Can we still be packaged?

It struck me at a ‘welcome party’ while skiing the other week that tour operators still package us together into convenient little groups then package and label us.

The traditional skiing holiday with its early twenties enjoying boozy apres ski activities well into the early hours was clearly the format that worked 25 years ago. However, those 20 somethings are now in their mid 40′s and their expectations, wants and desires have changed. While listening to the local reps rant on about their apres ski activities, consisting of pub-crawls, pub-quizzes and boozy ski-trips I had already switched off and was looking around at their target audience.

Being late forties I wasn’t the youngest there but there were many far older than I and they had also switched off. Oblivious to their audience (customers) the reps continued their talk. Less than half way through I got up and left. Apparently we (me and the wife) were the only ones that voted with our feet.

This particular operator was desperately keen to get our feedback as it was important for them to learn from us, ‘particularly in these difficult economic times‘. That’s a great start, however, listening is only the first part of changing. Tour operators, like all businesses, need to actively listen to their customers then act and respond to their comments and needs. It’s not good enough nor acceptable to group, package and label our customers. Customers are human beings and each has their own needs that have to be satisfied in a way that they want. Our recent welcome party was a stark reminder that many companies, and probably industry sectors, still have a long way to go.