Baxter Hoare: why use a travel agent?

FFB is proud to offer Associate Membership to companies that provide key services to its clients. Among our Associate Members are travel agents, freight forwarders, exhibition suppliers, research bodies and industry associations.

This month, Colin Saunders from Baxter Hoare, specialists in travel management for the food and drink industry including packages to trade shows,  talks about the highs and lows of working with British food and drink companies.

The perils of going it alone

“Some companies think that they can do better by sorting out their travel and accommodation direct, but we’ve rescued enough companies from bad situations to know that you could be setting yourself up for a nightmare.

“One company we knew booked their hotel on the internet, only to arrive and find it positioned between a hostess club and a, shall we say, “masculine club”. It was horribly embarrassing for them because they’d invited clients to visit them at their hotel – not least because the rooms were charged by the hour! Luckily we were able to sort them out with a different hotel. We like being able to save the day.

The internet: use with caution

“A lot of people rely on the internet these days, but you never see a crummy hotel or a bad hotel room on the internet - what you see online isn’t always what you get. You need someone on the ground who knows the reality – particularly with everything else you’ve got to sort out before exhibitions.

“Most British food and drink companies who’ve ever been to an exhibition at home or abroad have probably met someone from Baxter Hoare. We’re proud to be focussed on the food and drink industry because it means that we’ve got deep roots in all the major exhibitions. We find that people in the food and drink industry are really nice guys and very pleasant to do business with.”

FFB's Fast Track Associate Members

Find out about FFB’s other Associate Members on our Associate Member page.

Baxter Hoare are the officially appointed travel and hotel contractor for IFE and Hotelympia and the official contractors for Speciality and London Wine Fair.  They are also one of the leading suppliers of rooms at major European trade shows such as ANUGA.

05 September 2007