The Big Mystery Shopper Survey

Since June 2009, Ethos Consultancy and Arabian Travel News have been carrying out ‘Agencies Uncovered’ – a monthly investigation designed to find out how travel agencies across the UAE fare when it comes to customer service. Each month Ethos sent its expert mystery shoppers undercover to four different travel agencies to find out how satisfied your customers are in regards to the following three categories:

Agency Appearance
Mystery shoppers rated agencies on whether the outlet was easy to find, was clean and tidy, whether opening and closing times were clearly displayed and whether travel brochures were well displayed.

Travel Advisors
Mystery shoppers rated advisors on their appearance, their attitude to the customer, how long it took to be served and the attention paid to the query, as well as the knowledge that they showed of the destination.

Overall Experience
Mystery shoppers were asked to rate their overall satisfaction levels and whether or not they would recommend the agency to family and friends following their experience.

Having visited a total of 28 travel agencies across the UAE and undertaken 232 mystery shopping visits we can now unveil the ‘Big Mystery Shopper Survey’ results.

Ethos Consultancy
Based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi Ethos Consultancy specialises in delivering excellence in customer service. Ethos Consultancy’s intent is to ensure that clients not only meet but exceed their customer’s expectations every time they come into contact with their brand. Ethos Consultancy services include consultancy, training, online feedback, customer and employee satisfaction surveys, mystery shopping and benchmarking surveys.

Kara Byrne, marketing manager,
Ethos Consultancy says:
“The standard of service delivery at UAE travel agencies is extremely inconsistent. It’s not uncommon to visit the same agency twice in the space of 24 hours and receive a complete contrast in service.

The travel advisors attitude and ability to provide customers with timely information supported by sound product and destination knowledge correlates extremely highly with customer satisfaction and their overall experience. Agencies must focus on continually training, educating, and engaging their staff so service levels are consistent across the board.”