Elizabeth Rodgers
Where were you born? In Toronto.
What was your 1st job? Working at Dairy Queen when I was in high school.
How long have you been in the business? Since 1990.
Tell me about your 1st airplane ride. A FAM when I was at travel and tourism college. Our teachers went on strike and actually arranged for us to go to Puerto Plata.
How has the business changed since you got into it? Way more computerized. When I started, there were 8 agents and 3 shared computers. Now, our Internet goes down and we wander around lost!
Do you have a specialty? Corporate travel.
If you could have any job in the business what would it be? The one I have.
What was your best FAM? A river cruise through France. It was lovely!
What drives you crazy? Tire kickers and people who won’t listen to my advice.
What was your biggest individual sale? $30,000 for a family trip to Beaches in Turks and Caicos. All the time I was thinking, they could buy a car for that!
What’s the 1st thing you do when you get into a hotel room? Look out the window.
Do you have a magic sentence to close the sale? No I don’t, but I should. My leisure clients just book with me so I don’t have to “close”.
Do you have any time management strategies? Yes, I have a to-do list I update every day, sometimes twice a day – hard copy so I can cross things off and feel I’ve accomplished something.
How do you cope with jetlag? I always find it worse when I come home, so I always take a day off – and I set my watch to the local time as soon as I get on the plane.
What do you do to keep you clients loyal? Great service: I have access to my corporate clients’ calendars so I can remind them that they’ll need to book a hotel room or flight.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received? “Never quote a client right away so you have time to look up the best price.”
If you had to spend 6 months in a destination, which one would you pick? Europe – all of it!
If you weren’t doing this, what would you be doing? I’d be a criminal lawyer.
If you or someone you know is a front line travel agent in Canada and would like to be featured in Up Front, please email martha@gk.openjaw.xyz.
