Background
As the jubilee weekend news has painfully confirmed, the travel industry is continuing to experience the perfect storm, as a result of surging demand and supply bottlenecks, which is impacting on the ability to service customers at pre-pandemic levels. Pressures include
• Increased call rates as travellers need more reassurance
• Higher usage of offline rather than online channels for the same reason
• Shorter booking windows, due to uncertainty of travel
• Increased calls due to continued travel disruption, such as short notice airline cancellations and changing COVID requirements
• Continued shortage of available travel industry workers,
Key’s response
The University’s appointed travel provider, Key, has made it a continued priority to recruit the necessary staff to navigate all of these challenges. Key has:
- Added 20 FTE support staff working UK Business Hours
- Doubled staffing Sept 21 to Jan 22 and doubled again to May 22, and continue to recruit to help meet un-forecast customer demands
- Continued to accelerate recruitment and are onboarding staff throughout May, June, and July to meet the un-forecast customer volumes and meet the challenges of the travel supply chain recovery
How to get the best out of Key
Where possible please use the online tool if available as it will normally be quicker and easier. If this cannot happen, and if you require urgent assistance from Key, then:
1. Please use the kent@keytravel.com email and your dedicated service number for all bookings.
Calls: Please follow the menu:
a. Choosing under 7days from booking to departure, call wait times are being supported but can be 30mins as a min
(30% of calls are answered in under a minute)
b. Choosing over 7days, to reduce your wait times, please use online booking or email when the trip is complex, and the team will prioritise your email by date of departure
NB: Please don’t request to hold as this adds wait time
2. Email: please use kent@keytravel.com
a. We are aiming at 80% in under 8 hours, prioritised by date of departure
b. accountmanager@keytravel.com; we use travel under 3 days to departure and VIP/Complex trip support to escalate and any issues not meeting this, we aim to get these sorted in five working days
3. Emergency Bookings – all itineraries now include the emergency number +44(0) 207 843 9602
4. In-trip issues, please go to the Kent operational team using email or phone during UK business hours DDI is 020 7843 9672
Examples: For using the emergency number outside UK business hours +44(0) 207 843 9602
a. Emergency, personal security or risk issue
b. Unsuitable hotel, need to move immediately
c. Cancelled travel/flights, traveller stranded, or unsuitable options
d. Local or country risk threat level changes mid-trip
e. Personal crisis, family crisis needed immediate return travel
NB: If not a crisis or emergency our emergency team will guide you back to operations
5. If you have post-travel feedback on the booking experience should be sent to your named account manager or accountmanager@keytravel.com
a. NB: You can use the automated booking survey and “Add feedback.”
b. If you need to escalate, please use accountmanager@keytravel.com leaving the subject heading unchanged, and detail the support needed
c. Using the AM@ email will ensure that the operational leaders are contacted to provide expertise or support on escalations. We guide to a 5day turnaround, depending on the supplier, and will keep you posted on progress
d. You can choose to add Ulster procurement
e. Best practice is to limit wider distribution as this can add volume to the issue, delaying responses
f. All escalations and survey results are reviewed by the Key Travel operations and commercial senior leadership teams