A Word of Caution
In an ideal world, you’d only take customers to destinations you know intimately. You’d know all the dive sites and be on a first-name basis with the dive operation and hotel staff. You could rattle off the menus at the best local restaurants, tell customers where to find the best deal on souvenirs and be an expert on what to do when people aren’t diving.
Many dive stores with successful dive travel programs do schedule frequent trips to the same destination. John and Susie Wall of “The” Dive Shop of Fairfax, Virginia, for example, run an average of four Bonaire trips every year. Among the leading appeals of these trips is that they are an opportunity for customers to accompany dive professionals whom they know and trust to a destination where their dive leaders hold near-celebrity status.
Of course, you can’t go to the same destinations all the time. To keep interest in your travel program alive, you must also go to new and different destinations on a regular basis. In doing so, however, there is something important you avoid:
Don’t use customers as guinea pigs to try out unknown or unproven destinations. Yes, it’s tempting to have customers pay your way to a brand-new dive resort or liveaboard at an as yet unheard-of destination. Unfortunately, such places have a less-than-stellar track record when it comes to customer satisfaction. Things frequently go wrong or aren’t as advertised.
It’s better to stick with well-known dive operators and destinations with proven track records — especially if you’ve never been there yourself. If you want to explore the unknown, do so on your own time and your own dime.
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