Why service remains key in business travel

While technology can help with customer service, there’s no substitute for personalisation, says Arbitrip’s founder and CEO Benny Yonovich…

Recently I was talking with my friend, a fellow entrepreneur, about the service industry adage ‘they may not remember what you did or what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel’. The truth is that modern customers have a dizzying array of businesses to choose from and memorable customer service is all the more important to stand out.

There are many options in the business travel sector, most of which have swapped face-to-face conversations with a travel agent, for instance, for the cold yet convenient online processes of today. But when you need to ask questions or something goes wrong, a webpage with FAQs, generic apology email or helpline chat bot doesn’t quite cut it.

The personalised experience was my thinking behind customer service at Arbitrip. My experience as a customer led to me wanting to help travel managers and PAs book accommodation as quickly and cheaply as possible without compromising on quality service. We developed a two-pronged approach: our AI learns the individual preferences of our bookers, speeding up their experience online, whilst our customer service team answers the questions that chat bots can’t. Personalised service is the approach that we swear by

Businesses need to be clearer about what their customer service is and aims to achieve. It also gives your business and employees a direction as the bar for quality has been set.

The key is also to not over-invest, as more money into customer service does not always result in even more coming out of it. You need to stay aware of what your customers actually use. 

My advice to newcomers in business travel is this: the right focus and service technology will keep your costs down. You can save your budget as well as those of the PAs/EAs, companies and travellers that use your service. Above all else, being personable and compassionate costs absolutely nothing.