CLIENT AND TOUR ESCORT

Managing Group Behavior…

 High expectations
 To purchase a tour is a decision of great
consequence in the average person’s life. Vacationers
expect a good time & clear value.
 The flock factor
 There’s are desire to conform, even among those
tour members who are mature and set in their ways.
Apart from that, group cohesiveness make a group
quickly takes the kind of easy-going attitude that will
help make the tour pleasant & successful.
 The regression syndrome
 Mature adult on a tour can occasionally be cranky
argue over seating, compete for attention, be
(aneh),

overly picky about food, take naps at almost

(tidur sekejap)

any moment have tantrums.

 To free them from this hassles & responsibilities,
tour manger need to makes all the decision.
Strategies for Managing a Tour
Group…
A tour manager must:
 Be fair
 Tour manager must parcel out attention equally to
all tour members to avoid jealousies & “sibling
rivalries” within the tour group family.
 Do not always sits with the same clients, leave
the group when step-on guide take over (to have
little free time) and drop off clients near their just
because they live along the route to the tour’s final
destination.
 Praise a tour group’s behavior
 “To help people reach their full potential, catch them
doing something right”
 So, too, must you acknowledge, praise and reward
appropriate clients behavior in order for a tour to reach
its full potential for success
 The most obvious quality to be praised is punctuality
 Exceed the client’s expectations
 Adding “surprise stop” not only rewards a group for
punctuality but also serves a value added bonus.
 It can be many thing;
 You are conducting a trip to Langkawi and want to
surprise your clients with a free snorkeling at Taman
Marin Pulau Payar, free Langkawi postcard, and thank
you notes from the escort which you slide under
clients hotel room door etc.
 Be firm when facing disruptive behavior
 Chronic complainers
 They travel around the world in a bad mood. They finding
everything with a vacation rather than concentrating on
all that right
 They are “attention seekers”
 The cause of complaining is often an individual’s inability
to submerge personal needs to those of the group. They
also individualistic and strong willed
 What you need to do with this complainers? – you must
first draw the line, and quickly. You need to be diplomatic
but firm, explaining in private and discreet moment that
you have done all you can and that the person will just
have to accept the way things are.
 The chronically late
 Clients who are always tardy must be given an
ultimatum : Be on time or we will leave you and
you will have to find your own way to the next
destination
 Know-It-Alls
 They will amend, add to, or outright contradict with
what you said.
 They are people who pride themselves on their
knowledge and are genuinely informed. They also
think that they are better informed than you. you are
tend to debate with them but please be patient
 Bores
 Starve for attention
 Their way to get it is to talk incessantly to anyone
too polite to escape their verbal grasp.
 This can be quite disruptive to tour conductor
because you need to spread your attention to
others also
 Encourage client “Adulthood”
 Tour conductor must use reasonable group management
strategies that encourage an adult’s client right to make
their own decision
 Several tactic:
 Use clients name when speaking to them
 “interview” each client if possible on the first day
tour
 Give them list of recommendation for place to eat
and things to do during their spare time
 Find out form each client what is their interest and
suggest ways they might pursue their interest
during the tour’s free time.
 Exercise leadership
 Escort must exercise their authority. OTOH, that
authority must restrain ; over control is not the answer.
 Tour conductor lead by example. They strive to make a
strong impression through good eye contact, a warm
smile, and perhaps a welcoming handshake. Not just on
time but early in everything!. Explain a days schedule
and stick to it. Dress professionally and calm when
necessary. In short, they’re role model for their group.
 Tour manager quickly figure out the responsibilities of
their leadership role and what happen when they fail to
accept these responsibilities.
 Be flexible
 We can’t treat each group with similar ways.
 Flexibility is important when a tour conductor is assigned
to an untraditional touring group.
 OTOH, tour manager will find exerting leadership over
such groups a delicate business. (for one thing, the group
may have a leader). You must quickly build relationship
with the group leader
 Incentive tours have subtle challenges : 1st : the client are
all winner, 2nd : incentive traveler aren't always in the best
frame of mind when their vacation begin. Finally : trip
director must understand that they represent 2 companies.
Cultural Sensitivity…
 Ethnocentrism
- Is defined as the belief that one’s own nationality or
ethnic group is superior to all others.
- Example: the Japanese tourist who visits the
United States and wonders why there aren’t Indians
on every corner or gangsters on every street.
 Stereotyping
- The tendency to believe that an unvarying pattern
or manner marks all members of a group.
- The previous paragraph about Texans, Parisians,
and Japanese contains several stereotypes:
statements that may apply to some members of
each ethnic group but do not apply to all of its
members. Certain supposed cultural traits have no
validity at all.
Perspectives for avoiding
cultural insensitivity…
 The “rightness” or “wrongness” of certain
practices varies from culture to culture.
 Cultural values are in constant flux and can
become rapidly outdated – Asians perceived
smoking is not wrong while they visit US in 1950
 Cultural values vary within regions of the
same country – Kelantanese like to eat budu
but maybe did’nt like to eat tempe (Jawa people
like it…yummy!).