WASHINGTON -- A rarely discussed issue -- agents behaving badly -- became a point of focus last week at the Professional Association of Travel Hosts (PATH) Symposium here.
While most agents comport themselves well and exhibit a professional demeanor when dealing with colleagues, clients and suppliers, the industry is not immune to some bad eggs, including agents who berate suppliers, make unrealistic demands and even air their dirty laundry on social media.
It's not a new problem, but host agencies and supplier partners at the symposium came up with some new ways to deal with the issue.
"You want to be perceived as a professional in how you comport yourself, how you sound," said Meredith Price, leisure operations manager at Andavo Travel. "That training is equally important. I think a lot of times we overlook that, so maybe that needs to be bumped up to a higher priority."
Supplier and host agency representatives at the symposium were asked to brainstorm areas of opportunity that could be improved through collaboration.
"We want to identify what are some of the issues that we want to tackle next," said Nexion president Jackie Friedman. "What are some opportunities for better collaboration, whether it's on the business-building side, whether it's on the operational side or bringing new people into the industry? Whatever it is, what are some of those things that we still need more dialogue on?"
This year, attendees identified some 25 issues to discuss.
Michael Revnes, regional sales director for Princess Cruises and Cunard Line, brought up professionalism. He said he believed that the host agencies at the symposium were addressing that topic with their agents, but he added that there are some bad actors, especially considering the number of new agents coming into the industry.
"We do have concerns about truly understanding levels of professionalism and ethics and understanding what's right and wrong in the industry," Revnes said.
The afternoon symposium session was dedicated to brainstorming solutions to some of the issues posed. The 70 or so attendees were broken up into smaller groups and given a question to discuss. They then reported their findings to all attendees.
When it came to agent professionalism, many ideas involved training or enforcement at the host agency level.
Jennifer Cochrane, owner, executive vice president and COO of Gifted Travel Network, said her table had a number of ideas to improve agent professionalism, starting with basics "like expecting our advisers to show up to our conferences and events dressed professionally and modeling those behaviors ourselves."
Cochrane also said agents who are offered the opportunity to go on familiarization trips should be screened, so the ones who go will comport themselves well and get the most out of the opportunity.
It also comes down to training, she said, including how to ask supplier partners for things "and actually demanding respect [from agents] in dealing with our supplier partners."
Cochrane also asked suppliers to tell hosts when they have a bad experience with an agent.
"We want to know about that, because our relationship with our supplier partners is really important," she said. "We're not going to allow people to jeopardize that, so certainly let us know, because we should demand respect on your behalf."
Cochrane's table also discussed hosts being more selective in whom they allow to affiliate with their agencies.
"Not everybody who can pay a fee is necessarily a good fit to be a travel adviser," she said.
Price's table also discussed agent professionalism, specifically that hosts should be clear about expectations when taking on new agents.
"As a host agency, obviously we can't demand or tell someone how they must behave," Price said. She suggested making available a code of conduct that sets expectations.
Jenn Lee, vice president of sales and marketing at Travel Planners International, said PATH members should use their affiliation to differentiate themselves "as the host agencies that are going to take the travel adviser community to the next level."
Anita Pagliasso, president of PATH and of host agency Ticket to Travel, said the association has strict rules and regulations as to who can be a member: PATH conducts background and credit checks; members must host at least 25 ICs; members have to have been hosting for at least three years; members have to carry $1 million in errors and omissions insurance; and no multilevel-marketing companies are accepted.
"We do want PATH to be the Good Housekeeping seal of approval for host agencies," she said.