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Post by artisans on Apr 4, 2011 14:56:43 GMT 2
With easyJet now operating their April service from the UK, it will only be a matter of days before the first lesser spotted resort reps fly south for the summer. I often wonder how much they can really learn about the village, about Corfu and Greek customs and language in such a short time, and they can often be seen crowded around a table being inducted by an area manager just hours before their first welcome meeting.
Thomson and First Choice Holidays have now announced that their reps are to gain workplace qualifications and is introducing NVQ Level 2 Diploma in Tour Operations to its 800 holiday advisors. It has been designed to enable managers and reps to gain professional qualifications while improving holiday standards and they will be assessed on customer service and presentation, effectiveness at work, health & safety, planning and delivering welcome events, sales and transfers.
Let's hope that this creates higher, and more consistent standards of customer service and reps are encouraged to return to resorts in subsequent years to build on their specialist knowledge.
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Post by becksyj on Apr 4, 2011 17:55:55 GMT 2
There is only once where I have been to a resort where I have felt the reps have known what they were on about - and that was in Altinkum, Turkey, where our Manos rep was an English woman who lived out in Turkey as she had married into a Turkish family.
There has often been occassions where I have found myself able to answer the questions that the reps cant. That isnt just the travel industry though, sadly that is modern day life, the same often happens in pet stores, where the husband and I find ourselves advising on animal welfare as the shop assistant doesnt actually have a clue.
Sadly I do not think an NVQ will do much to improve this - yes it is good from the individuals point of view to get a qualification, but from my own experience of NVQs in the workplace, they are quite easy to "bluff" as unless assessed in real time, on the job, the evidence provided takes the form of writing up a scenario "a customer approached me about....i did this to help.... the customer fedback this afterwards....." so all it takes is a good imagination, and some common sense to come up with the text book example of good customer sevice. I have multiple staff who have achieved NVQs in customer service, was I, the person who listens to their calls on a weekly basis, holds regular one to ones with them, arranges coaching and mentoring, writes their end of year appraisals, responds to any complaints from customers etc, ever asked for input? nope...reason being the NVQ is done by an outside body who visits the staff member for one hour at a time on six different occassions to discuss their protfolio....
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Post by admiral on Apr 5, 2011 12:47:42 GMT 2
We live in Sidari, and we sometimes, are in the tavernas where rep welcome meetings are taking place As you listen , you cringe at the info given out..i,m afraid I too cannot help but correct them sometimes , although it seems rather rude,can,t listen to the parrot fashion drivel
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Post by artisans on Apr 5, 2011 12:51:57 GMT 2
My experience too, becks - I have known two good reps over the years - one in Madeira and one in St George South. Both were local people who were fluent in both languages. There are plenty of people who live locally to Roda who would be glad of the work - the tour operators should recruit locally as a priority.
Steve
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Post by artisans on Apr 5, 2011 13:11:07 GMT 2
It's not fair to the reps, Admiral, how can they go out, fresh from college with a few hours of basic knowledge, and offer the kind of service that engenders confidenece and brings people back again? I guess the answer is that they are cheap! Many are straight out of college thinking they are getting paid for a job in the sun whereas experienced local people want basic wages plus IKA (health insurance) to get them through the winter. Profit before service .... but forgive me if I'm wrong, doesn't good service enhance turnover and profit?
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Post by johnofish on Apr 5, 2011 15:23:08 GMT 2
Turnover, Profit, And Good Service all in one sentence Steve The next thing you'll be saying is that the Travel Agents are there for our convenience , to help us choose a good, cheap holiday at a destination of our choice without being badgered into where they want us to go !!! And the idea of using local 'Talent' as Reps is so outlandish, Why, they might tell us something ''off the script'' that is not only useful but cheaper than the offered 'services' that we are bombarded with at the ubiquitous Welcome Meetings !! To be fair, not all the Reps I've met are a waste of space. A few have done everything they could to assist and advise us while on hols. Unfortunately these paragons seem to be few and far between !!! I still live in hope that this situation may be reversed but I don't hold out much hope.
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Post by kathwebber on Apr 5, 2011 17:24:10 GMT 2
The best travel rep we ever had was on holiday in Lanzarote and she was from our neck of the woods in geordieland but had lived in Lanzarote for 20+ years and she had such an extensive knowledge - she was really interesting.
The worst we ever had was a rep we had in Roda many years ago who couldnt even give us local bus information!
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Post by artisans on Apr 5, 2011 19:00:25 GMT 2
Don't EVER ask me for bus times, Kath!
Steve
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Post by janiemou on Apr 5, 2011 21:07:28 GMT 2
;D I am proposing Shirl and I, and Rachel, if she is willing, become the reps for Roda resort. Our combined knowledge of the area plus its many and varied attractions is second to none. We could even get those NVQs under our belt at the same time.
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Post by aussiechef on Apr 5, 2011 22:14:45 GMT 2
only having experienced reps in Roda my emotions are mixed. Our 1st rep had a family emergency when I needed to get home quickly. No replacement and the company we used had no interest in anyone who wouldn't book their trips. 2nd rep was good, we had her 2 years, 2nd year though she was more interested in partying. 3rd rep and the worst, complained because he was based in Roda and not Sidari or Kavos. We were telling guests more information than he knew. Last years rep was good, interested and informative.. Don't think we will bother with welcome meeting this year. I do agree NVQ's might be helpful but also think they are a waste of time and money in some cases. At my place of employment the cleaners are having to do NVQ's 2 for the job they all have been doing 10yrs or more.
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jacks
Roda Anorak
Posts: 3,853
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Post by jacks on Apr 5, 2011 23:39:15 GMT 2
Our last rep at Makis got more than he bargained for with me, Colin, my mum & dad & our friend's Joe & Helen. 'Have any of you been here before?' 6 hands shot up.....end of conversation. lol
Peter (I'm sure he's based in or around Roda - married to Jackie, possibly) was the only decent rep that I ever seen at Makis. He had knowledge of Roda & the surrounding area & didn't try to overkill the sell on the trips.
The rest have all been pretty rubbish.
In saying that, the year I came out myself, we had arrived in the early hours - I was staying at Grigoris (First Choice at the time) & the rep actually came back in b4 the welcome meeting at Alexandros, to make sure that I was ok, cos I was on my own. Gave me her own personal mobile number & said that if I was ever worried on my own or needed anyone to go out with, to give her a call & I could join her & her mates. She was a really nice girl & tried to persuade me to go into repping & try to get Roda, cos places like Roda needed people like me.
Wonder where she is now, actually....
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Post by lisydaly on Apr 6, 2011 9:33:52 GMT 2
The Welcome Meeting - years ago it was known locally as the Initiation Meeting and was to be avoided at all cost..................
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Post by artisans on Apr 6, 2011 11:59:07 GMT 2
Hi Jacks - Peter & Jackie were a bit late getting back this year but they are here now. Last year, Peter was rep for The Co-operative Travel and I watched him do a welcome meet at Venus Apartments. He certainly is much better than most of what we get and people were really listening. I think he will be there again this year.
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Post by holidayman on Apr 6, 2011 12:04:51 GMT 2
Ah! - The Welcome Meetings. They go like this: Hello my name is xxxx - welcome to xxxx- i don't have time to go through all the excursions individually but if you want to book any shown on the washed out photocopy i have given you just come and see me as soon as possible so i can take your money. Thoughts going on in reps head during this spiel: Please bear in mind if we do not get enough people to cover the cost of the coach and make a profit we will cancel your trip - probably at the last minute just as you were looking forward to your day out. Of course you can buy these excursions locally at a fraction of the price we charge - but i am not going to tell you that either. What free drink we stopped that years ago - it cost us money. Have a nice day now!
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Post by artisans on Apr 6, 2011 18:48:21 GMT 2
Sounds familiar holidayman - and then there was Sarah! Gate-crashed our meeting, accused us of selling trips and car-hire on their pitch and reported us to her area manager who stoppped all meetings at that venue for the rest of the year. Nice girl - last I heard of her was that she was 'promoted' to controller of transfer staff at the airport and they were all going on strike because of her - now she had a really welcoming manner! ;D
Steve
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