When it comes to business, it goes without saying that providing your customers with the best experience is a great way to spread the good word and market your travel offering.
Even though making your customers happy is your primary objective, ultimately you have a travel business because you are passionate about travel and want to make money by doing what you love.
Upselling and Cross-selling is one way that you can increase revenues for your business while simultaneously improving your customers’ experience. Whether you are the sole person in charge or training up your staff and agents to upsell tours, travel experiences, or group package deals for you, this is it is not an opportunity you want to miss.
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Upsell tours, accommodation or flights, and cross-sell travel ancillary services by offering your clients the chance to upgrade their packages and purchase add-ons. This strategy works whether you're organizing adventure tours, affinity group trips, or student excursions.
After all, booking a hotel, securing flights, or finding accommodation is only the start of the travel journey. Subsequently, travelers are faced with a number of decisions to make such as whether to hire a car, purchase travel insurance, book activities, or buy breakfast etc in one go.
Not only is upselling a chance for you to increase your revenues, but it can also be about improving your customer’s experience and offering them what is best suited to their needs.
For example, you provide a family of four with accommodation options to answer an inquiry. Their given budget may get them a comfortable hotel room with one bathroom. However, with a little bump in spending, they will get an equally comfortable hotel room with two bathrooms.
Naturally, for a family of four the second bathroom may be seen as a huge bonus, and with only a small bump in the budget, is worth upselling to.
Whatever the particular situation, it is important to make sure that the upsell pitch you make is personalized and relevant.
For instance, upsell tours from a five-night all-inclusive inquiry to a six night-all inclusive booking by offering one-night free accommodation to improve the deal. As appealing as this offer sounds, it would not be as relevant an upsell to a client enquiring about a three-night camping stay.
The key to getting clients to commit to more than they asked for is to understand exactly what it is that they need.
Probe them to find why they were interested in flights to London – was it for a holiday, to visit family or a layover to a connecting flight into Europe? If it turns out to be for a connecting flight then offer them a direct flight which may be a little more expensive, but will get them to their destination quicker and they can check their bags all the way through.
As the travel expert with all the information on hand, you are equipped to evaluate travelers needs and offer better alternatives should they be available. Gaining context into their requirements gives you the opportunity to upsell tours or your travel offering, while better-fulfilling travelers needs.
In order to upsell tours, accommodation, or flights, you need to be adding value to the travel deal. It is never just a case of continuously offering upgrades of sorts to entice sales that are just out of the given budget.
In order to get clients to bite on the upsell travel deals and take the step to extend their budget, they need to feel that they are receiving something of value.
As an example, upsell business travelers from your ordinary hotel suites to business suites by throwing in inclusive breakfast or a return transfer to the airport. The added value offering will be an incentive for business travelers to upgrade their suite at a cost that is minimal to you.
Sometimes it is less about the nice to have and more about the must-haves. Cross-sell ancillary services with your travel package to benefit your revenues and provide a convenient solution for your clients.
Building package deals that combine complementary or compulsory elements of your travel offering in a single booking is a sure way to attract interest in your business.
Offer trekkers the chance to hire Sherpa’s for their Everest Base Camp Trek booking with your tour company. Or alternatively, offer them the option to add specialized trekking travel insurance to their cart on check out.
These sorts of items are complementary to the main purchase and add immense value when coming from a single selling point that gives travelers one convenient point of contact.
Cross-selling does not need to be limited to products or tours within your own travel offering. You can partner with other service providers who fulfill any gaps in travel deals that your travel business is unable to meet.
By way of illustration, you could partner with a professional photographer to lead your photography tour group for an overnight shooting session in the Namibian desert. Your tour group will benefit by following an expert guide and the photographer will get exposure from your tour group package.
Market your cross-sell products every chance you get for maximum visibility of your travel offering. While upselling may require a more tactical approach, cross-selling is more straightforward as you have already secured an initial purchase and now have the floor to add value for the customer with products they really do require.
Place suggestion prompts onto your website, and include details of cross-selling travel products in your booking emails to clients. If they are unaware that your travel business offers the additional services they require then they will miss the opportunity to book them.
To see long-term growth in your travel business, you want to wow customers with great service that meets their needs. When executed correctly, upselling and cross-selling has the potential to fulfill those requirements while forming a rapport with your clients.
Ultimately, building relationships based on trust, solid service, and amazing products will ensure that your travel business is being talked about for years to come.