Darren, sorry to hear of your experience at the restaurant. Unfortunately many restaurants are located in areas where they get custom even if they have no repeat diners, London is one such example. I grew up in Llangollen which is very much a tourist town. Here many of the diners are on a day trips and may never come back. There are a number of restaurants that do not make a big effort and will not suffer if they get no repeat business,as there are always new customers visting the town. As a travel tip I always look for restaurants away from tourist areas and look for evidence of a lot of local customers in attendance. If one of these restaurants does not look after their customers then they will fail.
I have only used a Travel Agent to book holidays, European Trains, flight tickets, ferries, hotels and car hire three times in my life. The last time in 1992. I found them very friendly, professional and efficient. They provided me with an excellent service.
When you walk into a Travel Agent and you have to wait a long time for an Agent, are treated in a less than friendly manner, it is easy to ask for a brochure and leave. You can repeat the exercise until you find one that meets your criteria. With a restaurant, hotel, flight, train or ferry though you have probably already committed yourself before you find out that it is not to your satisfaction.

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The biggest British travel companies, fell 8 percent but later rebounded after the Carnival Group of the United States said it was selling a 25 percent stake in the company. Agents face increasing competition from travel and airline websites for low-cost fares, but travelers still prefer using travel agents who can provide customized service and planning for complex itineraries to remote or multiple destinations. To attract these travelers, many travel agents specialize in specific interest destinations, travel to certain regions, or in selling to particular demographic groups.
Travel agents use a variety of published and computer-based sources for information on departure and arrival times, fares, quality of hotel accommodations, and group discounts.

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Darren

Your right any customer facing business should be welcoming and interested in the customer. As you know the travel agents has mystery shoppers which are published for all agents to read. Sometimes I am amazed at how badly an agent does. Other times I am not so sure, till recently a mystery shopper walking into a Cruise agent for a skiing holiday in the Alps would of meant that agency scored poorly, now as long as the staff are polite and explain that they do not sell that, it can score very well.

Sometimes people do ask for miracles, our favorite will always be a few days before Christmas you will get 2 or 3 people in a day asking for a cheap late deal, by the time this has happened for a few days you tend to know whats there and whats not. We are not making it up honest.

@Susan, Carnival have not own a Major UK tour operator since it sold it 25% stake in Airtours in 2001. Airtours no longer exists having been taken over by Thomas Cook…….Or have I missed something?

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A customer that recieves good service probably won’t tell anyone, it has to be exceptional for them to remark to their friends and family. A customer on the wrong end of bad service will likely tell practically everyone that meet for the next week or so, some will even start a website about their experience

I have heard of exceptional service in the travel industry including one flight call centre worker that offered customers from Glasgow to stay at his house in Bury if they bought flights from him departing from Manchester. They did.

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Good service really shapes your impression of the travel company. I usually book all travel online rather than dealing with travel agents but because of a glitch with Credit Card payment I had to book over the phone with Thomas Cook. The call centre person was very helpful and friendly and she left me with a very positive impression of the company – (even after the long delay on the return flight but hey these things happen).

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