The following is the fourth in the 2000 series of consumer
surveys sponsored by Travel Weekly, designed to gauge consumer
behaviors and preferences affecting the agency community.
WASHINGTON -- Travel agents measure up to consumers' vision of
the professional ideal and sometimes exceed it -- as long as the
agent works full time, according to a survey of frequent travelers
conducted by Plog Research.
Consumers' perceptions of part-time agents were strikingly lower
than those for full-time workers, according to the survey, prepared
exclusively for Travel Weekly.
Even travelers who hadn't used an agent in the past 12 months
said their most recent agents approached the ideal in qualities
such as trustworthiness, friendliness and loyalty.
For example, all respondents gave the ideal agent a score of 8.8
for trustworthiness, when asked to rate qualities on a scale of one
though 10, with 10 being the highest.
Describing their most recent actual experiences, the frequent
travelers gave agents a rating of 8.6 in trustworthiness, extremely
close to the ideal, but perceived that part-time agents would rank
only 6.3.
Similarly, the quality of responsiveness was rated 8.8 for the
ideal agent. The respondents' most recent agents got a score of
8.2, while a part-time agent was perceived as warranting a score of
only 6.2.
Full-time agents exceeded the ideal in loyalty and friendliness,
rating scores of 8.0 and 9.0, respectively. Part-timers got
noticeably lower ratings of 5.9 for loyalty and 7.5 for
friendliness.
Part-timers, when compared with the respondents' most recent
experiences with agents, were considered less knowledgeable,
creative, savvy, well traveled, efficient and organized.
With the disparity in mind, it comes as no surprise that most
respondents who regularly use travel agents (representing 57% of
all respondents) intend to stay away from part-time agents.
Part-timers evidently were seen as dabblers, regardless of
whether the reality matches the perception. What did come as a
surprise was the finding that 10% of the travel agent users had no
idea whether their agents worked full time or part time.
The results indicate that fulltime agents might be advised to
made clear to their clients that they do indeed work full time,
while part-timers might avoid mentioning their status in this
area.
Two-thirds of travel agent users said they wouldn't consider
letting a part-time agent help them plan their trips. Twenty-nine
percent of agent users would consider using a part-timer, while the
remaining 3% were uncertain.
Asked to cite the circumstances that would prompt them to use a
part-timer, the travelers who use agents cited price and personal
relations as the most important motivations.
If a part-timer could get them a better price or if they had a
personal relationship with a part-timer, they might use that agent.
Other reasons for using a part-timer were circumstances out of the
travelers' control, such as if a full-time agent were unavailable
or if the traveler's company chose the travel agent.
The vast majority (87%) of travelers who use agents believe
their own agents work full time. Only 3% thought their agents were
part-timers, while 10% were uncertain.
The survey to gauge consumer perceptions of full-time and
part-time travel agents was conducted by Plog Research for Travel
Weekly. The research company interviewed 300 respondents who were
an average of 50 years old and took an average of 13.2 trips with
at least one overnight stay in the past 12 months.