Booking a coach for a single trip, or a tour can be a gamble if you know nothing about the operator. Now you can read reviews of the company online for peace of mind
Picture the scene; Carol the secretary of the local WI wants to book a trip to Salisbury Cathedral. Several ladies have signed up and Carol needs to book a 36-seat standard coach. She calls the number of the company they always use. To her dismay it is fully booked and can’t accommodate them.
She goes online and wonders where to start. A couple of people have mentioned other coach companies, but she doesn’t know if she can trust them and her ladies are quite discerning in the standards they expect.
What she really needs is a Trip Advisor-type website for coaches… She types in ‘coach reviews’ and comes up with Trusted Travel Reviews.
Easy to use
The website seems simple enough to use. The home page says, ‘search for coach hire companies near you’. It asks her where she is travelling from and how many passengers. She fills it in and a list of companies come up. She clicks on the first one and then on the vehicle she would like. Then she clicks on ‘reviews’ – perfect, this is just what she wanted!
It doesn’t take her long to narrow down a shortlist of two. The first one has a score of 4.98/5 out of 87 reviews. She feels comfortable that she can trust this company. Everybody is mentioning the sort of things that are important to her and her group. The coaches are all described as clean and tidy, the driver was friendly, the driver was early, the driver was pleasant and polite … she could see her ladies being very happy and comfortable on this coach. People also mentioned how easy the booking process was.
There’s an online booking form, but Carol wanted to know there and then if she could book the coach for the date she needed, and what the price was. She called the number and spoke to a polite man who gave her the information she needed and she was able to confirm the booking.
Personal recommendations
Carol is a fictitious customer. But the reviews on Trusted Travel Reviews (TTR) website are real and read by thousands of people. The operators who are already TTR members can’t recommend the service highly enough.
Martin Bryant of Bryant Travel, says: “Only today we had two customers calling for quotes after reading our reviews. Their main concern was that they hadn’t heard of us before, but the reviews persuaded them to ring us, which we converted into bookings.”
“It can be a tall order to ask a potential customer to part with several hundred and trust us with their travel plans,” adds Simon Hayes of Forest Coaches, says: “We are relatively new in business and Trusted Travel Reviews has allowed us to gain credibility and more bookings. Our drivers have read the reviews and it encourages them to give a better service. We all like receiving acknowledgement of a job well done.”
TTR is the brainchild of James Stokes, who started off with a small website called Coach Hire Comparison (CHC). CHC offers customers the ability to compare quotes for their planned trip from different coach hire companies.
He says: “We were always quite keen to see that our members were doing a good job and wanted to make sure we had good bone fide operators on the system, so we started collecting reviews. But then we realised we had a good opportunity to show those reviews to the general public.”
Trusted Travel Reviews was born and run by a small team of four from its office in Shirland, Derbyshire.
Welcome feedback
James says: “Reviews are becoming a major part of business in the coach and minibus world because it is what potential new clients want to see before committing to booking. We all look for reviews for any product or service we are about to use or buy.
TTR can be linked with three management systems; Distinctive Systems, Roeville and Don’t Travel Empty. The system knows when the journey is finished and automatically asks the lead booker to leave feedback.
Alternatively coach drivers can use an app on their mobile phones. They ask passengers for their number and text them a link. The link invites the passenger to leave a review using a star rating system.
James says: “This can even be done on the journey home while it’s still fresh and the passengers are happy with the trip. It’s simple to use. They don’t have to log in, or create an account, they go straight into leaving a review.
“The drivers welcome feedback, even if it’s something that they can improve on.”
James encourages operators to answer reviews. “It’s important for a reply to go back,” he says. “It keeps that communication going after the journey.”
Reviews can be shared on their own website or social media.
“You don’t get a better recommendation than from friends,” says James. “you don’t need many people to see that for you to start getting brand exposure.”
Operators pay one of three price bands which offer certain radiuses and benefits. The driver app is available in the most expensive option along with a responsive widget to showcase the reviews on your website. For further information on packages visit the website www.trustedtravelreviews.co.uk
Trusted Travel Reviews is an Award Partner at the routeone Awards. Visit their stand at Coach & Bus UK on 2-3 October at the NEC Birmingham.
