TODAY’S travel industry
is very different to what
it was when Jose Cruz,
national executive client
services manager at HRG
Rennies Travel, first joined
the industry.
Familiarisation trips have
reduced, technology has
changed and the travel
industry was much smaller,
he says.
Jose celebrated his 47th
anniversary as an employee
of Rennies Travel in April
this year. “When I first joined
the industry, it took at least
seven years before an agent
was considered a senior
consultant. We attended
educationals three times a
year and only about ten major
airlines were flying into
South Africa.”
Today, educationals are
much more expensive to
host and are thus hard to
come by. Many more major
international airlines now fly
into the country and continue
to spread their presence in
other cities like Durban and
Cape Town.
“So it was a completely
different ball game back
then,” he says.
“These days, the traveller
knows more about travel than
most junior consultants.” But
rather than criticising younger
consultants, Jose says more
experienced agents should
guide them.
“It takes the experienced
individuals to come in and
say ‘this is how we should
improve the situation,’
because agents these days
are busy and there is no
substitute for experience.”
Listen to your elders
The more experienced
travel agents should make
time to mentor junior
consultants, talk about
their past experiences and
explain how they manoeuvred
through certain experiences
with specific clients, Jose
suggests.
“The information I have,
for instance, really helps the
youngsters.
Junior consultants often
freeze when a client requests
information on a destination
they are not too familiar with
– and clients can easily pick
up on uncertainty. This is
where experience comes in,
says Jose.
“I still use books from
1981 because that was how
I learned, and they are still
relevant.”
Jose often refers to a travel
planner and hotel guide
that offers vast amounts
of information which, prior
to the rapid advancement
of technology, helped travel
consultants advise clients
accurately.
Because infrastructure
tends to remain the same,
Jose says he can often count
on his travel planner to
advise his clients.
“Some travellers go to
the most peculiar places,
like Stelle in Germany, for
instance. My good old travel
planner and hotel guide tells
me the client will need to
fly from Johannesburg to
either Frankfurt or Munich,
connect through to Hamburg,
then drive or take the train
to Stelle.”
Experienced mentors can
pass this sort of information
on to their junior consultants,
explains Jose, and show them
there is always a way to help
the client.
“Clients can easily become
frustrated because the travel
professional does not know
exactly how to help them but
it just takes an experienced
consultant to tell the agent to
stay calm and rather tell the
client to expect a response
within an hour. During that
time, the consultant will liaise
with their mentor and ask
them to suggest the best way
forward.”
Educating clients
Last year, Jose began training
personal assistants and
secretaries from corporates
after noticing that most
problems experienced with
visa applications were a
result of the application form
being filled out incorrectly.
The application form is often
filled out by the personal
assistant or secretary, he
says, and the boss just adds
his signature.
“A visa application form that
is filled out correctly the first
time helps both the applicant
and the consultant because
it reduces time spent on the
application as well as the
frustration of communicating
back and forth.”
Ultimately, it’s about
combining education with fun,
says Jose.
“I like to put a bit of fun into
travel so we do things like
open-book BidTravel quizzes
where teams compete and
even the managing directors
participate.”
Did you know this about Jose?
He was born into a
prominent family in
Mozambique and travelled
a lot as a child. “This is
where my love for travel
stemmed from,” he says.
His family owned the Xai
Xai Hotel in Mozambique
and he enjoyed speaking
to guests at the hotel.
“That’s why I’m so
good at speaking to
people today,” he jokes.
He studied for two
years in London before
returning to South Africa
and joining the travel
industry.
He is an avid sports
spectator.
