The Travel Weekly Community Editor's Blog

This week Mystery Shopper was in the Failsworth and Hollinwood areas of Manchester. They were looking for a trip to South Africa to see the World Cup.

Mystery shopper didn't ask for the tickets to be included in the price, they simply wanted the flights, accommodation and information on internal transfers.

There was a vast difference in the quality of the advice - one consultant admitting she hadn't even heard of the World Cup, with consultants at another agency being able to advise on all sorts of aspects of the trip, including internal transfers.

Do you think agents need to keep on top of current affairs to do their job? Is it acceptable not to know about major sporting events?

Here are a few more details on this week's Mystery Shopper in Windsor and Maidenhead.

In terms of appearance, Thomas Cook and Eaton Travel both scored full marks. Thomson got 67% of the available marks and Tony Sheldon Travel got 33% of the available marks.

For customer service, of the available marks, Thomas Cook got 84%, Eaton Travel got 64%, Thomson got 48% and Tony Sheldon Travel got 52%.

In the advice and product knowledge category, Thomas Cook got 68% of the available marks, Eaton Travel got 58%, Thomson got 50% and Tony Sheldon Travel got 60%.

In terms of overall experience, Thomas Cook got 80% of the available marks, Eaton Travel got 60%, Thomson got 60% and Tony Sheldon Travel got 50%.

This week Mystery Shopper was in Great Yarmouth looking for a holiday to Cancun. Here are more details on the scores:

The Co-operative Travel got an overall score of 88% - breaking down to full marks for appearance, 96% of available points for customer service, 78% of available points for advice and product knowledge, and full marks for the overall experience.

Global Travel Lounge scored 81%, scoring full marks for appearance, 92% of available points for customer service, 72% of available points for advice and product knowledge and 70% of available points for the overall experience.

First Choice scored 47%, getting 67% for appearance, 52% for customer service, 44% for advice and product knowledge and 20% for overall experience.

Thomas Cook scored 42%, getting full marks for appearance, 52% for customer service, 24% for advice and product knowledge and 20% for overall experience.

The overall scoring system is weighted the following way:

50% for advice and product knowledge

25% for customer service

15% on appearance

10% on overall experience

This week Mystery Shopper was in Worthing after a holiday to Colorado. She wanted to take in some Native American culture, see the Rocky Mountains and stay in Denver.

Two of the agencies, Thomas Cook and Thomson, both suggested Mystery Shopper would need to go to Canada to see the Rocky Mountains.

In fact, Colorado's state capital Denver is known as the gateway to the Rockies and there is the Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.

Despite the agents giving out this advice to Mystery Shopper, Thomson still scored 51% and Thomas Cook scored 70%.

If Mystery Shopper had been a real customer, after these two consultations she might either have thought she can't see the Rocky Mountains in Colorado or that she needs to spend more money to see the Mountains by going to Canada. Given this advice from agents, was Mystery Shopper far too generous?

Interestingly, the fact that the agents immediately associated the Rockies with Canada shows how well the country has branded the Mountains as its own - for example with attractions such as the Rocky Mountaineer train

Here are a few more details from Mystery Shopper's visit to Coventry, where she asked for a relaxing break to Eilat in Israel.

All agencies mystery shopped (Sherbourne Travel, The Co-operative Travel, Going Places and Thomas Cook) scored full marks for appearance.

The scores for customer service were pretty decent too: The highest scoring was Thomas Cook, who scored full marks in this category. Sherbourne got 80% of the available marks and The Co-operative got 76% of the available marks. Going Places got 52% of the available marks in that category.

In the advice and product knowledge category, Thomas Cook got 96% of the available marks, The Co-operative got 76%, Sherbourne got 74%, but Going Places only got 16%, mainly because the consultant never got far enough into the consultation to pick up available points for demonstrating her knowledge.

Despite not winning, Sherbourne got full marks in the overall experience category, Thomas Cook got 90%, The Co-operative got 70%, while Going Places only got 10%.

This week Mystery Shopper was in Newbury Berkshire, looking for a winter sun holiday, possibly to the Caribbean.

There were vast differences between the scores, with Ambassador Travel scoring 37% and First Choice scoring 88%.

Understandably Ambassador Travel didn't get a great score for appearance, because it is changing hands and there was no signage over the shop. Charter Travel also lost points because of overflowing bins to one side of the property and it's cramped inside when busy.

Although Ambassador Travel got more points than Charter Travel for customer service, getting 64% of the available points compared to Charter's 40%, Charter Travel got the higher overall score because it was stronger in terms of advice and product knowledge and overall experience.

Well done to the winners First Choice, who scored maximum points in the overall experience category.

This week Mystery Shopper was in Eastleigh, Hampshire, looking for an environmentally friendly holiday. Most agents had a bit of knowledge, but given the efforts that organisations such as  The Travel Foundation and Tourism Concern have put into educating the trade, the results were a bit disappointing.

However, the results raised two questions:

Do you think customers are genuinely interested in sustainable tourism?

Is knowledge about sustainable tourism a good selling tool? Do you think it actually sways a customer?

By the time you've read Mystery Shopper, you will have seen our 'green' issue. What do you think? How well have we addressed the issue? Did you find it relevant?

This week Mystery Shopper was in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, looking for a holiday to Florida.

Another strong set of scores this week - the lowest being The Co-operative Travel which scored 60% and the highest being Thomson, which scored 97%.

Mystery Shopper wrote about Thomson: "The agent took an interest in the holiday plans and patiently found the ideal choice."

However, she wrote about The Co-operative Travel in comparison to the other agencies: "Other agents had a better overall idea as to how to address my needs and the quotes were considerably less than with this agent."

All scored full marks for appearance, except for The Co-operative Travel. Mystery Shopper deducted five marks writing: "There was rubbish in a bag in one corner and stacks of brochures on the floor."

There was only one point in it between World Choice and Deeping Travel in terms of customer service, but Thomson got the higher overall score in the advice and product knowledge category.

This week Mystery Shopper was in Colchester looking for a seven night safari followed by a seven night beach retreat.

Unusually we had to give a no-score to First Choice (above), as Mystery Shopper was kept waiting for 15 minutes without acknowledgement.

This was a shame, because the actual consultation was good and the agency would have scored in the mid to late 80s if there hadn't been such a long wait.

I think that the 15 minute rule is quite generous. If I were a customer, I wouldn't wait 15 minutes to be served without even an acknowledgement - I would go to the rival agency down the road.

What do you think - is Mystery Shopper being too generous, should the 15 minute rule be cut down to five minutes?

This week Mystery Shopper was in Andover, Hampshire.

There was quite a wide variation in the scores from 49% at First Choice to 71% at Toucan Travel.

All agencies scored full marks in the appearance category.

In the advice and product knowledge category, there was just 5% difference between First Choice and Toucan Travel.

The variation in the marks came down to the customer service category, with First Choice only scoring 20% of the available marks, while Toucan Travel scored 84% of the available marks.

The old adage stays true - customer service is king in the travel industry...