by John Frenaye
Monday May 18, 2015

What is your definition of customer service? Maybe it is answering the phones by the third ring; or returning emails within 24 hours. Perhaps customer service to you is the little add-ons like destination guides or a little tchotchke gift. I know many agents that claim customer service is based on their knowledge or experience of travel. Some will claim that their professional affiliation or industry certifications are part of their customer service. I might suggest that these are all perks. But, is it truly customer service?

Customer service is truly much simpler than that: It is all about solving problems.

Think about it as a consumer. Whenever you go to a business, you are likely there because you have a problem. Not a problem as in…

A column in my daily newspaper was reporting on health the other day and gave a few reminders in a pull-out section. The headlines read:

“Set aside at least 30 minutes a day to exercise. Make it non-negotiable.”

  — Travel Research Online
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by Richard Earls
Sunday May 17, 2015

Technology is a wonderful thing.  On our desktops are portals into the sum knowledge of mankind.  Have a question?  Get an answer.  Better yet, we are no longer confined to our desktops as phone-sized devices allow us to carry our wireless connectivity with us wherever we go. Via social media, email, and texting, we are instantaneously and forever wired to each other.

Except when we aren’t.

How many times have you been with an associate, or perhaps even a close friend, only to have them continually and obsessively check their phone for messages and texts? What has become so urgent that we are no longer able to look the person to whom we are speaking in the eye and…

Chris Coillet has been in his current role as Vice President of North America with Back-Roads Touring for 8 months. He started in Hospitality after finishing university in Australia and completed his apprenticeship as a chef. He moved to London when he was 20 and decided to pursue a career that would give him the opportunity to fulfill his passion for traveling. He took every opportunity to travel around Europe, and after a few years headed home to Australia where he started for the Flight Centre Travel Group as a retail consultant, then made the jump in wholesale. After few years he was asked to head back to London to help grow the wholesale brand in…