After all, a top-notch travel agent isn’t just there for a client when they give their expert advice and book the holiday, but also to help them in the run-up to their trip and make themselves available if something goes wrong when they are on their travels.

Marie Rowe, a homeworking agent with Travel Counsellors, suggests that customers could tip their travel consultant for great service as a response to TTG’s latest Big Question, which asked whether it is time for agents to start charging for the time, service and expertise in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“One thing I think is unique about our industry is the way clients don’t always see the true value of our service until after they have travelled,” says Marie. “Clients are often so grateful for us helping them when something goes wrong and they send thank you cards and buy us a bottle of wine etc.

“If you asked them afterwards if they’d have paid a service charge to cover our time, they would likely say yes because they can see that it’s not just the time we took to find their holiday, it’s the time looking after them once it’s booked. 

“I often wonder if a ‘Tip your Travel Agent’ facility would work. Where clients who have had a great experience can leave a tip. Most of us would rather £20 cash over a £20 bottle of wine. You wouldn’t give waiting staff a tip for showing you to your table, but you will once you’ve finished a meal and had a great dining experience – it’s the same for us.”

She goes on to suggest that a standardised industry-wide tool or app could be created for agents to sign up and then incorporate a link to an online tipping facility on their websites, social media and emails to clients.

Charging for quotes

Another popular option to discourage the dreaded “time-wasting” customer, who is never going to book regardless of the quality of the service and advice provided, is to charge an “upfront” fee for putting together a more complex quote or itinerary.

This idea was proposed by Alison Woodrow, from Addison Travel, who once spent two days working on a six-week itinerary to the US for a client – only for them to go away and book with another agent after Alison had done all the hard work putting the trip together.

“I have always felt that when doing long complicated quotes we should be able to charge £70 to £90 up front and state that if they book with us that will be part of their deposit,” says Alison.

“If they don’t book with us at least we have been paid for our time. Genuine potential clients I’m sure would pay on that basis, if someone refuses to pay then you know they are possibly going to do what that potential client did to me some years back.”

Marie Rowe agrees that timewasters can be the “biggest issue” and adds that some agents she knows have already started to charge a “research fee” when preparing quotes, which is then deducted from the deposit if the booking goes ahead.

“If it doesn’t – the agent has been paid for their time. I’ve seen this work well for some agents and it definitely boosts their confidence,” she added.

But not everybody feels they have the option to charge their clients some sort of service fee because of the fear they will lose the bookings.

Kelly Taylor, from Taylor Made Travel, says: “I would absolutely love to, but unfortunately most of the time I’m having to slash my commission to compete with cheap online companies selling packages and cheap cruise companies. I’m heavily cutting my commission pretty much every time.

“We are not valued for all the time we spend and then after I’ve done all the work, I’ve known customers go and book it cheaper online – it can be soul-destroying at times. If we added a fee, I would have zero customers as they all want the cheapest holidays.”

Getting consumers to value the time a travel agent spends finding them the right holiday – as well as providing high quality service up to and including their trip – has been an issue for years. But nobody seems to have so far come up with an industry-wide solution that’s really caught on and proved an acceptable way for clients to show their appreciation.

Let us know what you think and if you have any potential solutions: email feedback@ttgmedia.com. Alternatively, head to one of TTG’s social media channels to get involved.