As DIY travel becomes more popular, travel agents are increasingly called on to clean up the aftermath: broken itineraries, non-refundable OTA tickets, and out-of-policy corporate errors. Is the time spent on corrective services really a pipeline for new client or is it just a waste of agents’ time and expertise?
A recent Travel News survey revealed a sharp divide among agents. While 32% regarded taking on problematic DIY bookings as more trouble than they were worth, 24% saw an opportunity to secure long-term clients. The remaining 44% said they assessed requests on a case-by-case basis, weighing potential earnings against the risks involved.
Agents interviewed by Travel News highlighted two main concerns: the risk of being held responsible for bookings they did not originally make and the difficulty of charging appropriately for work that can be unpredictable and time-consuming.
Inherited risk
Debbie Venter, Owner of Wings ITC, warned that making changes or corrections to any booking that was not originally made by the agent was risky, because agents end up taking responsibility for work that is not their own.
“Sometimes, when we assist travellers, they latch on to the agent and assume they are now responsible for every part of their booking,” said Venter. “Very often, they will come back to you and complain and ask you to sort out other issues because you got involved.”
Mandy Thiart, Senior Consultant at Sure Blakes Travel Agency, described similar issues with corporate clients: “Even if the traveller is asking for help with a booking they made out of policy, if the corrections cost more than booking through the TMC originally, the agent gets blamed for the budget blowout.”
When is it worth stepping in?
Thiart generally limits assistance with independently made bookings to existing clients or referrals. Her decision also depends on the supplier involved.
She also factors supplier accessibility into her decision: “Certain OTAs are an absolute nightmare to deal with, so I avoid those requests entirely. But if it’s an airline or supplier I know well and have a solid relationship with, I’m happy to step in.”
Venter recalls stepping in for an existing corporate client who needed to upgrade a self-booked Discovery flight from business to first class.
“I had dealt with him and his company before. I knew what he expected and how he normally likes me to deal with his bookings, so I looked at prior work I had done for him and applied that to these bookings.”
While Venter is willing to assist travellers who approach her online, she would not actively market this as a service.
Time-consuming and difficult to price
Both agents questioned whether fixing independently made bookings could be a profitable standalone service.
Unlike bookings made through an agency's usual systems and supplier channels, resolving problems with third-party bookings can involve lengthy calls, additional administration and complications that are difficult to anticipate.
“There is so much work, time and effort that goes into fixing somebody else's mistake, so offering fixes and changes would not be affordable to the business,” said Thiart.
Venter said determining an appropriate service fee was particularly challenging when dealing with new clients unfamiliar with an agency's fee structure.
“It can be particularly hard to decide what to do with your service fee in these situations. If it is an existing client, they already know my service fee structure, but if it is a completely new client, it can be more difficult to explain.”
She explained that often in these cases, agents would make an initial assessment of the issue, and the issue required much more time and attention than initially quoted.
“To put a finite amount on a corrective service where you are not sure what challenges you are going to face is a kick in the teeth because you won't make enough money to cover the effort of your service, the time and phone calls required to make the fix,” she said.
In response to a post on Travelinfo’s OpenJaw, David van den Heever-Liebenberg, Travel Director and Co-Founder at Mr and Mr Jones Boutique Travel Management, advised that agents should charge their normal service fee plus an extra fee because they don’t have control over the booking.
He advocated that it was important that agents charged fees based on how much their service should be valued.
Lance van den Heever-Liebenberg, Travel Director and Co-Founder at Mr and Mr Jones Boutique Travel Management, added that a travel agent’s fee was a professional fee.
“It pays for the design, planning and management of a trip: the years of knowledge behind it, the relationships with owners, hoteliers and partners around the world, the doors that open because it is an agent asking, and to have someone reachable at two in the morning if a flight falls over.”
