Personal Travel Manager’s Customer Service At It’s Best
A client requiring urgent assistance following a tragic holiday accident involving their child, would not normally be an issue for a TravelManagers’ personal travel manager. The fact that their personal travel manager was in Europe and temporarily without Amadeus access, this combined with it being over the New Year holiday period, could easily have been a recipe for disaster.
Not so, thanks to the quick thinking of personal travel manager Penny Stansfield representative for Beaumaris in Victoria, who used the TravelManagers Facebook page to reach out to fellow personal travel managers to assist.
Although Stansfield had many emergency contact options available to her, as an active social media user reaching out via Facebook, was the logical thing for her to do.
“I have always been an active user of Facebook having networked issues or problem solved on various hubs and social networks. The personal travel manager family is a natural extension of that approach and I was confident this was the quickest and most direct way I could rapidly locate someone on a public holiday. I knew at least one personal travel manager would be actively online regardless of the time, who could look into searching for some flights and fares for my client.”
And quick it was. It took only four minutes for fellow personal travel manager Melanie Whyte, representative for Devonport in Tasmania to answer Stansfield’s request for help.
Whyte’s desire to assist was without question.
“I felt absolutely devastated for the family and knew that if I was in the same position, I would want someone to help me.”
This situation occurring on a public holiday with restricted access to airlines and personnel made Whyte’s job a little harder.
“The client called a traditional bricks and mortar retailer who advised there were no seats available for two weeks and was quoted an exorbitant fare. I was determined to find a quicker and more affordable way for the client. Consequently I checked every online option possible, called airlines, waitlisted seats and in twelve hours he was able to board a direct connecting flight for a much lower fare. The whole process took me around four hours and I was thrilled to be able to remove at least one stress for the client.”
Whyte attributes TravelManagers’ technology with full access to the integrated booking, payment and accounts systems 24 hours a day, seven days a week as critical.
“Our network communication is excellent and having unrestricted access to the booking and other related systems at all times made it possible to facilitate this urgent booking even though it was not my own.”
TravelManagers is an example of a company utilizing technology to its fullest extent and clearly demonstrates the personal travel manager model, with its blend of online presence and personal service, is the future of the travel industry.
“Emergencies, natural disasters, flight cancellations, accidents and illnesses do not always happen conveniently between 9am and 5pm as this tragic situation shows. The ability to work anytime, day or night on any booking truly shows that TravelManagers really offers a superior level of personal service and flexibility to all clients,” says TravelManagers’ Executive General Manager, Michael Gazal.
Gazal commends the personal travel managers’ quick thinking Face Book initiative and Whyte’s instantaneous willingness to assist as resonating perfectly with the TravelManagers family based values.
“We actively encourage this type of peer community support both from a business and social point of view. Melanie and Penny certainly deliver on TravelManager’s philosophy of providing personal, consistent and exceptional client service. This example shows our personal travel managers really care about their clients and will go above and beyond no matter what the circumstances. This type of personal service is invaluable and representative of our 490 personal travel managers across Australia.”
For Whyte, this experience highlighted again how much she loves being part of the TravelManagers family.
“There were many offers of help from other personal travel managers and personal support after dealing with a distraught and grieving man who had just dealt with what I consider to be the most tragic situation a parent can face. The fact I work within a culture that prompted me to help two complete strangers, and had the back up of so many more, makes me realise how incredibly lucky I am to be a part of the TravelManagers family. We all genuinely care about each other and our clients and you can’t ask for more than that.”
For Stansfield, it’s another example of the importance TravelManagers place on providing personalized service from someone who cares.
“You know the old saying of two heads are better than one. In TravelManagers case it is 490 personal travel managers heads just a phone call away should you need it. We really are one big happy family and I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
For more information or to speak to someone confidentially about TravelManagers please contact Suzanne Laister on 1800 019 599.
