“WE ARE now in a growing-up phase of the industry,” believes travel titan Phil Hoffmann (pictured), who announced his retirement from his namesake business yesterday (TD 01 Jul).
In an exclusive interview with Travel Daily, Hoffmann said that travel agents need to recognise that they are professionals and should charge for their services, like dentists and accountants.
While he is taking a step back from Phil Hoffmann Travel (PHT), this shift is what the travel icon is most excited about for agents.
“That’s the biggest learning curve coming out of COVID,” Hoffmann reflected.
“We can’t do work for nothing anymore – if you want to get good professional advice and great itineraries that are well-curated, you need to pay for that.”
Hoffmann also noted that since the end of the pandemic, more consumers have turned away from booking their trips online to searching for agents who can provide that “24/7 back-up”.
“A lot of people right from the start said to us, ‘you guys will be out of business with online’,” Hoffman recalls.
“But we’ve seen the opposite – we keep growing year after year.
“You just need to have well-trained staff [who are] passionate about travel, building their clientele and giving that service.
“My motto has always been: ‘A client for life, not just for one trip’.”
However, as consumers are now more educated than ever, it is imperative that agents make it a priority to continually improve their own product knowledge and stay on top of industry news.
“We [used to] control the brochure and information and now we don’t,” Hoffmann said.
“[Consumers] have got as much info as we do in some cases, but they don’t have the technical knowledge, ability and sheer experience that we have – [they are] paying for the knowledge that you have built up over all of those years,” he added.
The industry veteran launched PHT in 1990, with his first store in Glenelg, Adelaide.
The business will continue to be led by MD & CEO Peter Williams, who is supported by new COO Michelle Ashcroft.
To read the full interview with Hoffman, see HERE. JHM
