Plane Conversations

Things are moving very fast in the era of social media. As soon as an airline makes a move, everyone downstream needs to adjust. New applications are built a new competitors form responses.  There is no “book” to read about how to do business in this rapidly changing environment.  So when a customer has a new question for a new situation, they go directly to the Internet to find the answer. And what do they find? Enter the online travel agent (OTA).

From Travel Matter:  Why Blogging Makes Sense for Travel Agents:

Then sites like TripAdvisor entered the industry, allowing travelers to access (and create) user generated reviews of hotels and booking travel became even more of a DIY process, that didn’t require expert guidance. Other sites even let travelers find out which seat on an airplane has the most leg room or which wing of a hotel has better views. Even guidebooks began to show this DIY attitude, as Lonely Planet outsold other publishers.

DYI-mania

As more and more layers of DYI independence are offered up to customer, so too is disinformation, incomplete information, conditional information and thousands of “options” that mask the true value of the travel experience.  It is largely in the best interest of OTA to consume the “time” of the traveler seduced by the promise of low prices.  First, this allows OTAs to impress more ads; and second, the DYI’er eventually get frustrated and click through to the more expensive (profitable) option for lack of time to deep dive through the details, restrictions, and caveats.

The Indispensable Knowledge Resource

All along, the traditional travel agent; once an indispensable resource has fallen by the wayside.  Some argue that the travel agent is to blame for not reinventing their profession from “broker” to “helper”.  Perhaps being technology savvy never entered the profession as it had for so many other professions.  Increasingly, the travel agent skill set is needed.

The Experience Traveler

Travel Agents have the ability to organize people around a set of events, opportunities, locations, and modes of transportation.  The experience of travel is finding it’s way into the value proposition of the decisions that the travelers make.

Everything from social media to Google to Groupon has re-focused consumers’ attention on small businesses, and given local businesses the tools they need to compete in non-local markets.

Few can aggregate local information better than travel agents

If given the right assets, they can put together offerings in anticipation of travelers.  Social Flights is constantly looking for that perfect skill set of location knowledge, transportation knowledge, and concierge service to whom we can entrust an available aircraft asset.

Travel agents can help redefine the door-to-door value proposition and Social Flights is here to help with a full array of private jets and corporate jets for private and public charter for scheduled service between any city pair that one can envision.  We are not the only ones; hotels, experience tourism, conference and events all search for the elusive traveler who has so many options but so little time. Travel agents can now manage a scarce and protected inventory once again where their knowledge, creativity, and social skill matter.