21 hours ago
Making sure your clients feel heard
Jamie Biesiada
This year has proven to be something of a roller coaster for travel advisors, with peaks and valleys along the way leading to mixed reports of booking volume. Factors like consumer confidence, geopolitical issues and uneven stock markets have all played a role.
How can advisors best navigate that landscape and help clients make travel decisions?
That was addressed by a panel of advisors at Travel Market, held in early June at the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando.
Finding solutions together
Jana Elias, owner of Tootles and Nibs Travel in Harvest, Ala., shared a story. She had a client based in Australia who had booked back-to-back-to-back cruises in the United States. He planned to spend a month aboard ships sailing out of the U.S., but he reached out and said he was no longer comfortable coming to the country.
Elias called him and talked through his concerns. They came up with a solution: He would switch his trip to Greece, where some of Elias' favorite cruises have happened.
"It's important that we make sure that our clients feel heard and that we respect the concerns that they're having, whatever those are," Elias said. "So that was one where I was able to retain my client."
Sharing personal experience
Jennifer Doncsecz, president of VIP Vacations in Bethlehem, Pa., also shared a recent story.
Geographically, Newark and Philadelphia airports are the closest to her local clients. Newark recently had a spate of troubles, including a closed runway, air traffic control staffing issues and technology problems. Its problems garnered national headlines, and general consumer sentiment was, "I don't want to fly there," Doncsecz said.
She decided to proactively email clients about the airport and to share her personal story of traveling out of Newark on April 23 and returning May 6.
Doncsecz shared her experience — no delays — as well as information about the airport, including the runway closure. It was all about arming clients with information "instead of the panic that they're hearing from other people saying, 'I'll never fly out,'" she said.
"It's more about just being reassuring," Doncsecz said. "What I always said was the truth: I literally have two or three flights for the next five months out of Newark, and I'm a United 1K. So I will tell you if we need to switch."
Of course, she said, if a client really wanted to switch airports, VIP Vacations would switch them. But most of dealing with the fallout from Newark's issues was about listening.
"We're their sounding board," she said. "You let them talk."
Perception vs. reality
Louie Di Tacchio, owner of Progress Travel in Ajax, Ontario, described his role as an advisor as "like a psychologist, basically."
It involves listening to clients' concerns, especially about what they're hearing on social media.
A recent example he cited was Canadians' recent avoidance of the U.S. because of the tariffs issued by the Trump administration. It's a very political conversation, but he was able to personalize it, talking to clients about his experience on the Rocky Mountaineer at the end of April. He flew into Denver and out of Salt Lake City.
Di Tacchio was traveling with five other Canadians. The overarching message they heard on the train was, "We're sorry. We're sorry about what's going on."
"We appreciated that," he said. "We didn't feel uncomfortable."
He was able to bring that back to the office and share it with clients.
Di Tacchio also makes a practice of offering clients travel protection, so they are covered to get home should something disruptive happen in their travels.
