Menu
My Library Podcast Cold To Curious Facebook Ads for Travel Advisors Blog

The Most Expensive Signature in Your Travel Business |Ep183

The most expensive signature in your travel business isn’t your lease, your software or your mastermind. It’s the one you never got.

In this episode of The Art of Selling Travel Podcast, I’m talking about why every travel advisor needs signed client authorizations, and why “I’ve always done it on a handshake” is a risky way to run a business. It all started on a coaching call. One advisor’s host agency had just updated its terms and conditions and was now requiring signatures on every booking. Plenty of advisors were struggling with the change. She had been doing it all along.

I’m also sharing a story from my early days in the industry, back when credit card numbers went on Post-it Notes in the file. One client filed a chargeback with Air Canada for a first-class flight to Australia and claimed she never took it. That could have cost the agency thousands. It didn’t, because one card imprint with her signature on it ended the chargeback on the spot.

We’ll cover the three signatures every travel advisor needs on file: a credit card authorization to protect you from chargebacks, a travel insurance waiver to prove coverage was offered (including the parts they declined), and signed terms and conditions so you’re not on the hook for everything a client “didn’t read.” I’ll also explain why friends and family bookings need signatures too, and how to simplify the process with a Google Doc of supplier terms and the templates already built into your CRM or invoicing tool, like TravelJoy, Travefy or Tern.

If clients pushing back on paperwork makes you squirm, this one’s for you. Don’t stutter, don’t apologize, just make it part of your process. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and in a world where scammers are going hard after travel, your paper trail is your protection.

Additional Links: