The travel industry has had some severe blows, first from the financial crisis and recently by the volcanic ash. Perhaps that is the wake up call that airline and holiday operators need to make changes, namely better service and more effective communication processes.
The introduction of budget airlines and low cost package holidays enabled far more people to travel and go abroad. The increase in demand has been great for the industry but at the same time, and in some areas, it has led to a fall in the levels of customer service provided to travellers.
Research shows that airports and flying can rate highly as being stressful situations for many people, so shouldn’t these be areas where customer service is high priority?
Well done to Virgin marketing who aremaking a stand with their current rockstar campaign, aimed at those who are fed up with cattle class treatment and wanting VIP service across airports, transfer and hotels. Clever timing no doubt and some clever marketing to push the Virgin brand forward whilst others such as Ryan Air are lagging behind from poor handling of the recent volcano crisis.
As a nation we’ve always trailed behind the Americans on providing excellent and consistent customer service. Hopefully all areas of the travel industry will take a lead from Virgin and place more emphasis on customer service and communication for when things are running smoothly and especially so on the occasions when things go wrong. Surely all paying customers deserve this kind of respect, whether it’s one or hundreds of thousands.
