Key Communication Skills for Travel Agents

Communication is one of the most important travel agent skills, as so often travel agent services rely on person-to-person relationships, a feeling of authenticity, understanding, empathy and genuine connection.

So it’s no wonder that to be successful as a travel agent, you need to ensure that you’re starting each consultation on the right foot, or at least have the ability to course-correct and find satisfactory solutions during the complex search and booking process. This is what makes you an invaluable travel partner! 

Of course, communication, by nature, is not black and white – there's no one size fits all approach. But there are a few key communication skills which you need to make sure you’re integrating into your daily life and behaviours: 

• Active Listening 
• Empathy 
• Clear Verbal Communication 
• Effective Questioning 
• Cultural Sensitivity 
• Positive Language
• Patience 
• Adaptability 

Discover some key communication tips for travel agents below, and how Bedsonline offers key products or tools that can help you boost your consultations and better meet your clients' needs.

Know Your Audience

Travellers

Before you communicate with anyone, you need to know who they are, what they want, and how they prefer to communicate. This means doing some research, asking questions, and listening actively; and is the first of our travel agent tips for better communication!

This of course, is a vast topic and differs from one travel agent to the next, but understanding where each person you’re dealing with is coming from is key to success. For clients, you need to understand their travel goals, budget, preferences, and special needs. For suppliers, you need to know their products, services, policies, and availability.

To understand your end customers better, and become a better travel partner, consider carrying out some market research on existing customers. Here are some questions you could ask: 

• What drew you to our brand? 
• What was the key point that convinced you to book with us? 
• Are there any other services that you would like to see from us? 
• How would you describe your overall booking experience? Are there any improvements that could be made? 

Understanding their experience with you, and also what made them choose you in the first place above your competitors will help you align your products and services for like-minded customers in the future.

If you're starting from the very beginning with an audience, or perhaps branching out into a niche audience you haven't yet catered to, consider creating audience personas to explore the needs and demand of your audience. However this is an exercise that can be done for any audience, existing or new, to increase your effectiveness at any point in your business journey:

• Identifying Information – age, gender, relationships status, family status, nationality, ethnicity, sexuality (some of this can be highly sensitive, so proceed carefully). 
• Reason For Travel – business, family, couples, friends, solo. 
• Complex Demographics – education, professional background, financial standing, socio-political status. 
• Pain Points – what might some of the common frustrations be for each segment? 

Suppliers

To better understand your suppliers and navigate working with a multitude of travel providers, it's important that you:

• Stay informed - keep abreast of the offerings, changes, and new developments of various suppliers through regular contact.
• Build relationships - establish strong connections with your suppliers from the start to gain better, deals, insights and support. Do this through personalised communication, and striving to understand their personal business.
• Navigate differing systems - each supplier may have a unique system for bookings, a different structure for commissions, and various portals for managing reservations and client information.
• Match client needs with supplier offerings - this is a given, however it's important to show your suppliers that you're connecting their services with the right audiences to better your business relationships!

Choose The Right Channel 

When it comes to how you contact your clients, each communication channel or method has its own advantages and disadvantages. So it’s important that you’re picking the one that suits each specific purpose, audience, and message.

For example: 

• Phone calls are good for urgent or complex matters, and for an added layer of personalisation. 
• Email is most commonly used for more consistent marketing flows, more detailed information (such as booking and itinerary details) and post-booking follow ups. 
• Texts or apps like WhatsApp are good for quick or simple updates, and for clients who are on the go and who prefer shorter communications. 
• Video calls are good for personal or visual interactions, and for clients who prefer more complex updates without visiting a brick-and-mortar store. 
• Face-to-face is good for building rapport or resolving issues, and for clients who prefer in-person communication best. 

As a travel partner, it's important that you’re talking to each client in the way that resonates with them best. Take the time to identify the method of communication that resonates with your customer best on an individual level. Doing so will really build those customer relationships and maximise your booking opportunities! 

For insights into choosing the right channels for online travel marketing, see our travel posts for social media engagement guide for a closer look at what sort of posts resonate with travellers the best, to help you drive awareness, engagement and sales. 

Demonstrate Keen Product Knowlege 

Of course, we know that as travel agents you’re already experts in your field – it's one of your key travel agent skills! But from the basics such as knowing room rates to granular details like being able to provide hyper-local recommendations for a truly immersive experience, positioning yourself as the authority when it comes to your customers' travel opportunities by truly knowing your portfolio is vital.

By offering travel products suited to your particular clients’ needs, you’re demonstrating active listening, cultural sensitivity (by ensuring you’re highlighting experiences tailored to their background, demographic, or beliefs) clear verbal communication and adaptability. In order to be the best travel partner for your clients, being able to relate your services to each client on a one-on-one basis is key!

This is especially important when your portfolio is vast, as it requires a higher ability to recall product information and personalise your recommendations to specific client needs.

And when it comes to expansive portfolios, our exclusive global portfolio of travel products here at Bedsonline is a leader in the travel industry for scope and quality. 

With over 200,000 hotels in 170+ countries worldwide, 16K experiences to enrich your clients’ time in their chosen destination, global transfer routes and rental services, we at Bedsonline are here to empower you as travel agents with a global network of travel products and services to help you better cater to your clients’ needs. 

Agile and Flexible Communication  

You’ll find yourself needing to navigate conversations wherein you’ll have to find solutions which may not be your customers’ first preference. This is where agility, flexibility and empathy form crucial factors when developing your communication skills as a travel partner.

As part of this, persuasion and negotiation are key skills that help you to communicate effectively with clients who have different preferences, budgets, and expectations, and to provide them with attractive and suitable options which match all of those up into one enjoyable experience.

These are critical travel agent skills, especially as you’re dealing with a topic that’s as personal as travel. A lot of the time travel is emotionally motivated, so it’s key that you’re able to navigate any negotiations with sensitivity and understanding at the forefront. After all, nothing is more persuasive than when you’re offered something that really resonates by someone who understands you and what you want.

Using positive language, emphasizing the benefits of the travel products and services you’re offering in a way that addresses your customers identified needs or preferences, are all highly important when you’re offering alternatives, persuading a traveller on an opportunity that may not be the exact shape of their initial plans, or negotiating a trip to better suit their preferences in line with their budget and expectations. 

By presenting clients with different options, you demonstrate flexibility and a willingness to find a solution that suits their preferences and constraints. Incentives, such as discounts, upgrades, or additional services, can also motivate clients to move forward with an agreement.  

However, it’s important that you’re offering these additional or alternative services and products from a place of understanding – never just ‘loading’ the client with alternatives that don’t suit their needs as a way of securing a booking for a bookings’ sake. 

Adapt and Personalise Your Travel Marketing Materials

Of course, being adaptable is also highly beneficial when it comes to being able to personalise your marketing materials at even the early stages of your consultations.

Our Custom Flyer Tool, integrated with our Booking Engine and Insights, allows you to effortlessly create bespoke flyers for your customers in a few clicks!

Select up to 4 hotels from those that best accommodate your customers’ personal tastes (and having used our helpful filters to further refine your search results) and create bespoke flyers showing only their top opportunities to help your clients make informed decisions about their stay. 

What’s more, you can personalise all marketing materials with your own branding, removing the costly and time-consuming process of creating marketing content from scratch – a huge benefit for independent or home-based agents in particular. 

Discover our Custom Flyer Tool by logging into Insights now!  

While you’re at it, why not download our helpful infographic which quickly explores how to find the best destinations for your market with Insights? 

Of course, communication is a vast topic and certainly one we’re not going to exhaust in one go, but we hope that you’ve found some helpful pointers within this article, and useful resources to help you improve your consultations, whether that’s the chance to boost your travel products with our global portfolio, or our customer flyer tool to really personalise your communication from the start.