines which have scheduled flights.
Charter flights – these are flights which vary on seasons, there will more flights in the summer season daily (sometimes three flights a day) whereas in the winter season there may be only one flight a day to the destination. Charter flights are more likely to be delayed and the flight times may change a bit, also if the plane is not very filled up the plane may not even go. Travel agents can book charter flights for customers the same way they book scheduled flights through internet and systems on their computer. EasyJet, Monarch and Ryanair are some airlines that offer charter flights.
Roles and responsibilities
The roles and responsibilities of a travel agent are to speak to clients face to face and over the phone, to book holidays using the CRS (Central Reservation System) this is a computerised system that is used to store and retrieve information and conduct transactions that relate to air travel, hotels, car hire, or other activities. To book airline fares, hotels, car hire, villas, apartments, packages and tours. Selling extras/ancillary products i.e. foreign exchange (earning commission). Provide exceptional advice on holiday locations. Provide a high level of customer service at all times. Identify customer needs effectively and efficiently. Provide excellent telephone manner. Maximise travel revenue and profitability. Build strong relationships with travel clients to ensure repeat business. And to order and replenish brochures. Not all of these roles and responsibilities apply to all eight types of travel agents. The travel agents that speak to clients face to face are independent, multiple, holiday hypermarket, consortia and miniples. The travel agents that have to order and replenish brochures are multiple, miniple, consortia, holiday hypermarket and independent travel agents. The rest of the roles and responsibilities apply to all eight of the travel agents.
