The Covid-19 panic has steadily decreased over the last year, which means that, in turn, corporate and leisure travel has increased.
Since there has been a recent surge in excursions, travel agents are in high demand. If you are interested in taking advantage of the need for agents, you may be curious whether you have the skills required to become a travel agent or boost your current career.
Keep reading to find out the seven sought-after travel agent skills.
1) Communications
A travel agent’s most important job responsibility is communicating with clients, customers, and partners.
On a day-to-day basis, an agent will speak with hotels, airlines, restaurants, and event centers to negotiate deals or discounts and book reservations. Additionally, travel agents spend significant time communicating with their customers to obtain a descriptive outline of what they need for their trip.
Therefore, the ability to communicate professionally and personably is a must.
2) Persuasion
The skill of persuasion is a part of communication that is essential to being a successful travel agent.
Since an agent negotiates deals and discounts frequently, they must know how to use persuasion to obtain the best offers possible. Additionally, there may be times as an agent that you are not able to accommodate your customer’s wishes perfectly, and you will need to know how to use persuasion to convince them of alternative options.
According to Cleverism.com, persuasion consists of reciprocity, scarcity, consistency, authority, consensus, and liking. These six elements are thought to be used by some of the best marketers and sales teams worldwide.
3) Attention to Detail
Attention to detail is an essential skill for travel agents.
When an agent speaks with their customers about their travel plans, there will be many details, and picking up on everything mentioned is essential.
A travel agent should take note of every request made by customers and details about their personality, needs, and interests. These details will help the agent make educated decisions on accommodations and places to visit.
With this skill, a travel agent can consistently provide a personalized trip and a high satisfaction rating.
4) Organization
Travel agents make many notes, plans, deals, and relationships; therefore, organization is a necessary skill to have.
Agents are responsible for organizing the following:
- Bookings
- Reservations
- Contact information
- Research
- Weather conditions
- Prices
- Payments and deposits
- Event details
- Accommodation reviews
So, you can see that a travel agent has many tasks and duties to stay on top of, making organization one of the critical components of a successful employee.
5) Multitasking
Naturally, having as many responsibilities as mentioned above makes for a busy day. Unfortunately, There isn’t enough work day available for a travel agent to dedicate specific time slots to each task. This means that the ability to multitask is vital for an agent.
As a travel agent, you would be expected to take phone calls, write emails, complete research, and take notes simultaneously. A large part of communicating with your customers and clients will entail this skill. Additionally, if you can multitask effectively, your workday will be more accessible, and you will complete your work faster.
6) Technical Skills
A travel agent spends a great deal of time navigating various websites and systems. For example, an agent may use spreadsheets, social media, mobile phones, and websites like Hotel Engine, Google Flights, and AccuWeather.
Additionally, a travel agency will have its own system for inputting and tracking information.
To be an agent, you don’t have to be a tech-savvy Internet technology professional; however, basic knowledge of using Microsoft programs and the world wide web is essential.
Without some degree of technical skills, your career as a travel agent would be pretty challenging.
7) Decision Making
As a travel agent, you are responsible for making decisions regarding the planning of a trip in its entirety.
Not only will you review and select options of hotels, transportation, dining, and event options, you will make decisions about pricing, time frames, and more.
A travel agent also makes many decisions after a trip is planned. For example, there are many times when a hotel cancels reservations, flights are delayed, and businesses prematurely close.
Your job as a travel agent is to make quick decisions on how to fix the problem. For example, you may need to rebook a hotel on short notice, reschedule flights and create a new restaurant reservation within minutes.
