For a second I'm gonna put myself in the shoes of a travel customer. I took the time to email you, but oh no! The dreaded "Out of Office" or "Automatic Reply".

What gives?

The proper thing to do is to automatically forward all incoming emails to a trusted colleague.

Period. No exceptions.

Automatic out-of-office replies are old technology that sends just a single message. That you're too busy to reply to a valued customer.

As a travel professional I know that's not what you intend.

One of the things we do for travel agencies like yours is to automatically send relevant travel articles to your customer as soon as a new lead comes in.

This gives your customer relevant information about their trip and gives you time to respond.

We also send out weekly or bi-weekly newsletters about your agency to keep your email list warm and active.

I've buried the lede -- so here's the secret.

No one really cares about our vacations, our conferences, our "testing out the new cruise ship" or our yearly safari to Tanzania.

Customers only care that you were not there for them when they took their time to email you.

So cut the vacation responders.
Get rid of the "out of office" replies.
Kill the "Automatic Reply" emails.

Have a real person handle your clients while you're away and enjoy your time off.

Your friend in travel marketing
Ericson Smith
Co-founder, marketing & technology.