When should travellers expect ‘service’ from TMCs?

Lone: Travellers should expect ‘service’ from their TMC when things become more complex and an actual consultant with years of experience, knowledge, and insights into systems and suppliers can get a better solution. Finding suitable accommodation in remote areas, creating complex itineraries with the best price and efficient flight connections are examples of when bookers benefit from that human touch.

Steve: There are situational circumstances where having the back-up of a TMC acts as an extension of their team, with out-of-hours expertise and proactive travel alerts, giving travellers confidence and minimising disruption. Clarity’s teams provide around-the-clock service 24/7, flexed according to demand.

July’s global IT outage demonstrates when companies need service from a TMC. They’re a reassuring point of contact, providing updates and access to different partners. It’s this back-up of people, combined with the different technologies, that gets the right solution in the quickest time.

How does data help TMCs improve service?

Lone: We use data to identify how we optimise our services. This is particularly useful for addressing the varying service needs and technical capabilities of different persona groups, whether they’re ‘frequent travellers’ who require little guidance or infrequent travellers needing additional reassurance.

Steve: We’ve invested in the workflow tools that simplify bookings and use the MI from ClarityGo to improve service quality.

Data also highlights how approvals within policies push bookings into an offline environment. The approval process within policies works both ways, pushing bookings offline if it’s too strict or too vague. So, when travel managers are reviewing their policies and encouraging online adoption to minimise fees, their policy must be relevant to their traveller profile. It’s not about avoidance and making it difficult to transact with us, and that’s a real key differentiator between, Clarity and other TMCs.

How does Clarity address diversity when servicing customers? 

Steve: It’s about balancing how we cater to additional needs, while not assuming, in our service and tech. Systems and service must go hand-in-hand when you consider the importance of accessibility. When developing our booking platform, ClarityGo, we were the only TMC externally assessed to meet the accessibly standards at this level.

Within profile management, travellers tell us their needs and we’ve removed male/female pronouns within ClarityGo, with the exception of specific country requirements.

We’ve also enabled the ability for the customer to communicate directly with the supplier so required support is met at every stage, e.g. disabled rooms aren’t always online bookable, so direct access is ideal.

While we’re reliant on third parties on servicing customers with their differing needs, we do what we can; whether that’s adapting our systems, recording training videos using simple language or creating country guides and signposting to advice.

Disabled travellers often get the most value being served offline. Some customers have created accessible hotel programmes and we’ve enabled our booking tools to identify those properties for accessible travel end-to-end.

How does Clarity get its consultants to the right level?

Steve: If they’ve got additional skills that’s great, but we focus on hiring people with the right attitude. Consultants join our comprehensive four-week induction, grouped by their experience level. They’re given a buddy and scenario training before servicing clients, matching their skill level and building skills by adding more complex customers. As well as weekly check-ins and regular reviews, our L&D team develop them with an intense training roadmap so customers receive the best service and experience.

We’re one of only 27 UK companies to be awarded a Distinction from the Institute of Customer Service. Through surveys and quality monitoring, we signpost potential service issues to adapt processes and training.

What types of trips should fall online/offline?

Lone: Online adoption is currently at 89% for hotel, air, and rail. Rail should always be online, and we developed ClarityGo with split-ticketing, unified searches, extensive content so there is no reason to come offline and bookers are getting the best price. Because of the additional content, the online adoption is highest for ClarityGo.

Bookers may need to go offline for group travel, and for C-suite and VIPs requiring enhanced services (like door-to-door travel), Clarity’s Premium Services team is ideal for providing a concierge-level service.

Clarity has content connections that covers pretty much everything. For scenarios where suppliers just aren’t available, like the service security around regional airlines or small independent operators that financially can’t list themselves online, it requires speaking to someone who knows the industry rather than relying on booking online end-to-end.

Steve: It’s important Clarity gets customers the range of content, and that standard of content is good too. Before using a supplier, we go through a quality process, considering safety and payment.

Lone: This is why TMC must ensure standards are met both in its technology and consultants so, regardless of whether an enquiry is online or offline, customers get the best value and service.

claritybusinesstravel.com

Lone Konradsen is Head of Customer Insight at Clarity and has accumulated over 30 years of travel management experience. Since joining Clarity (formerly Agiito) in 2007, Lone has held a variety of roles, including Senior Account Manager, Account Director, managing the RFP team and Head of Consulting Services.

Steve Riley, Executive Director – Operations at Clarity, has been in the travel sector for 23 years, starting in leisure and working for all the major tour operators. Having held various customer support and service roles, he joined Clarity in December 2017 as Director of Operations.

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