Service Excellence Individual Award Winner – Focus Travel Partnership

How does it feel to win the Service Excellence Individual Award?
I’m still processing my award and still can’t believe I won. I’m a very quiet person and really do like to be behind the scenes and do the job that is truly enjoyable to me—helping our TMC Partners and airline suppliers. The award feels surreal, and the ceremony felt like a wonderful out-of-body experience where I sat and watched another me collect the award.

I really appreciate my colleague Jo nominating me. Reading what she submitted really hit home—that yes, this is what I do, and it feels fantastic to hear and for Jo to share with others. The number of congratulations I have received from colleagues and suppliers via LinkedIn and in person has been overwhelming, and I’m thankful for all the wonderful comments.

You’ve been praised for influencing airline NDC fare rollouts — how did you manage to create that kind of industry-wide impact?
I am very privileged to look after 48 TMC Partners, and they give good feedback on many things, including NDC. Also, our supplier partners hold Focus in high esteem, and therefore they frequently ask for our opinions and assistance on NDC.

NDC has been around for quite some time, but we are all still learning together—even with many airlines well established in their programmes and what they offer. I’ve spoken to quite a few airlines about their NDC journey over the years and, very recently, to one that is already present in the market but increasing their proposition. They are interested in what works well, what the challenges are, and how business travel differs from leisure in the NDC space.

From the collaboration with airlines and TMC Partners, I’ve been able to create an NDC section on our extranet site, which all our TMC Partners have access to. I don’t want to give away all our secrets on the content, but there is lots of information about the airlines and aggregators with whom Focus has long-standing relationships, including resources and training.

What does exceptional service look like to you in today’s travel management world?
For me, I’ve learnt a lot—and am still learning—but from my time in the travel industry, I’ve really learnt to listen. What I mean by this is: when someone asks me for help, I will do all I can to assist by fully understanding the situation before finding a solution. This would be, for example, detailing the query as simply and concisely as possible to eliminate the need for an email trail that would make good bedtime reading—pages and pages long, with the real query lost within.

I have, many times, asked for assistance where I receive replies that aren’t particularly relevant to what I was asking, which can be quite frustrating and time-consuming. For me, this is not what I want to deliver. I strive to give the best service—plus a little bit more—which is what I would expect myself. This goes back to the saying: “Treat others as you wish to be treated.”

All our TMC Partners are extremely busy, and I want them to feel that they can leave whatever it is they need with me and free up their time to continue servicing their clients. I feel that I’m an extended member of their team, which is a real privilege, and I keep them up to date on progress until I can get a resolution.

Can you share a memorable moment where going above and beyond made a real difference for a client or partner?
Going back to NDC—one of our Partners had issued tickets for four of their clients. The clients wanted to change the date, and on checking the fares via the original aggregator, the additional collection was going to cost nearly double what the original tickets were issued at.

After some investigation, it became apparent that the original fare should have still been valid but had, for some reason, dropped out of the system for the TMC to exchange the ticket. It was cheaper to issue new tickets, which had its own problem as the original tickets were non-refundable—resulting in astronomical costs for the client.

After demonstrating that the original fare should have been available—via codeshare and online comparisons—I eventually managed to get authorisation for our TMC Partner to exchange the tickets and prevent a very big loss.

If you could take a trip anywhere in the world – with no limits on budget or agenda – where would you go and why?
That’s a good one—I’d say Patagonia. This has been on the bucket list for some time, and I’ve recently spoken to a couple of people who have been. Not sure if this is a sign!

I love being out in nature. The mountains, lakes, light, wildlife, fresh air, ice(bergs), and quiet really relieve all the stresses and tension of life. Taking photos of different landscapes and capturing memories with my husband is precious. I’ve been lucky to go to many wonderful places and experience different cultures, which makes our planet very interesting indeed.