The Hotel Booking Agents Association’s (HBAA) partnership with market research specialist BDRC Continental for the association’s ‘Agent of the Year Award’ has seen the best ever response for entries.
For the first time ever, the award will see BDRC Continental, carry out in-depth research over a six-week period among the competing agents. The research has been developed to ensure a sector specific benchmark that tests the core values of an agency by assessing quality of service, effective processing, clarity of communication and market knowledge.
The award will be presented at the HBAA Annual Forum at Radisson Blu, Stansted Airport, on 6 September 2012.
Peter Ducker, Executive Director of the HBAA (pictured), said: “This award has received huge attention within the association, as it will give agents impartial feedback on their quality of service. Most importantly, it will give a true differentiator when they are tendering for new corporate clients. Hotels and venues have been party to the measurement for some years and use it to great effect, both interms of their product development and individual positioning.”
James Bland, Client Services Director of BDRC Continental, added: “Hotel booking agents are hugely significant in the meetings market, so we are very excited to be in partnership with the HBAA to help monitor their permance. Our Meetings Benchmark Tracker programme has been used by hotel chains since 1999 to improve the service delivered to clients and, on the evidence of the commitment to standards displayed by the HBAA; we expect the insight from this project to do exactly the same in the agency sector.”
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