Two posts caught my attention on the Travel Weekly blog about travel agent’s fear of the internet and a useful step-by-step guide about Google Maps. There are consumers who will never use the internet but I think travel agents can improve the experience in the shops by using online tools.
Let me give you a good example of an experience I recently had.
Added value through supplying useful information
Google Maps is incredibly useful and I wish the travel agent who served me had known about this tool because it would have helped me. I was looking for a hotel, and the agent gave me a list of hotels and while she knew of their estimated location she did not know what was situated around the hotel.
The travel agent could have popped up the browser, and shown me the local area, zoomed in satellite or street view mode to help me understand its location. Instead, I didn’t book the hotel, I went home, used Google Maps, realised it was not in a very good location.
It was then easier for me to book the hotel online.
Online tools are free and easily accessible
While I cannot 100% say that I would have booked a hotel there and then in the shop, there’s a higher chance I would have done because I was armed with the information I needed. This is just one scenario and they’re tons of other internet tools that would help travel agents, help consumers.
Twitter is a social media tool that everyone is writing about, you can read my twitter guide if you want more information, but if you are a travel agent; you could use this tool to ask followers questions that can in turn answer your customer’s questions.
As consumers we realise that a travel agent is not going to know everything about every destination.
Question for consumers
Would you more likely to book with a travel agent if they could supply you with all of the information you needed to make a decision, or, would you book with them because they could add value to your search because of the information they found for you online.
Question for travel agents / companies
What other online tools do you think that travel agents could use to help consumers who are in their shop searching for a holiday? I’ve mentioned a few here but I am interested to read about the types of tools that you have used to help consumers, and don’t mention fam trips!
Related posts
- Tools to help you Plan your Holiday
- Asking questions about travel
- Travel Consumers to loose interest in Search Engines
- Travel powered by the Internet
- The beginner’s guide to Twitter for travel consumers
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Niikikam | 13 May, 2009 at 6:26 am
Yeah, everything is online now, to increase user experience, agents should definitely leverage this tools.
John | 13 May, 2009 at 8:37 am
Darren, What you have visited a Travel Agent and they failed to deliver? They must cower when they see you coming.
If you insisted on knowing what was nearby, then they would no doubt have found more information on the location. That’s why their Fam Trips are important. Google maps might not tell you if your hotel is next door to nightclub that blasts out music until 7am. Customer reviews might though. Don’t know why I am saying this as you know all this.
Do you really visit Travel Agents? What purpose does it serve as you cannot possibly see them from a true consumer perspective – you know far too much. Your Rant Line will be a much more representative view of consumer views.
Darren Cronian | 13 May, 2009 at 9:23 am
@ John
I expect them to give me a better service than I can do myself online, otherwise what is the point in visiting a travel agent. I always visit a travel agent to see if they can book the type of holiday that I want to book, most fail, some don’t.
John | 13 May, 2009 at 9:28 am
But Darren, you are a bit of an expert in the travel field. Its like Bill Gates going to a computer shop to buy a laptop. I’m pretty sure he would be dissatisfied with the models offered as well.
Darren Cronian | 13 May, 2009 at 9:43 am
@ John
I’m not an expert, I am a consumer, and as a consumer I want to receive a good service, I think that’s what most people want.
I take on board that I am internet savvy so I probably expect a different service than someone who is not.
Julia | 13 May, 2009 at 11:27 am
Without stating the obvious, any feedback for topics will be coming from people who have internet access and can use the internet and are familiar with online search and resource tools.
There’s still a high proportion of people who do not use the internet and have no desire to, so they probably won’t be commenting on how much they enjoy booking through a high street agent and do not expect the same service that you do. So on their behalf (this includes my sister, mother and mother in law, as they’d never dream of using the internet for purchasing anything), I add this comment.
Darren Cronian | 13 May, 2009 at 11:54 am
@ Julia
Your assuming there that everyone who has access to the internet books online! 
Nick | 13 May, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Julia, Darren’s right a lot do not book online, even if they look online.
My book marks darren are listed like this
Bookable trade only sites (holiday)
Bookable mixed sites (trade and public)
Flight only
Flight Information (seat guru, OAG etc.)
Ferry
Hotels
UK Holidays
Training
Travel information (DG&G, maps, CIA world fact book, FCO etc)
Trade only Discount sites (info on how to get same or lower price than web)
Tourist Boards
Destination information (Disney, swimming with dolphins, beach cam etc)
My Favorites (Travel Rants, Travelweekly etc.)
The folder has 892 links, and having checked Florida Keys has not been visited for 3 months.
Of course the main thing is first hand experience by taking f……. opps not supposed to mention them! 
Nick | 13 May, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Darren,
Knowing you I have to agree with John, you know a fair bit about travel and the Internet, but you also still use a travel agent…. so it goes to show that even a “keen amateur” like yourself can still do it the old fashioned way.
Yes a travel agent, is not always the best for your current trip… but they may be for your next… so why you keep coming back to us. Plus I noticed when you have booked you done so though independents not multiples, so may this also show you something about our business. (Asking because you always seem to complain about multiples).
Julia | 13 May, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I wasn’t assuming conversions for looking and booking online. Just that some people don’t use the internet at all, even to look.
(I think I can hear Darren and Nick gasping) [wink]
Nick | 14 May, 2009 at 8:23 am
You know my parents Julia?
Charlotte | 14 May, 2009 at 4:01 pm
The danger for travel agents using the web as a tool is that information is too difficult to verify. Review sites for instant have their merits on the quality of food, service etc but increasingly companies who are being reviewed will try and counter bad reviews with secret staff reviews etc!
Certainly, tools like google maps are brilliant but the use of these to orientate a customer still requires a lot of time and research from the travel agent.
I could quickly see a 1/2 booking process turning into a virtual tour!
I’ve not booked with a travel agent for years, but when I did my motivation for being there was to have a point of personal contact so I could have an increased sense of trust in the product I was buying.
Something that is still hard to develop with online products!
Fg | 14 May, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I should imagine as Google street view develops it could be used to get a clearer picture of the area around a destination or hotel. A big improvement on Google maps.
Darren Cronian | 14 May, 2009 at 11:01 pm
@ Nick
I should write a post about why I chose independent agents over larger brands, but it comes down to price and the experiences I have had in the past. I have always felt that independent travel agents do provide a better customer service and are much more helpful.
I have booked holidays in very different ways, but I will tell you one of the reasons what worries me is that the travel agent is slowly dieing in the city centre of Leeds, not many of them about, so not much flexibility or options.
Where I live in Pudsey, which is a small market town, interestingly there’s more agents there than in the city centre of Leeds, so maybe its that there moving to towns. Which is all well and good but I work in the city centre.
Anyway I digress.
If anyone else has some interesting tools that agents could use then mention them here.
Darren Cronian | 14 May, 2009 at 11:06 pm
@ Charlotte
Sorry, I missed your comment. Yes, that is a very good point about reviews, that would be up to the consumer to make their own decision on the quality. You mention the human touch, is it that you have become more confident booking your own holiday that you have not used an agent.
I’d be interested to hear why you don’t book with an agent anymore.
Terry | 17 May, 2009 at 8:36 am
This was an eye-opener for us as we are currently in development of what we would like to think of as one of the most progressive travel resource services on the web, going “live” in August of 2009 — but there are always new tools and keeping up with what the public demands is vital. I believe a lot of online services including us do not want the website to get so bogged down with trivial tools to the point the website looks confusing and takes the consumer on an extended trip through the webpages. It’s all about finding the right balance.
Lina Zaproudi | 17 May, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Hi Darren, interesting post.
We were initially very skeptical about Google Maps because we found them to be old and inaccurate – at least for our area.
That’s why we created our own location map/hotel finder (plus, the usability of which was easier to control): http://www.crete-hotels-rooms.com/Reservations/Help/Crete_map.htm
Eventually, however, as the depiction of Crete improved on Google, and as users got more familiar & comfortable using Google maps, we re-considered and we have just launched an additional, Google map:
http://www.crete-hotels-rooms.com/Reservations/Help/Crete_map_Google.htm
Admittedly, this has allowed us to add feature links to the map and we plan to keep adding to it.
We hope our customers will find it helpful. We do also hope that our customers will still ask US about what is around, what they can see & do, all the details that matter when they make their decision.
It’s funny, you speak about the difficulty of finding a good agent who knows the area and is willing to help. We sometimes find that our customers have such low expectations, they hesitate to ask us what they want to know or don’t expect that we would spend the time telling them. We have to actively urge them to ask.
It is anyway our most important benefit to them, as we have expert local knowledge – we are “on the spot”, don’t need the “fam” trips
FYI, one more web tool we use that we and our customers find useful:
A time-zone map: http://www.cretetravel.com/world_time_zones.htm (by Zebra map)
I hope my comment is helpful.
Thanks for supporting good independent travel agents and what they have to offer.
If you need any help with a trip to Greece, don’t hesitate to ask!
AndreaF | 17 September, 2009 at 9:47 am
The issue here is that the way travel is researched and planned is changed dramatically thanks to the web. However, many travel agents have not upgraded their tools because they think there will always be enough people who are ignorant about the ew tools and go to them.
In my view this thinking is of course wrong and dangerous for the agents’ own survival. More, if you can provide a better service to your customers by leveraging new free online tools why not do it?
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