The western world’s first ever travel agency was born out of a desire to spread the message that alcohol was evil. In the evolution of the travel agent, that message has become somewhat muddied. Just a bit.
I always knew alcohol and travel were old friends. In my first week in travel, I met someone who had come across from the alcohol industry. He warned that there was more alcohol in the travel industry than there was in the alcohol trade. Big shock there.
But Thomas Cook, the man credited with founding the first travel agency in the western world, would not be happy with this. He was a teetotaller on a mission to spread the word about the evils of alcohol consumption. So he chartered a train to travel between Leicester and Loughborough (about 19 kilometres) with 500 teetotallers aboard. It was 1841.
Many such trips and some twenty years later, he opened the first travel agency on London’s Fleet Street. The rest is history.
Agents for hire
“Travel agents commenced business as agents for train services, shipping companies, hotels and airlines primarily because consumers didn’t have convenient access to book travel directly,” industry legend and retiring TravelManagers Australia chair Barry Mayo says.
“They essentially served as order-takers and were paid by the suppliers.”
My now retired mum started as a travel agent while at university back in the 70s. She’s the one in all the old pics. Thanks, Mum!
She tells tales of ancient practices involving telexes, airline fare sheets and paper tickets. *For those who don’t know, telexes were how people texted back in the olden days. They pre-dated fax machines. **Faxes were noisy snap chats.
It was a different time. You smoked in the office, GDS interfaces were actually user-friendly, you had to reconfirm flights, and clients sent you postcards from their travels. And remember airline commissions?
Memories from a travel agent
Personal Travel Manager Di Yates tells Karryon that she began her consulting career when everything was “a lot more manual”.
“Our bibles were the OAG, Qantas FFA manuals and fare sheets that had been faxed through from the airlines directly. These provided all the fare rules, pricing and all the information that was required to price fares and advise clients of the costs,” Yates says.
“Technology was limited and computers were often slow to load up. Systems often froze or crashed, causing panic throughout the office when in the middle of complex itineraries.
“Tickets were physically issued and printed in the office. Or they were handwritten, even using revalidation stickers for tickets that had been issued and required date changes to be noted.
“We were able to call the airlines and speak to someone who was usually very helpful and able to assist with a query or help solve any issues directly.”
And importantly, “airlines paid commissions.”
But things have changed.
Back to the future
“One of the biggest challenges is the reduction in airline commissions to basically zero,” Yates says.
“Commissions today are so low or non-existent. To cover the costs agents incur, they need to charge service fees.
“Many go above and beyond to ensure a smooth and memorable travel experience for their clients.”
Agents need to be paid for this service, she says.
Travel agents today no longer see themselves as the agent of the supplier but as their customer’s advisor and advocate, Barry Mayo tells Karryon.
“Many agents no longer exist to just book flights, as their predecessors once did. They now advise clients on everything from transport to food to tours. Agents even lend personal human touches by learning more about their clients,” he says.
“They are specialists, possessing deep knowledge and extensive experience in niches such as cruises, escorted land tours, wedding parties, and multigenerational family vacations etc.”
All of Yates’ clients have access to her personal mobile and all know that they can contact her at any time. She works for herself from home with “the support and back up of TravelManagers Australia’s National Partnership Office”.
“They look after everything from finance and accounting, paying suppliers, BSP, training and supplier negotiations, and keeping everything in order,” she says.
“This means I can focus solely on providing the best for my clients and ensuring that things go as smoothly as possible.”
Thomas Cook would be proud of that. We just won’t mention anything that happened at their last conference.
