Should You Outsource Travel Customer Service?

Remember when travelers went to physical agencies to book trips? Today’s travelers tap screens, compare options, and book instantly. According to the IATA, less than 20% of passengers prefer to talk to a human. Until that is, things go wrong—40% of passengers want high-touch travel customer service during a travel disruption. (Another third prefers the human touch for luxury experiences, as well.)

This creates a paradox for travel providers. You need digital efficiency but can’t abandon the human touch that often closes high-value sales and saves troubled trips.

There’s no doubt that post-COVID, staffing challenges have hit travel customer service hard. The irregular hours, seasonal demand, and relatively low pay make hiring and retaining quality agents a perpetual struggle—especially as workers increasingly devalue odd schedules or in-office work. Many managers find themselves plugging schedule gaps rather than improving service quality.

Travel also requires linguistic flexibility, which few internal teams can provide. When your Japanese guests need urgent help at 3 am, can you have someone there for them?

These pressures make the hospitality call center industry one of the fastest-growing segments in travel outsourcing. But is outsourcing right for your business?

Signs Your Travel Business Should Outsource

How do you know when it’s time to explore travel BPO services? Look for warning signs—the more you see, the stronger the case for exploring outsourced options for your travel customer service needs.

Your backlog never clears.
When Monday’s inquiries still sit unanswered by Friday despite everyone’s best efforts, structural problems exist that additional hires alone won’t fix.

Customer feedback mentions response time more than actual issues.
“They were helpful once I finally reached someone” means you have a capacity problem.

You can’t staff weekends and holidays.
Ironically, when your customers travel most, your support quality often drops to its lowest point.

Language limitations cost you bookings.
You’re almost certainly losing business if you’re targeting international travelers but can only offer support in one or two languages.

Absenteeism creates daily crises.
When a single sick day throws your entire service department into chaos, your staffing model lacks the resilience you need to compete.

Your technology is lagging behind what competitors are offering.
If larger rivals offer AI chatbots, callback options, and seamless omnichannel support while you’re struggling with basic phone and email, the gap will eventually affect your market position.

Managers often handle routine support cases.
When your leadership team jumps in to answer basic customer questions, their strategic work suffers.

Seasonal hiring and firing cycles waste resources.
Constantly recruting, training and offboarding during peak seasons creates a wasteful cycle that hospitality outsourcing services can eliminate

The Benefits of Travel Call Center Outsourcing

Beyond the obvious cost savings, travel companies typically see several strategic advantages when they partner with specialized support providers like Enshored.

Financial predictability is a major one. Instead of carrying fixed staffing costs through low seasons, travel BPO services can set you up with flexible support capacity to match your actual demand patterns. Providers often charge based on actual usage rather than fixed headcount.

A well-chosen hospitality call center partner can also provide support across all time zones from strategic locations, eliminating your need to establish an international presence. Plus, when local disasters strike—from power outages to weather emergencies— outsourced providers with multiple locations can maintain service continuity that single-location teams simply can’t match.

Working with a travel provider can also help you quickly scale up for marketing initiatives. If you’re planning a flash sale or major promotion, for example, an outsourced team can add temporary capacity specifically for these events, capturing revenue that would otherwise be lost to support bottlenecks.

You’ll also be able to tap into specialized travel technology—without the investment. Advanced hospitality call center services deploy reservation management integrations, prediction algorithms for staffing, and AI-powered tools that would cost millions to develop or implement independently.

Finally, don’t forget about the reduced burden on your management team. Your outsourcing provider will take over the day-to-day challenges of recruiting, training, scheduling, and managing performance—meaning your leaders will be free to focus on product or service improvements and strategic initiatives.

Case Study

Novaalab Scales with Enshored

Novaalab needed seamless customer service for an older demographic. We delivered with voice-driven excellence.

See how

Potential Drawbacks to Consider

The benefits above explain why the travel outsourcing market continues to grow, even among companies that are reluctant to consider external partnerships for customer-facing functions. But travel customer service outsourcing isn’t without challenges.

Before you move forward, weigh these potential drawbacks. Knowing about these challenges can help you set realistic expectations and develop mitigation strategies— rather than being surprised by them once you’ve already outsourced your customer service.

• Knowledge gaps. While good hospitality call center services understand travel, they won’t automatically know your business. What makes your Iceland tour different from competitors? Why are your resort’s beachfront rooms priced at a premium? You’ll have to download this knowledge.
• Less direct control. If a service issue comes up, you’ll have to work through your partner’s management structure instead of interacting with agents yourself. This barrier can often slow response times.
• The loss of “the personal touch.” Your long-time agents probably have relationships with repeat customers that new outsourced teams won’t be able to duplicate. This might impact some high-value clients.
• Upfront costs. Before you start saving money, you’ll have to document processes, create training materials, and spend time on knowledge transfer. This is a hurdle that some companies underestimate—leading them to spend less at first than they should, or be surprised when these costs start to rise.
• You’ll need to keep an eye on things. Successful outsourcing doesn’t mean you’re off the hook when it comes to customer service quality; in fact, you might even need new staff to manage the relationship with your partner, monitor their agents’ performance, and their work aligns with your brand standards.
• Yes, there can also be a cultural difference. If you choose to offshore travel customer service, customers may notice subtle differences in the way partner agents communicate—for example, accents or speech patterns may make it obvious that you’ve outsourced. Consider additional training and monitoring to keep service where you want it.

A Success Story: Travel Call Center Outsourcing

A business travel platform faced a critical juncture when COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted. Suddenly, demand surged beyond what their internal team could handle. They needed to scale fast—with technically proficient support staff who would align with their company culture.

Enter Enshored. Our reputation as a travel BPO provider led them to partner with us, at which time we quickly recruited agents with travel industry experience.

The results were astonishing: our client went from 15 support agents to 400 in just 18 months. This expanded team now handles 80% of their global chat interactions, with 92% customer satisfaction for live chat and 85% customer satisfaction for email support. (We’ve also been named the client’s “best-performing partner” in their network.) A shining example of how the right hospitality call center services can transform customer experience while maintaining quality standards.

How did they do it? Success came from choosing the right agents, training them on travel systems, and setting up clear communication between the client and our outsourced teams.

Instead of treating Enshored agents as “separate,” the client integrated them into product updates, company news, and service improvement initiatives.

Case Study

Rocksbox Scales with Enshored

Rocksbox struggled with managing a global stylist network. We refined their process and boosted purchase rates.

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When You’re Ready, Here’s How to Choose an Outsourcing Partner

Choosing the right travel customer service partner is like finding the right travel destination—the perfect match will depend on your specific needs, budget, and preferences. Focus on these factors as a starting point.

• Travel industry experience. Generalist call centers often struggle with the complexities of the travel business. Ask pointed questions: How would they handle force majeure situations? Can they access and use GDS systems? Do they understand codeshare flights and interline agreements?
• Client portfolio. A provider that serves budget hotels will approach service differently than one that works with luxury cruise lines. Review your partner’s client mix carefully.
• Turnover records. High agent turnover can destroy service quality because knowledge keeps walking out the door. Ask about retention rates and career paths for agents. And find out how they maintain service consistency despite inevitable staff changes.
• Technology stack. The best outsourcing partners can easily connect with your booking systems, CRM, and communication platforms. Ask for detailed information.
• Pricing structure. Stay away from one-size-fits-all pricing. Travel demand fluctuates seasonally—and it can do so unpredictably. Look for a provider that offers variable costs that are based on actual usage patterns, not fixed team sizes.
• Quality monitoring. Review their call recordings, transaction monitoring, and customer feedback collection. The right partner will welcome your involvement in quality reviews—and give you access to performance data.
• Disaster recovery. Travel disruptions often line up with the highest demands on support. Evaluate your partner’s business continuity plans, backup locations, and power redundancies before you need to rely on them. If they’ll struggle to come back from a disaster, you want to know that now.
• Cultural alignment. Your outsourced team won’t just represent your brand—they’ll be your brand in critical customer moments. Make sure to assess how well they can represent your company’s unique approach and values.

Remember, choosing a hospitality call center services partner is about more than comparing price quotes. The right fit will give you a strategic advantage; the wrong one will quickly damage customer relationships it took you years to build.

Is Travel Customer Service Outsourcing for You?

The decision to outsource your travel customer service requires an honest assessment of your current performance, growth goals, and operational constraints.

Outsource if:

• Service levels are consistently below what your customers expect
• Language barriers are choking your ability to expand
• Seasonal fluctuations create staffing inefficiencies
• Technology has outpaced your ability to update it
• Your managers are consumed by support operations

However, if your service team is a competitive advantage, your offerings require hard-to-transfer knowledge, or your business model is too high-touch, you may have to give outsourcing a pass.

If you’re still unsure, consider putting a foot in both rivers. For many travel businesses, the best approach is a combination of both models—keeping specialized functions in-house and outsourcing volume, coverage, or specific channels. For many businesses, it’s less about whether they should outsource travel customer service—and more about how to design a support model that delights travelers and enables growth… Because many see outsourcing as inevitable.

The bottom line is that with proper planning and the right partner, outsourcing can be a powerful part of a vibrant travel company. If you’d like to explore what that could mean for you, contact us at Enshored.