Need:
Ticket, Eurail and other services for Student Exchange Program
Expectation:
To get helpful information as well as service for various arrangements to be made for the student exchange program. Not only was help needed with travel tickets and Eurail Passes, information was also needed for accommodation search, Visa details, International Driving License, Phone Connections and other similar requirements for the entire batch of students from XLRI going for Student Exchange.
Experience:
The travel agent came to XLRI with his service offerings at the best possible prices. He had ample information on the travel tickets and which airlines would suit us more in terms of higher baggage weight limits and direct and connecting flights. He also had information or could source the information from someone in his company for all our requirements. However, since we had searched for travel tickets on our own and were also in discussion with other B-schools to get a combined discount on Eurail passes, his offer worked out to cost us more. When we asked him for further discounts, his conditions increased to the next level and he wanted a group of over 15 students to take the same flight. Since we have different dates of joining our Exchange institutions, this was infeasible and when we informed him of the same, he seemed disinterested and told us he will try but cannot guarantee any further reduction in costs from his end.
Eventually, after further discussions, our own search and information base seemed less costly, more economical and flexible and hence we didn’t find the travel agent’s offering useful. We ended our interaction with the travel agent at this point and decided to make the arrangements on our own instead of paying the travel agent to perform the same service at a higher cost.
Service Analysis:
The above figure summarizes the analysis of the service in terms of the Service Trinity based on my experience. The analysis for Employee Management is not applicable as I did not interact with any employees during my experience.
Service Quality:
In order to determine the perceived service quality of the Travel Agent the five dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL) have been used. These dimensions are given in the table below along with the quality perceived by me during my experience.
| Dimension | Rating (Scale of 1-10) 1 – Poor; 10 - Excellent | Analysis of Service |
| Tangibles | - | We did not visit the office facility of the Travel Agent and hence cannot comment on this |
| Reliability | 8 | The commitment of the travel agent to find the best possible costs and service for us from his end and also source information from all possible sources to help us increased our reliability for the travel agent. |
| Responsiveness | 8 | The travel agent not only made the effort to come to XLRI to address all the students going for exchange, he was also willing to cater to individual demands and needs to as high a degree as possible. |
| Assurance | 8 | Competence of the travel agent seemed high based on his capability to source helpful information. Credibility was high as the travel agent was from Jamshedpur and based on our prior experiences with other services in Jamshedpur, the XLRI relation with the city increased the credibility. Courtesy of the travel agent is also high based on our interaction with him. Security of the service was not a concern as it was a travel agent service. |
| Empathy | 8 | The travel agent understood our cost sensitivity and tried his best to help us. However, since it is a commission based business for him there was obviously a difference in the prices offered by him and the ones known to us. |
Based on the above dimensions of quality, I would summarize the perceived service quality to be of a good level. For other purposes where the cost sensitivity may be lower and where we may be willing to pay in order to save time and effort, his services would definitely be at the top of our mind.
Your opinion and comments are welcome.
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