‘Passionate, Professional, Personable.’ That’s our mantra here at Rapid. We’re passionate about what we do. We always work in a professional way. And, as you’ll discover when you work with us, we go to great lengths to make sure there’s always a person on the end of the phone when you need to talk to someone.
So, to help you get to know even more about the people behind Rapid, we’ve put together a special series of interviews that dig a little deeper into what motivates us to help you save time and money and make working away feel that little bit closer to home.
In the hot seat today we have one of our dedicated Lead Travel Advisors, Ellie Patchett.
Ellie has been with the team for over five years now and is a huge influence in helping to train new members of the team. Customers love working with Ellie and she goes to great lengths to make sure she’s always available to help people out.
We started out talking about why Ellie loves being a part of the Rapid team…
ELLIE :The people. Definitely the people.
RAPID: It’s a great team, right?
ELLIE: Yeah, we have such good fun and everyone is so focused on providing a good service to our customers.
That’s another thing that makes it such a brilliant job.
RAPID: The customers?
ELLIE: It’s so nice to get to know the different people we work with and learn about their companies and their specific needs.
RAPID: How regularly do you speak with people?
ELLIE: It depends on how often people need to book business accommodation. But it ranges from maybe a monthly basis to speaking to some people everyday.
RAPID: So you’re there to assist people on a daily basis?
ELLIE: If they need and have a lot of business accommodation to book – yes. Definitely. I’ll be in constant contact with some teams. Whatever I can do to help – I’ll try to be there.
It’s really useful for us to be able to understand the people we work with so we can tailor our service. It means we can save people a lot of time too if we know the kind of accommodation they prefer, what they need specifically and the cost range they’re looking to book.
RAPID: I guess it helps to paint a picture over time too?
ELLIE: Sure. I’ve been working with Rapid for over five years now so I’ve been helping companies book their business accommodation for a long time.
I know with certain people they have very specific requests but because of that background and the relationship we’ve built up over the years, I can sort many elements without having to bother the customer.
Of course, we always check everything to make sure it’s the right type of accommodation, the right location and the right cost – but being in regular contact really helps.
RAPID: You’re responsible for actually booking the business accommodation too, right? What do you find are the biggest challenges when doing so?
ELLIE: Yes. Whoever needs their business accommodation organising in the company can contact be, fill me in with all the details and I’ll go and do the rest.
I encourage companies to think of me as just another member of their team. If they need something sorting in regards to their business accommodation – however small the detail – they can just call me and I’ll get on the case.
Of course, a huge amount of my time is spent sourcing the best deals. We do the legwork we don’t think our customers shouldn’t have to do for themselves.
We’ve also got a big advantage that we can get better rates than you would, to ensure costs are kept low.
I love doing it so I don’t really see it as a challenge. It’s always different and that’s great. But I do remember arranging some accommodation for Cheltenham Races was a tough one earlier this year.
Some hotels in the area were tripling their prices.
RAPID: How did you overcome that?
ELLIE: You just have to keep looking, keep trying to find a better deal for your customer.
It goes back to the mindset here at Rapid – it’s just all about doing our best for the customers.
RAPID: I guess it can help to book earlier too?
ELLIE: Sometimes, but not all the time. There are still some good deals you can get if you book later.
But generally, it is better to get in early. Especially if you know you’ve got a big event coming up or a lot of the team are travelling and need accommodation.
Then it pays to let us know as soon as you can so we can help you get the best value for money.
RAPID: Has RORI (Rapid’s Online Relationship Interface) been helpful to you?
ELLIE: Absolutely. It’s made things much faster. Customers don’t even need to call if they don’t want to. They can just put the details into RORI and it all comes through direct to me to organise and book.
Of course, people can still call me as much as they want if that’s easier for them or they want to confirm something. But it’s great to have that additional option to save time. And there are loads of new things RORI will be able to do soon too. It’s very exciting.
RAPID: What else are you excited about for the future of Rapid?
ELLIE: I’m excited about how the company has grown and now operates under the Rapid Travel Group. Encompassing both accommodation and business travel elements for our customers is key for us, providing a tailored service for our customers.
RAPID: Sounds great to have a more varied role too. Back on the accommodation-front, where’s the best place you’ve stayed?
ELLIE: I’d say the Bellagio in Las Vegas. For our honeymoon, my husband and I travelled Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles.
RAPID: Oh wow.
ELLIE: Yeah, it was amazing. The whole trip was great, but I loved Las Vegas and that hotel was just crazy. If people haven’t been, I’d recommend putting it on the list.
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As Ellie mentioned, there are a lot of exciting developments in the pipeline. Here at Rapid Travel Group, we’re working on ways to streamline our entire booking process and tailor the booking platform to our customers needs
By doing so, we hope to make the experience for our customers that much easier.
In fact, if you’d like to find out more about how you can integrate the booking of your business accommodation and your business travel, take advantage of our brand new RORI online booking software and have advisors like Ellie there to help 24/7…get in touch. You can call us direct on 0330 090 41 42 or email info@rapidtravelgroup.com