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I’d like to broaden the discussion from pure ethics to the meeting of CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS of which ethics and ethical behavior is a part, albeit an important part. All customers expect their suppliers to be ethical, but they also have other expectations.
Meeting all or most customer expectations differentiates a good business from a poor one.
I believe that in the travel business, whether it be a broker, a travel agency or Expedia, where all or most bookings and customer interaction is done on-line, there are different customer expectations from say, Walmart or the corner drugstore.
Heres’s what I believe our customers expect from us
a) That we be easy to find on-line.
b) That once we are found, our website(s) have a professional look and feel and have information relevant to the search terms entered.
c) That the site be easy to navigate and so the relevant information can be easily found, with a minimum of wasted time and with as few clicks as possible.
d) That once this information is found and that the customer is ready to communicate with the company and actually engage them with some form of written or verbal exchange, that this can be easily achieved.
e) That the company’s response be timely, polite and accurate with the information that was requested.
f) Before engaging in a booking experience, most new customers do their due diligence, either by requesting testimonials from other clients, checking with professional associations, or going to online reference services like Linked-In, Face-Book or Twitter or even Google itself, to obtain profiles of the company, the owners or managers or to request bank references.
g) They expect to feel comfortable with the monetary transaction and that they are sending their hard-earned dollars (or Euros) to a established company that has been in business for some reasonable length of time, and that has with an business account in a well established bank.
h) That we acknowledge receipt of the funds and that the funds be accounted for clearly.
i) That the contracts be clearly explained, accurately filled out and with all necessary signatures.
j) That the captain of the charter vessel contact them in a timely manner and that charter take place as stated in the contract.
k) That their VACATION EXPERIENCE meets or surpasses their expectations.
This, in my view, is being ethical and I believe that business ethics are inextricably linked to meeting customer expectations, which, in turn, is the key to a successful business and repeat customers.
I do not believe that today’s on-line travel customers expect to know or even care about where a broker or travel agent is located, or whether there is a physical presence of someone in a specific office somewhere. Few or none of us have walk-in traffic. Many of us work from home-offices, many of us work on the road when we travel or go to shows. We just need to be easily found and responsive.
I don’t think that CYBA should be preoccupied with search engine terms or relevancy, these are the marketing elements that differentiate us from each other. If your site is not relevant, the Search Engines won’t rank it well.
If the content of the site does not meet expectations, is untruthful or misrepresents the reality, or is not easy to navigate, the customer will not contact you or if he does, you will not get repeat business. Simple as that.
There is a whole different side of the ethics issue that deals with a charter broker’s relationships with their suppliers like clearing houses and the boats themselves. Most of the breaches of ethics that we have encountered as a company, involve this latter relationship. Nevertheless this is perhaps for another time and place.
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