ArabianBusiness.com - Middle East Business News
Monday, 13 October 2008 | 08:20 UAE time

YOUR DIRECTORY /

Print this page Print this page | Email this to a friend Email this to a friend | Discuss this article (0 Comments) |

Making 0% work for you

by ArabianBusiness.com staff writer  on Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Dubai Travel and Tour Agents Group (DTTAG) teamed up with TRS Consulting and sponsors AIG insurance and EmQuest to host the first educational seminar for travel agents, entitled ‘Making 0% work for you’.

Helping travel agencies tackle the move towards a zero commission environment is high on the agenda of the recently reformed Dubai Travel and Tour Agents Group (DTTAG).

Eager to provide some solutions for its some 60-plus members the group recently teamed up with Dubai-based TRS Consulting and DTTAG sponsors EmQuest and AIG insurance to host its first educational seminar entitled ‘Making zero work for you'.

No one will pay a service fee for something of little or no value

The sponsors subsidised the event to ensure it was affordable for agencies taking part.

Story continues below
advertisement

Leading the training workshop, principal consultant at TRS, Sundar Vasudaven, explained to 25 agents from a handful of Dubai-based agencies some of the key factors to bear in mind when considering how best to introduce service charges to clients.

According to Vasudaven, the main obstacles to successfully implementing a service fee environment are customer opposition and a lack of confidence on the part of the agent.

If you are not convinced that you are justified in charging a fee then the client won't be either," he explained.

You have to be prepared for the client to ask questions and have various objections to paying the fee. The best way to prepare for this is to work out what they might object to and prepare practice answers to explain and show them what added benefits they get by paying a service fee, and the reasons it is a good thing."

But in order to do so successfully, the agency must first make sure that it is offering a value added service that a client is going to want to come back for again and again.

According to Vasudaven, services above and beyond the usual call of duty are required to justify charging a service or travel management fee : "No one will pay a service fee for something of little or no value," he explained.

WHAT THE AGENTS SAID:

Nasheen Ali, business travel consultant, Al Naboodah Travel and Tourism:

The seminar was very good - nowadays all passengers can buy from the internet, but every agency must make a profit, so we have to be able to justify charging a fee.

We don't normally charge for the services that we have always given for free. We used to get the 7% but now since we are providing more services and spending more time on each transaction and finding specialist packages, we must charge.

Rizwan AbooBacker, business travel consultant, Al Naboodah Travel and Tourism:

If you provide a good service, customers are happy, but still there are certain things we can't do for them. If there are certain restriction on flights - changing or cancelling them - that is beyond our power, but as a travel consultant we do whatever we can to help 24/7. If a customer is running late and it is likely he will miss the flight we will book him on the next available flight - with the internet you can't do this, so we offer greater value.

If you give a good service to the client they will come back, even if there is an extra charge.

When the airlines said they were going to zero, sometimes you thought what is the use of sitting here? But some of the ideas we discussed here were really good - like having agency fee cards. If all the agencies start together then the customer won't have any option. Zero percent commission is currently a negative for us but we have to make it a positive.

Fazly Askin, travel consultant, Al Naboodah Travel and Tourism:

The most useful part of the seminar was getting to know how to answer the customers when they ask why we are charging a service fee. Certain customers don't trust the fee unless they understand why we are adding it.

I am based in Ajman - most of the customers there don't want to pay more, so it's tough to deal with certain customers. Everyone is getting used to using the internet for bookings very well, so we have to offer better service to compete.

Riyazuddin Mubarak, branch manager, Alta Al Ghaith & Al Moosa Travel Agency:

Based on what we discussed at the seminar, agencies should train their front line staff to higher levels - that is the most important thing. The most important thing I took from today was to make sure that all staff understand what it is we are offering to customers that adds value, and that this value should not be delivered for free.

We should charge something for our services and it should be genuine. We are not going to charge for something that has no relevance.

So we should evaluate our service and charge accordingly. We should also convince the customer that they are paying for something that adds value to their demands or needs.


Print Print | Email Email | Discuss this article |



USER COMMENTS (0 COMMENTS)

CLICK HERE TO POST A COMMENT

Add your Comment
All posts are sent to the administrator for review and are published only after approval. ArabianBusiness.com reserves the right to remove any comment at any time for any reason. Please keep your responses appropriate and on topic.
Name *
Remember me on this computer
Email *
(Your email address will not be published)
City
Country
Subject *
Comment *
Notify me of further comments
Security Code * Code


Please click post only once - your comment will not be published immediately.
From  Current Issue

RELATED LINKS

  1. AIG Memsa»
  2. Dubai Travel & Tour Agents Group (DTTAG)»

 EMAIL ALERTS

  1. AIG Memsa

  2. Al Ghaith & Al Moosa Travel Agency (ALTA)

  3. Al Naboodah Travel & Tourism

  4. Dubai Travel & Tour Agents Group (DTTAG)

  5. TRS Consulting

  6. Travel & Hospitality



BUSINESS FEATURES

Coming of age: Bahrain

The Gulf's smallest country has been quietly coming out of its sleep and it could be about to surprise the world.

Travel by the book

Arabian Business takes a tour through the heart of Scotland's capital, in search of literary greats.

Green trend divides agents

How many travel agents factor in global environmental issues when dealing with clients?

ArabianBusiness.com/Jobs - Middle East Jobs Search
  1. Recruitment Manager
    Industry: Hospitality
    Location: Dubai, UAE
  2. Training Manager
    Industry: Hospitality
    Location: Dubai, UAE
Browse all jobs »

BUSINESS INTERVIEWS

Seven Tides to hit Dubai Palms

Seven Tides' CEO Malcolm Ross outlines the company's portfolio and the power of brand association.

The man with a grand plan

Six Senses Resorts and Spas MD Bernhard Bohnenberger reveals the firm's expansion plans.

Cultivating home-grown hotels

Habtoor Hotels chief executive officer Rahim Abu Omar discusses the secret behind the group's success.

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM