The Hotel Booking Agents Association (HBAA) is to partner with market research agency BDRC Continental for its annual Agent of the Year Awards.
The awards aim to recognise the association’s leading agents as voted for by their corporate clients and peers.
BDRC, which specialises in the measurement of service levels in the meetings industry, will be charged with ensuring the awards remain impartial by evaluating the levels of service of the participating agencies.
The analysis will cover all aspects of the booking experience, from enquiry handling to event confirmation. The partners hope BDRC’s involvement will ensure a balance between brand recognition and outstanding service levels.
James Bland, Senior Client Services manager, BDRC Continental says: “For over a decade BDRC Continental has scrutinised the sales enquiry handling permance of hotel chains and meeting venues in the UK and worldwide, so this collaboration with the HBAA to extend our measurement into the agency sector is a very exciting development.
“Within a competitive sector, organisations need to ensure that their levels of service are as consistent and as thorough as possible. The independent, third-party measurement provided by Meetings Benchmark Tracker will allow agencies to monitor their permance and compare it against that of their competitors to assess areas of relative strength and weaknesses.
“We have worked with the HBAA to define ‘best practice’ for agency enquiry handling – not just in terms of ‘ticking boxes’, but (perhaps more importantly) also with regards to the manner and approach of call handlers, and the timeliness and quality of the proposals they send.
“An organisation like the HBAA is not just about representing its members. In actual fact, it represents their customers, too, by outlining in clear, simple terms the standards of service upon which they should be able to rely. By working with BDRC Continental and adapting our trusted Meetings Benchmark Tracker framework to the specialised services that agencies provide, the HBAA is demonstrating a commitment not just to defining these standards, but to measuring and, as best they can, guaranteeing them.”
Peter Ducker, Executive Director of the HBAA, said: “Exemplary levels of service are vital, as this can propel businesses to long-term success. With BDRC’s involvement in this year’s Agent of the Year Award, we will not only recognise companies that are setting industry benchmarks but also deliver consistent quality of service to their clients.”
The Hotel Booking Agents Association was formed in 1997 and embraces 86 agents and 209 venue members, with agent membership annual buying power in excess of £2.3bn.
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