I read this quote the other day: “There are very few honest friends — the demand is not particularly great.”
Though it’s humorous, I think most of us would disagree with the statement. Everyone needs friends who can give it to them straight and tell them when they’re going astray. Businesses need this, too. It’s important to cultivate ways to hear from your customers and make sure you’re meeting their expectations, whether it’s in the form of loyalty clubs, surveys, an advisory board or some combination of initiatives.
We recently convened in Los Angeles for our first meeting of the TravelAge West Travel Agent Advisory Board. (You can see the names of our board members in the masthead to the right.) Over the course of our time together, this group of innovative agents gave us a lot of great suggestions — you’ll undoubtedly see many of their ideas come to fruition over the next few months. And, like the good friends they are, they provided a few suggestions on things we can do better.
In addition to generating creative ideas, we were able to reflect and recommit to our guiding principles. In particular, we’ll always keep frontline travel advisors and agencies top of mind and provide resources that will help you serve customers and grow your business. That’s why all the companies we write about in our publications and on our website work with advisors and have agent-friendly policies.
Our focus on agents is a foundational pillar of our brand. One example of this commitment is our annual Trendsetter Awards for top agents in the West. Every year, we reward advisors across several categories with travel prizes supplied by sponsors AMResorts, Celebrity Cruises, the Globus Family of Brands and Royal Caribbean International. The deadline to apply for this year’s awards is March 16, so don’t wait: Go to TravelAgeWest.com/WAVE/Trendsetters for more information.
Nobody can have too many friends — please feel free to reach out to us via email at [email protected] to offer your honest advice and suggestions. We’ll continue to provide you with the best travel information available. And if, for some reason, we miss that mark, you know how to find us.
