Agent Diary: Be proud of being a travel agent

Know your customers appreciated you then and now, says Arundel Travel’s Helen Parry

It has become something of a tradition for me and my husband to head to our local on a Friday night for a glass (or two) of wine and a hearty steak pie with chips and gravy. We see it as a treat to say well done to ourselves for making it through another week.

To set the scene, our local is a small, independently run pub. Its wine selection isn’t the cheapest and the pie comes from my brother’s butchers, so we could easily pick up a much cheaper bottle of red and some frozen chips from the supermarket and a pie from my brother, cook it ourselves at home and save a fair chunk of money.

However, the warm welcome and buzzing atmosphere; chatting with the landlord and his team; relaxing by the fire and knowing I don’t have to wash up – all this is worth its weight in gold and we are happy to pay extra. It’s about the experience, expertise and service which, as we know, is invaluable.

Service stars

There are parallels between this and booking a holiday. Sure, people can go online and book from the comfort of their sofa, and they might find a cheaper deal. But you can’t put a price on the service we provide – much like our local.

Over the last month, the cost‑of-living crisis has become an increasingly hot topic and although a vast majority of bookings are regular package holiday bookers looking for protection and flexibility, we have also seen a return of the pre-Covid trend of booking all elements of a trip separately because it appears to be cheaper.

We are alchemists: people who transform or create something through a seemingly magical process

It’s a difficult one to defend as many holidaymakers may not understand the importance of package travel regulations. When we opened five years ago, discounting a booking to within an inch of its life was how we handled these situations as we were so scared of losing any bookings.

But one of the great things we learnt through Covid is that we are worth it! We give customers a completely different experience to what they’d find online and we have realised that we can shout about the differences louder than ever.

Magic makers

We are always there on the high street if needed to share stories of previous travel experiences and recommendations, all the while building confidence and trust, fixing problems and being as inspirational as possible.

We are alchemists: people who transform or create something through a seemingly magical process. We saved our customers hundreds of thousands of pounds throughout the pandemic, working tirelessly to claim refunds, make amendments and keep the momentum of the industry going.

Now, three years later, as we wish our customers “bon voyage” and see their huge smiles and glowing skin as they return to say thank you, we know that although the government didn’t value our industry throughout the pandemic, our customers did and still do.

We should all be immensely proud: proud of making it through and proud of making a difference but, most of all, proud of being travel agents. Now, let’s get down the pub and reward ourselves!

Spooktacular trip to Estonia

We fully embraced Halloween at the shop, decking it out with various props to give our customers a fright. I remember watching David Farrier’s Dark Tourist Netflix series, which followed people taking all sorts of weird and wonderful trips, from meeting Pablo Escobar’s enforcer in Colombia to dodging radioactive waves in Fukushima. I love a quirky trip, but these were a bit much, even for me!

However, on a recent visit to Tallinn, I pushed myself to the limit of my bravery by visiting the KGB prison cells, and the ghostly navel fortress, known as Patarei Prison. Needless to say, I scared myself to death, but it was a fantastic way to see the city and discover a very different side to Estonian history.