Customer Service in the Travel Industry: Flying High and Low with Consumer Advocate Chris Elliott

Chris Elliott is a consumer advocate for the travel industry who has "jet fuel in his veins." He has devoted his journalism career to reporting on unsolvable problem issues in the travel industry. Customer Service excellence and travel have historically been like oil and water. But Elliott aims to change all that and wants to one day be obsolete. But considering the state of the travel industry the end of his work as a consumer advocate and journalist is nowhere in sight. Elliott has made waves by reporting on customer service flukes. Everything from posting a video by a JetBlue passenger on YouTube who refused to give up a video she took of a fight on the plane and was threatened with arrest. In an era where travel has become commoditized, customer service has been relegated to the backburner. The glossy travel magazines don’t expose the negative customer service interactions prevalent today. But social media has brought an end to this customer service utopian view. Elliott covers the stories that mainstream media outlets choose to turn its back on. Most of the major players in the travel industry assumes customers are only interested in price but forget customer service. Service with a smile is no longer part of the travel experience. Customer service surveys of the travel industry are worse than that of the IRS. Social media has changed the power dynamic in the travel industry and now this has been turned on its head. Elliott talks to Customer Management IQ’s Blake Landau about the travel industry in the social economy and why customers now are more influential than ever.