Hays Travel welcomed 600 delegates to Portugal’s Tivoli Marina Vilamoura last week, for one of the UK’s largest overseas travel conferences and Northern Ireland Travel News was one of the lucky media invited to attend!
Between 13-16 November Hays Travel managers from branches across the UK joined senior colleagues and valued supplier partners for an action-packed agenda.
Dame Irene Hays said: “Our annual Retail Conference is an important time for us. It’s an opportunity to connect with our brilliant retail team who have worked exceptionally hard to look after our customers’ travel needs this year.
“We lined up an impressive programme of speakers, partner presentations, an expert panel, supplier showcases, workshops, and networking events – all to inform and inspire our retail branch managers and senior colleagues as we prepare to launch into 2024.”
Headline sponsors for this year’s Hays Travel Retail Conference are easyJet Holidays, Mastercard, Riviera Travel, Virgin Voyages, and Visit Algarve, with a raft of other supplier partners in attendance too.
This year’s theme was the ‘Power of You’ and aimed to encourage Hays Travel colleagues to value their expertise and delight their customers. A panel of Hays Travel managers also shared their approach to delivering excellent customer service, and leading consumer behaviour expert, Ken Hughes, had the room buzzing with his fast-paced observations and insights in his keynote speech.
Meanwhile, Dame Irene Hays revealed that Hays Travel has scored 95.2% in the UK Customer Satisfaction Index, beating brands such as John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Apple.
“We recruit on personality. If you recruit great people, you get great service,” she told delegates at the conference in Portugal.
With the aim to continue to encourage customer service excellence, Retail Director Jane Schumm unveiled a new recognition programme for staff called Be the Sunshine, offering the opportunity for one agent to win more than £5,000.
Those reaching the first level will get a certificate and £100, while at the regional level, winners receive a bronze certificate, £1,000 and Be the Sunshine bronze badge. Five divisional winners will also receive a silver certificate, £1,000 and silver badge – and attend the 2024 retail conference. The national winner will scoop £3,000 along with a badge and certificate.
Some small changes to the Hays branches will make a huge difference to customer satisfaction, and hopefully keep Hays at the top of the scale! A trial of drinks machines for customers will start in January 2024 as some customers had said they would have liked refreshments while they waited to see a consultant.
Dame Irene rounded off the conference with a quote from Hayley Gadd, Manager at the Hays Weymouth branch, who said: “It’s not our usual day job but you are showing everyone what kind of person you are…and that you care.
“That is the sort of person I would trust with my holiday – someone who cares.”
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