The recent headline that the BBC programme watchdog slammed on-line agents and their tactic of building in hidden charges should not come as a surprise.  At the ITT conference earlier this year Sir Terry Leahy, one of the UKs most respected business leaders, highlighted the opportunity for travel providers to build a trusted brand.  Building a trusted brand means building trusted relationships.  From a customer view, it will be interesting to see in the context of the travel industry what the concept of ‘trust’ and a ‘trusted brand’ actually means.  At Travel Counsellors, we have recently commissioned some market research to do just that. 

At the moment, it’s our belief that is something that has to be delivered, and seen and experienced, rather than merely promised i.e. ‘trust’ will emanate by doing the right thing by people, staff and customers alike. For customers that means many things e.g. getting back to them when you promise to do so, making your pricing or charges clear and acting with integrity in that relationship. These good old fashioned values are probably needed now more than ever before with the public’s confidence in business damaged by the banking crisis and the like.  The on-line agents, like any business, need to make a return. It will be interesting to see how their business models develop; you could argue change, so that they commercially stack up without the need for such hidden fees and charges.  For the rest of us, it makes it even more important to make customers aware that they have a genuine choice and there are ‘trusted brands’ in travel that genuinely put the customer first on the basis of the quality of the people they have.