To get the most out of rail booking, do it online. That’s the message to agents from Rail Europe, which is providing four new features and tools to make booking online faster, smoother – and more lucrative – than ever before.
Booking online, as opposed to emailing or waiting on the phone, is the most efficient, rapid and cost-effective way for agents to place bookings. It works for agents and it works for Rail Europe.
As Rail Europe’s general manager APAC, Richard Leonard, points out, agent questions sent by email have a 24-hour turnaround, and phone calls can involve lengthy waiting periods, whereas using live chat on the web reduces this to just two minutes.
“We benefit only when agents benefit,” Leonard says, “and to ensure the continuation of that, it’s imperative our booking functions and educational programs meet and exceed the demands of the evolving travel landscape.”
Given the large volume of queries received and bookings transacted every day, Rail Europe considers it imperative to stay ahead in assisting agents to use their limited time wisely and efficiently.
“By continuously simplifying our booking processes and amplifying our already highly popular incentive program,” Leonard says, “we aim to not only further improve our engagement levels with new and existing agents and rewarding them handsomely, but also provide them with the most efficient service possible, thus eliminating unnecessary emails and long-waiting phone calls.
“Our top priority remains to provide easily accessible and accurate information and solutions to our agents.”
On Tuesday evening, Leonard hosted a Rail Europe agents and partners event in Sydney, and a trade media function. Rail Europe executives there included regional sales manager AU & NZ, James Hooper; marketing, partnerships and communications manager, Blaze James; BDM NSW/ACT/WA, Graham Muldoon; and customer care manager APAC, Kirsty Blows.
Swiss Travel System Glacier Express. Rail Europe
A prime feature promoted by Rail Europe this year is the ‘Agent Tool’, an ever-evolving high-tech application that’s constantly updated to improve agents’ search and booking experience. As well as its increasingly popular ‘save for later’, ‘link booking fee’, multi-city search functions and the FAQ section, the tool now enables agents to instantly issue e-tickets for last-minute departures. Agents can also request quotes, keep tabs on currently unavailable trains and refer to the after-sales portal for further support. Its intuitive and cutting-edge technology makes Agent Tool perhaps the best booking tool in the market. More features will be added to its suite of booking solutions over the year.
The second feature is ‘Rail Wizard’, a brand-new virtual assistant that’s on hand 24/7 to assist agents with any queries they may have on bookings, quotes, payments, shipping and documentation, aftersales support, agent discounts and more. Rail Wizard provides simple yet comprehensive answers to frequently asked questions via a few clicks. Its repertoire of answers derives from information collected over the years from the most common queries. This feature, already popular, is a major time-saver. It lets agents assist their clients more efficiently and therefore more competitively.
The third feature is the ‘Marketing Grant’ initiative, where agents can submit requests for marketing funds to implement B2B2C activations. These include information nights, newsletter mailouts, window decals, social media promotions, co-branded merchandise and other activities. Essentially, this facility encourages and allows agents more room to be creative with their marketing efforts and campaigns.
Finally, one of the most innovative and entertaining elements of Rail Europe’s marketing in 2020 is ‘Once Upon a Train’, a whimsical and imaginative journey centring on a missing ‘Golden Ticket’. Agents are invited to help locate this ticket by reading stories and being sent on a (virtual) journey around the world, during which they uncover clues to locate the missing ticket. There’s a new story each fortnight, with the last story published in December 2020.
Throughout the Once Upon a Train journey, agents are rewarded with incentives including cash vouchers, rail passes, spot prizes and Rail Expert certificates. Ultimately, they can win a place on one of three luxurious famils.
TGV hurtles past French vineyards as it zips between cities at up to 322 km/h.
Rail Europe’s marketing, partnerships and communications manager, Blaze James, says rail is not necessarily the most popular or commonly-sold product for agents, so a way was sought to engage them – and Once Upon a Train was born. Agents have wasted no time getting aboard – about 1000 agents from Australia and New Zealand are participating. Some 500 agents are engaging per week; they enjoy it and the responses are very positive.
Rail is one of the world’s fastest growing forms of travel, perfectly suited to demand for journeys that are fast, hassle-free and environmentally friendly. In Europe, rail is the fastest option between many cities, beating air travel.
Catering to Australian and New Zealand travellers and travel agents, Rail Europe makes discovering the world by train easy, seamless, and memorable. It provides rail passes, train tickets and seat reservations to the world’s most scenic train journeys
Rail Europe is part of BU International, the digital arm of parent company e-voyageurs SNCF. Rail Europe is the world’s No. 1 distributor of rail tickets and passes. Offering travellers the widest and best selection of European rail products across 30 countries and 25,000 destinations on more than 11,000 different routes, Rail Europe also offers a portfolio of great train journeys around the world in the Australia and New Zealand market.
Written by Peter Needham
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