Case study: Hispano Travel
Hispano Travel BCN boosts investment in social media marketing to attract more customers traveling to South America.
With the pandemic bringing global travel to a halt, Hispano Travel BCN took the opportunity to revamp its social media channels leading to a 3,500% rise in bookings over the last three years.
Who are we?
Hispano Travel BCN is a small travel agency based in the Spanish city of Barcelona. With years of combined experience in retail, corporate, and vacation travel, Hispano Travel BCN is well-positioned to provide its clients with the best service at the best price. That is why the company has maintained a solid client base, which can only be accomplished through consistent levels of high customer satisfaction. Over the past year, it has grown its team from two to five people and is actively looking to employ three more this year.
Hispano Travel BCN, as the name suggests, has a strong focus on trips to South America. Catering to a client base of North and South Americans living in Spain, Hispano Travel BCN has in-depth knowledge of travel routes to the two continents and can easily adapt to customer needs. With all of its employees from South America, the company is uniquely placed to understand and support customers with all of their specialist enquiries.
The company offers a range of different services but it specializes in flight and hotel bookings as well as travel insurance. Covering all aspects of the trip gives customers the comfort and security to enjoy a stress-free travel experience.
What are the fundamentals?
Headquarters
Industry
Plan
Website
What was the challenge?
As was the same for all travel agencies, the pandemic was an enormously challenging time for us at Hispano Travel BCN when travel around the world came to a standstill.
Our customers were concerned about their travel plans and bookings and also confused about the fluctuating landscape and shifting requirements for travel. As a result, we turned our emphasis to supporting our travelers, being empathetic, and building trust – which was especially crucial during this time. The relationship we have with our customers meant customers could raise issues and be assured we’d do everything it could to support them.
“The pandemic was very difficult of course, like for all TAs, as no-one was traveling. Customers were confused and concerned so building trust and being empathetic was crucial.”
How did Amadeus support?
Amadeus is the only global distribution system we use, we put the vast majority of our business through them. We only have one Amadeus OfficeID at present but with numbers steadily and significantly rising, we may look to create another one.
Ultimately Hispano Travel BCN plans to become an independent ticketing agency this year so we can negotiate special fares with the airlines, with an eye on becoming a flight aggregator and IATA certified.
What did you reimagine?
The office was closed for two months during the worst period of the pandemic. Despite this, we adapted our way of working by continuing to work and support customers online. Moreover, as our founder and staff are from South America themselves, the team were able to directly relate to, and support the customer's specialist needs and questions with regard to their travel plans.
During this time, we also took the opportunity to expand our social media presence and reach in preparation for the travel recovery. The company invested in this area and now we have a dedicated content manager who is responsible for creating videos, handling promotions, and posting regularly on key channels such as Facebook and Instagram. We also have a dedicated WhatsApp number which makes contacting the travel agency simple and instantaneous.
“Try to reach your clients proactively. Find ways to target the right customers (those that your offering is tailored to) and on the right channels. Whether street, phone, social media channels, the internet - know where your audience is and target them there.”
Looking to the future, we are committed to growing the business beyond Barcelona to encompass all of Spain. By expanding our social media marketing platform and geo-targeting ads towards South American communities around the country, we hope to grow even further, using relevant, inspiring and creative content.
We have experienced unprecedented growth since the end of the pandemic and are planning to open another office to support this increase in demand, with a new office near our target audience to capitalize on the close relationship we have with the South American community.
Results
- Hispano Travel BCN has boosted its ticketing sales from 300-400 bookings in 2019 to 11,000 in 2022 – an increase of over 3,500% over three years.
- Amadeus is the only global distribution system the agency uses, through which they put the majority of their business.
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