What makes a great travel partner for a tour operator

Strong partnerships sit at the heart of golf tourism, shaping everything from the quality of the on-course experience to the long-term growth of destinations and tour operators alike.

As expectations around service and overall experience continue to rise, given the global popularity of the game, the relationship between tour operators and their resort, club and destination partners has never been more important.

Your Golf Travel’s Head of International Contracting, Neil Crossland, explains how his company try to create positive relationships with the resorts they work with. 

A great partner is one who has the same vision as you, who is client and service-oriented, and who wants to deliver a good product and impact the delivery of golfers from the UK and US market.

Service level in resort, good quality F&B, condition of golf course and a great commercial lead to have a strong relationship with.

Hugely important. You cannot build a partnership without constant communication and trust, the worst-case scenario is denying there is an issue to be resolved and the customer impact is significant. Work with your commercial lead to resolve and be proactive, not reactive.

Happily, there are many in the industry. One hugely successful partnership and example currently is Costa Navarino. We both have the same vision, understand both parties’ requirements and deliver a united front, through marketing material, sales performance, training and the most important factor is trusting their service level in resort to handle the many clients travelling to the destination. Without this service level and partnership, growth is difficult not only with new customers but also with customer retention. 

We expect our partners to share our commitment to providing golfers with an exceptional overall experience. This includes delivering excellent service from the moment of arrival. By working together and ensuring high-quality accommodation and seamless extras like transfers are provided, we can guarantee our golfers' trips run smoothly from start to finish.

These are always considerations taken into account when working with current and new partners. In today's world of access and speed, connectivity is a key component to availability and accuracy. Condition of course and experience is a customer focus and service just makes that journey a little more enjoyable. Customers expect good service and our partners have in the past 12 months increased their capacity to deliver. We thank them for that continued support.

This is key to customer satisfaction, get this right and the opportunities for retention business is huge, along with the best form of marketing: “word of mouth”, especially in the golfing circles which impacts new business.

The openness to understand our requirements and match that vision with theirs. Challenge, invest and have open communication. Communication is key to any form of success and don’t be scared to try new opportunities.

It starts from the moment they reach out to the business, so, service levels, knowledge, understanding of requirements to the enjoyment and attention in resort, quality of experience and enjoyment on the course. It is the whole package. Of course, the key is the enjoyment of their stay, but get it wrong from the start and you are on the back foot straight away.

Our partners align with our (Service Level Agreement) SLA requirements, ethos and values and pride in making sure that every experience is the best possible.

Trust, honesty and a vision of the industry that we all believe in and see the trends. I am lucky to have been in the industry for many years and this is the cornerstone of success.

Communication, delivery of business and being available at all times to assist on business goals.

Firstly, reach out, look at the market, understand each other's requirements and build a plan of success. It might not be year one, but a three-year plan drives focus and delivery. Set targets and goals which both parties can align to – and again, have open communication and dialogue for updates and progress reports.

Captions:

Costa Nav: Costa Navarino is among the very best golf destinations in Europe

Aphrodite: The stunning Gold Course at Aphrodite Hills

La Cala: La Cala is among Spain’s most attractive destinations