Travel Agent Questions to Ask Clients
Questions for a first consultation with a travel client: what they actually want out of the trip, the constraints they have not thought to mention, and the details that decide whether a booking runs smoothly or turns into a complaint.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What's the trip you keep meaning to take and haven't got round to yet?
Why ask it
Opens with the client's own motive rather than a form field, and it often produces a different destination from the one they called about. What people have been postponing tells you which part of the trip is worth spending their money on.
Who's travelling, and how old is the youngest and the oldest in the party?
Why ask it
Ages drive room configurations, child fares, insurance premiums and whether a long transfer is realistic. Get exact dates of birth later, but get the range now, because a party with a toddler and an eighty-year-old rules out half of what you were about to suggest.
What are you hoping to spend on the whole thing, and is that per person or for everyone?
Why ask it
This single ambiguity causes more wasted quotes than any other. Say both options out loud and make them choose, then write the figure down in front of them so it is not renegotiated after you have done the work.
Does that figure include flights, or is it what you want to spend once you've landed?
Why ask it
Clients who have been searching flights themselves often quote a land-only budget without realising. Establishing this before you price anything prevents the quote arriving at double what they expected and the conversation ending there.
What dates are you looking at, and how far either side could you move them?
Why ask it
Three days of flexibility can change the fare significantly, and clients rarely volunteer it because they assume the dates are the request. Ask for a window, not a date.
Are those dates fixed by school holidays, work, or something happening on the trip?
Why ask it
Tells you whether flexibility is real or theoretical, and whether you are buying in peak season. It also surfaces events, a wedding, a race, a festival, that need to be booked around rather than discovered later.
Think about your best trip. What were you telling people about when you got home?
Why ask it
Far more useful than asking what type of traveller they are, because it gets a specific memory: a market, a walk, one restaurant, nobody bothering them for a week. That detail is what you build the itinerary around.
And what did you dislike about the last trip you took?
Why ask it
Complaints are more precise than preferences and they are what you will be judged against. Long transfers, a resort that was all couples, a hotel by a main road: each one is a filter you can apply immediately.
How much of each day do you want planned for you, and how much left open?
Why ask it
The gap between a client who wants a guided itinerary and one who wants a hotel and nothing else is the biggest single source of disappointment. Ask for a rough proportion rather than a yes or no.
What kind of place do you want to sleep in, and what would spoil it for you?
Why ask it
The second half is where the useful information is: a shared pool, a long walk to the room, no lift, a bar under the window, breakfast that finishes at nine. Keep those answers at the front of the file and check them against every property you shortlist.
How do you feel about long flights, connections and early starts?
Why ask it
Some clients will take two stops to save money and others will not fly at all before eight in the morning. Knowing this before you present routings avoids a quote that is rejected on the itinerary rather than the price.
Who's making the final decision, and does anyone else need to agree to it?
Why ask it
Ask this early or you will build a proposal for the person who happened to call. If a partner, a parent paying, or three other couples are involved, get them on the next conversation rather than relaying it second hand.
Is this trip marking anything, an anniversary, a birthday, a retirement?
Why ask it
It changes both the budget and the tolerance for things going wrong. It also lets you brief hotels usefully, though tell the client plainly that a requested upgrade is a request and not something you can promise.
Is there anything about health, mobility or medication I should plan around?
Why ask it
Asked plainly and without fuss, this gets you stairs, walking distances, dialysis, refrigerated medication, oxygen and altitude concerns while there is still time to plan for them. It also matters for insurance, where undeclared conditions are a common reason for a refused claim.
Any dietary needs that would be difficult to manage where you're going?
Why ask it
Severe allergies, coeliac disease and religious requirements affect destination and hotel choice, not only restaurant bookings. Ask how they usually handle it abroad, since experienced travellers often have a system you should not override.
When do your passports expire, and does anyone in the party need a visa or an entry permit?
Why ask it
Many countries require several months of validity beyond the return date, and passport renewal times move without warning. Check the expiry date and the exact spelling of names as printed, because a corrected ticket is sometimes not possible at all.
How do you feel about travel insurance, and has anyone in the party ever had to claim?
Why ask it
Cover for cancellation generally needs to be in place from the first payment, so this belongs in the first conversation rather than the last. Someone who has claimed before will tell you exactly which questions to ask the insurer.
What are you comfortable paying now, and how would you rather handle the balance?
Why ask it
Deposit appetite tells you which suppliers you can use, since terms vary from a small holding deposit to full payment upfront. Put the balance date and the cancellation penalties in writing at the point of booking.
While you're away, how do you want to hear from me, and who's your contact at home?
Why ask it
Establishes whether they want messages or silence, whether their phone will work abroad, and who you call if you cannot reach them. The emergency contact at home is the detail everyone skips and occasionally needs badly.
If something goes wrong at two in the morning on day two, what would you want me to do?
Why ask it
Ending here sets expectations honestly: what you can fix, what the supplier handles, and what falls to the insurer. Clients who have heard this answer once complain far less when a flight is cancelled.
Running the Consultation
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Habits That Prevent Complaints
Write down their words, not your summary
Somewhere quiet and nothing formal is a brief you can check a property against. Relaxing and upscale is not. Keep the client's own phrasing in the file, because it is what you will be measured against when they arrive.
Quote a range, then narrow it
Give a realistic band for what they have described before you build anything. It is a cheap way to find out whether the budget and the request belong to the same trip, and it saves a day of research on a proposal that was never viable.
Confirm everything material in writing
Names as they appear on passports, dates, room type, board basis, baggage, transfer times, deposit and balance dates, cancellation penalties. Verbal confirmation of any of these is a dispute waiting to happen.
Bring the quiet person into the conversation
In couples and family bookings one person usually does the talking. Ask the other directly what would make the trip worth it for them, before you present rather than after.
An Order That Works
- 1Start with motive and the best and worst of their previous trips, before any logistics.
- 2Establish party, ages and who decides.
- 3Pin the budget, per person or total, and whether flights are inside it.
- 4Get dates plus the flexibility window and what fixes them.
- 5Cover health, dietary needs and accessibility while there is still time to plan around them.
- 6Check passports, visas and name spellings before you hold anything.
- 7Raise insurance at the point of deposit, not at final payment.
- 8Close by agreeing how you will communicate during the trip and what happens if something fails.
Where Bookings Go Wrong
Selling the trip you would want
An advisor who loves early flights and packed itineraries will build them for people who hate both. Test every recommendation against what the client said they disliked last time.
Promising what a supplier controls
Upgrades, adjoining rooms, a particular view and airport assistance are requests. Say so in the same sentence you make them, and put the wording in the confirmation email.
Letting insurance drift
Cover arranged weeks after the deposit may not pay out on a cancellation caused by something that developed in between. Record the date you recommended it and the client's answer.
Accepting a budget without a scope
A figure with no agreement about what it covers guarantees an argument about excursions, tips, transfers and drinks. Write down what is inside the number and what is not.