Performance management and incentive design for Domestic travel operators: sales desk and tour managers
Domestic packages are sold on one desk and delivered by another team on the road. Measures have to follow both, or consultants sell what is easy and tour managers carry the cost.
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Share your requirementsWhy performance management and incentive design matters in domestic travel operators
Most domestic operators judge consultants by bookings closed. That is easy to count, but it misses the enquiry that took three calls, the family that came back next year and the package sold with a promise operations could not keep.
A fair scheme looks at both ends of a trip. The desk is measured on conversion, repeat guests and accuracy of what was promised. The field team is measured on guest feedback and on how well they handled problems on the road. Imagine a consultant who sells a Kerala package with a houseboat that is not on the vendor's list. The scheme should show where the promise was made.
How to set it up
1. Name three measures for the desk
Choose conversion, repeat or referred guests and accuracy of the itinerary sold. Keep each one countable from the booking sheet.
2. Name three measures for tour managers
Guest feedback, handling of issues on the trip and clean reporting back to the office. Make the feedback form short.
3. Link a share of incentive to trip quality
Hold part of the consultant's payout until feedback from the trip is in, so selling and delivery pull the same way.
4. Hold a monthly review of promises against delivery
Sit with desk and operations and look at trips where the guest was told one thing and received another.
5. Give credit to the field
Record tour managers who saved a trip, and use the record in grade and pay discussions. See compensation rewards.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask five consultants how they believe their incentive is calculated, and compare with the rule.
- Pull ten recent trip feedback forms and see whether any reached the consultant who sold the trip.
- Count enquiries lost to slow follow-up in a peak week.
- Ask tour managers which promises made by the desk they find hardest to keep.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach performance management and incentive design in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
Not usually in the booking commission, since they do not close the sale. A separate recognition for guest feedback and repeat guests is fairer and keeps them focused on the trip.
Monthly for numbers and once a season for a fuller conversation. Peak weeks are too busy for long reviews, so keep the monthly check short and written.
Record the cause. Hold the vendor to account in contracting and do not reduce a consultant's payout for a failure outside their control, or they will stop reporting problems honestly.