我们在爱:旅行社的故事谁Went the Extra Mile
byCheryl Rosen/
向旅行顾问询问一个有关超越职责召唤的故事,每个人都将有10个或50个分享的故事。
They have saved clients stuck in faraway places or in harm’s way; arranged medical care for those who have been hurt; created memories to last a lifetime. In honor of Travel Advisor Appreciation Day, we bring you some tales of rescue and romance that came care of a travel advisor — and say we appreciate all you do for your customers!
就在上周,查克·弗拉格(Chuck Flagg)的客户陷入了DFW的暴风雨,即将错过他们飞往大溪地的航班,进行14晚巡游以庆祝他们的45周年。他们的行李丢失了。弗拉格说:“我的解决方案不是理想的,但他们不会失去整个旅程。”“他们第二天飞往伯班克,乘汽车懒洋洋地飞到塔希提岛三个晚上,然后飞到侯爵夫人的一个小岛,在那里他们在船上待了一个晚上,然后登船。”
Next, the luggage issue. “Imagine packing for 14 days and having to go home without your bags and pack for a 13-day trip,” Flagg said. “I tracked their bags and found them at LAX, so they still made it to the flight to Tahiti. I am finally going to sleep well tonight knowing my clients have finally been able to make lemonade out of lemons and continue their journey.”
有时这是爱的劳动;有时,支持本质上是情感上的。狄龙·盖尔(Dillon Guyer)的顾客正在最后一条河流巡游中将他的生病和年迈的爸爸送来。“他实现了一个梦,真正的梦想……他在荷兰皇家海军中,想在船上又一次离开北海运河,并与他现在的妻子分享这种经历,”盖尔说。“知道维京有一个开放的桥梁政策,我们已经安排了一瓶MOET,手指三明治和小吃,将其运送到桥上,因此他可以与桥上的人员一起庆祝。我为婚礼和庆祝活动做了很多事情。但是这个?我六年来担任经纪人的一些最珍贵的“父子”爱。我每次旅行工作每小时都值得!”
在Unico的Hard Rock Show Spoter的Fam Trip中,Yvette Shaqir偶然地住在海滩的Seaside Suites,他们突然变得“非常担心她的返回旅行。我考虑过如何最好的帮助。我在Unico的游泳池周围收集了几个密友的代理商,我们一直走到海边套房,敲门,邀请她去酒吧,并解决了她痴迷于她的每一期问题。她现在是一位每年两次的客户,总是开玩笑说她对旅行社的真正爱心。”
米凯拉·沃克(Mikaela Walker)有一个喜欢足球的客户,要求在巴西海滩上拍摄照片和足球课。她说:“这些事情都不是典型的请求,但是我搜寻了互联网,直到我发现一些可能会有所帮助的公司用我的生锈的葡萄牙语打电话给他们,我能够设置它。”“我没有对这些物品进行任何佣金,但他是一个好客户,每年都有很大的旅行。”
And Dawn Gonzalez once fronted a single mom the balance of her trip when she didn’t have the money.
One of Lorraine Simpson’s pickiest brides came back from her site inspection at Azul Beach “with a shopping list of demands,” from specific room numbers to meal times. But “the biggest demand was to put air conditioning in the chapel at Maroma Beach. I’m sure it wasn’t just for me and it was just that the timing was right, but Karisma granted my request and put in air conditioning.”
Ah, the proposals
当然,一些最好的回忆是提案。珍妮·查弗(Jeni Chaffer)为一对夫妇处理了一次惊喜之旅,然后成为一个惊喜的参与。“妻子被给了一个包装清单,并告诉了下班的日子;他们被豪华轿车接送,她不知道他们去了哪里。在度假胜地,我安排工作人员假装他们正在庆祝迟来的生日,鲜花,按摩等。他在海滩上举行了浪漫的私人晚餐。一名摄影师在手边捕捉这一刻。当他们回到房间时,蜡烛,泡泡浴,更多的香槟和甜点在等待。如果没有员工的帮助,就不可能进行任何一项活动。人际关系确实可以改变。”
But sometimes they are not so nice. Nicole Montean-Yaworsky once had a client call for help when her boyfriend beat her up on their resort vacation. She immediately moved her to another resort and booked her on the first flight home the next day, then had an Air Canada rep make sure that he was not on the same flight and that she got on the plane safely.
Passport tales top the list
Many of the stories we heard involved lost or forgotten or expiring passports. When the mom of a family of four was denied boarding because her passport was about to expire, Lynn Guy Tyger helped her get a new expedited overnight, rebooked her flight for the next day, and paid for a day room for her at Sofitel LHR during the long layover that was now involved. “And yes, that was the last time I didn’t not require a passport copy from a client,” Tyger said.
When Suzanne Haire’s college student customer left her passport and $1,200 in cash (that Haire specifically told her not to carry around) in a London taxi, Haire tracked down the driver and had him drive to her hotel at 2 a.m. to return it. Said Haire, “She is still one of my best clients - oh, and she listens to my advice now about what to do and how to do it!”
Kenneth Smith once got up at 3 a.m. to drive a client from New York to a passport office in Connecticut that did not require an appointment, and then straight to JFK to board her plane to Austria. Mara Hargarther drove six hours to bring a client her passport. And back in the day when you could travel to Mexico with just a birth certificate, Dedra Shahan had the county clerk meet her on a Saturday morning with copies and drove two hours to DFW to hand it over.
When storms crash your wedding or threaten your cruise
Denise Hangsleben once had a destination wedding heading for Jamaica when a tornado ripped through St. Louis airport, their departure point. She stayed up all night finding alternate routes for the couple and then drove them to an airport a few hours away.
And after a hurricane wiped out Cancun, Linda Schreiber managed to get her bride, the only one who was already on site, to safety and eventually home, and rebooked the 70 other guests for the following month.
航空公司的问题可能榜首,基于“增大化现实”技术ound the clock.
Sharon Emerson was on cruise ship in the middle of the ocean, in the middle of the night, when she got a message that Olympic Airlines was going on strike. She got her clients out of bed and on the last flight out of Halkidiki in time to make their Mediterranean cruise from Athens.
When her client lost her passport and wallet in Rome, Linda Scott “put her extra expenses on my agency card and had her pay me back when she got home. Took a leap of faith and she did send me a check.”
When the first leg of a flight was delayed, jeopardizing her customers’ arrival in time for a Europe cruise, and America Airlines would not answer the phone, Julie Spitzberger Bartz drove an hour to the airport to tell them in person that her clients were driving to Chicago to catch the international leg so they wouldn’t be deemed a no-show.
After Hurricanes Irma and Maria closed Tampa airport, Tracy Whipple “spent the next several days working with hotels and airlines across the country” to get her clients home. “Connecting flights were being canceled as they were boarding the first flight. We booked several hotels and car rentals just to get them as close to home as quickly as possible. It took three days, but we finally got them home, even before the airport reopened.”
对于另一个因食物中毒而被拒绝登机的客户,“我们需要让她去医生进行清理并重新预订航班。她没有电子邮件访问,只有使者,也没有电话访问。我帮助找到了医生并与保险公司协调,以获取所需的文件,并在新的航班回家中重新预订她,仅比原始航班晚15个小时。”
When her client with three crying kids under the age of eight called saying they were denied boarding for their trip to Disney World, Camille Yeager got on the phone with the airport gate agent and demanded they be allowed on the plane. Turns out the gate agent not only tried to bump them, but also said it was due to their travel agent’s error. “I said you will NEVER tell another person that the agent was responsible simply because you oversold the space!!! And you will give them each a $250 VOUCHER TO FLY YOUR MISERABLE AIRLINE. And she did.”
Emer Coughlin had six clients stuck in Santorini for three extra days because of Hurricane Zorba. He got them rebooked into another hotel for two extra nights, then on an emergency ferry to Athens, rearranged flights to Paris, changed transfers. “I was on the phone with the clients at 3 a.m. every morning, advising and keeping them calm. It was an ordeal, and they were very grateful to have had us in their corner.”
And Ann-Marie Gaudet’s husband has actually worked a shift for his fellow firefighters when they were short a day on vacation time, so they could still go on their cruise.