APT to do ‘grunt work’ for agents to boost sales

Touring and cruise company APT will do the “grunt work” for agents to relieve the “huge pressure” they are feeling due to ongoing aviation disruption.

Brad Bennetts, head of sales and business development, told a Travel Weekly webcast the APT and Travelmarvel brands want to do more to free agents up by making phone calls to their customers on their behalf.

He said agents will still “look like the hero” and will have more scope to continue selling instead of spending time amending bookings amid widespread flight cancellations and airport capacity reductions.

MORE: Travel agents ‘worth their weight in gold’ amid airport disruption

“Travel agents have been a part of APT for a long time and they are the beating heart of the company,” he said.

“Where agents are under pressure, we will talk to the customer on their behalf to offer them the new flight details or the amended details of their holiday.

“We obviously work extremely closely with the scheduled airlines that we work alongside, so we get a bit of a heads up on cancellations coming down the track – it’s about being proactive.

“If we can be there at the forefront [and] answer the phone within minutes, we make sure that we are rebooking, amending, working with travel agents, doing the grunt work for them so they look like the hero at the end of the day when the holiday is rebooked and the customers are in a good place.”

When asked if agents would be comfortable with APT speaking directly to their clients, Bennetts said: “We are there to support and help [agents] if they want us to, so if they prefer to do it [themselves], no issue, we will always give them the option if they are under extreme pressure.”

“A lot of these things are time sensitive so it’s about making sure their customers are looked after as quickly as possible,” he added.