You’ve found the perfect Chief Experience Officer, and now’s the time to put them to work on your dream trip! If you’re new to working with a travel agency, there are a few things that you can do to help make the process run smoothly.
Having been described as the travel industry’s ‘matchmakers’, a great Chief Experience Officer relationship is worth its weight in gold. From personalized attention everywhere you go to perks and upgrades that only come with being the client of an esteemed CEO, the benefits of using a travel advisor are exponential, but how do you go about building that valued relationship?
Be Honest About Budget
Of course, you want your dream trip, with all of the bells and whistles. However, it does both you and your Chief Experience Officer an enormous disservice to not be upfront about your actual budget.
Going one step further, once you establish your budget, identify what’s high on your priority list. Perhaps you aren’t as focused on your accommodation, rather you’d prefer to have mind-blowing travel experiences in every destination you’re visiting. This helps your CEO not only build your dream trip but decide how and where to allocate your budget.
Trust Their Expertise
A Chief Experience Officer’s job is just that – travel. While the photos on a hotel website may have you ready to book, your CEO may know that it’s on a congested motorway or next to noisy construction. Trust them.
Great travel advisors go out of their way to familiarize themselves with destinations, properties, and various other tourism suppliers. It’s their job to get to know you and match you with suitable experiences that fit.
Collaborate & Delegate
JTS Vacations is here to save you time, but if you have a dream destination, experience, or property in mind – tell us! A great trip is a collaboration between enthusiastic clients and a knowledgeable CEO.
In that same vein of saving time and collaborating, don’t be afraid to (politely) delegate to your CEO, and request that we look into a particular property, research specific activities for your family, or even have us schedule restaurant reservations. At the end of the day, we’re working for you!
Accept Advocacy
For those of us with can-do self-sufficient attitudes, this can often be a hard pill to swallow. Your Chief Experience Officer is your advocate, especially when they’re 3,000 miles away and you’re traveling on the journey that they built for you.
If something goes wrong, accept your advisor’s help and grant them the opportunity to fix it. This may mean biting your tongue at the hotel manager if something goes wrong, and waiting on your CEO to work their magic. It will be worth it in the end. Try to remember, Chief Experience Officers have valued relationships with hotels and tourism suppliers, and they will bend over backward to keep them (and their clients) happy, and returning with future bookings.
Build Your Relationship
Let your Chief Experience Officer get to know you. The more that you and your CEO connect on a personal level and become familiar with your quirks, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and interests, the better your trip can be tailored precisely to you, and no one else.
Unique, personalized trips are where most Chief Experience Officers shine, so by opening yourself up and sharing parts of you (and your family) with your CEO, you’re only improving the chances for a beautiful, custom-made journey. Remember, the best relationships only get better with age, and a long-term CEO is someone you will want in your corner for years to come.
