Franklin Travel that has made the company into the success it is today.

Also responsible for keeping clients happy are the many technological services it offers; many of which are not provided by any other travel agents on the island.

Explained Franklin Travel president, Patricia Daly Franklin: "We have some things that no other agent in Bermuda has and our team is dedicated to making your travel meet your expectations.'' Founded 15 years ago by Mrs. Daly Franklin's husband, Buddy, it today employs 15 people, producing annual gross sales of over $9 million. Now located in Washington Lane at the Church Street level, the company caters to the business community and the leisure travel market, priding itself on the quality of service it offers its clients.

"We are active members of the International Chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce, the Bermuda Hotel Association, SKAL, Women in International Trade, Meeting Professionals International, the Premium Club of Bermuda, and Benedict's Employee Assistance Programme,'' she said. "No matter what your idea of a good time, Franklin Travel can steer you in the right direction and make all the right connections to get you there and back effortlessly, leaving you free to relax and enjoy the ride.'' Helping the agency meet that challenge is 24-hour agent accessibility.

"We're the first ones to go on voice mail and we have all our direct numbers published in the phone book and that is a 24 hour a day service. That's not to say that our agents answer those calls 24 hours a day. It says that if you're making a travel plan spontaneously, you can pick up the phone and call Roxanne's line at 11 o'clock at night when you and your husband have just finished talking about it.

"You can tell her, ` Look, we're thinking about going and we just heard on the news that Kiwi's got a special or Delta's got a special, is there a way that you could check that out for us? Here's the dates I'm talking about, can you fax me tomorrow?' Because that's the way our society's moving. People don't have time to do the personal stuff, so it's those off-hours when you can pick up the phone.'' The agents answer their voice mail every half hour and will respond soon after, said Mrs. Daly Franklin, although there are certain queries they receive which take more time than others and there are times when they receive several in a short period of time.

"But they will get back to you on a timely basis,'' she said."You know that there is somebody intelligent on the other end. It's not a fax. They understand that time is critical and will hear what you want to do and get back to you, either by voice mail, or by fax, telling you, `Listen, those dates only apply to travel this and so, not the dates you said,' or `I got your message, here's the information.' "We have that system set up and we think that makes us better, but we don't want to set up a barrier to those customers who don't like that, who don't like voice mail. So we also have something called the Corporate Hotline. We've had it for a while but we are working to perfect the system. (It's structured so) that if the receptionist doesn't answer the telephone in three rings, it switches to a backup system and is picked up through that. Our goal is, that by the fourth or the fifth ring, all of our calls will have been picked up.

We're not saying we're perfect, but we're trying to go for zero defects or total quality, which means that everybody gets the standard that you would like to be treated with.'' The Corporate Department affords its customers a number of other services on a completely complimentary basis as well, Mrs. Daly Franklin said. These include corporate discounts on hotel rates, lost luggage control, lost credit card and vital document registry, electronic message service and interpreter service.

She added that her company also has many fantastic books which are able to target clients to destinations, suggesting itineraries for them based on where to go, where to eat, how long it will take one to drive to an attraction from their hotel and so on.

"We manage your whole itinerary. We reserve the seat, we do all the boarding passes, we do all the things that a travel agent's supposed to do and more. We also have a wide repertoire of experienced agents to make your hotel reservations and who can offer destination management -- a plan telling you where to go, what's closest to the airport or the beach or special attractions, they know all of that and they're very good at putting together a whole plan for you.

"All that kind of information is in our big folders. We pay lots of money for those and they're up-dated constantly. We also pick up brochures whenever we travel. There's 15 of us, so it's really amazing how much information you can pick up and have spread by word of mouth. I think that's part of being a good agent, to keep your eyes and your ears open.

"The other thing we try to do is we get lots of brochures. We ask people what they're interested in so when we have our events about once a quarter, we can invite you. If you're interested in adventure travel, for example, and if we have something like we did with Butterfield and Robinson, a biking/hiking company, we can invite you and you can learn about that. You can also hear from people who have been on those tours and also from the people who represent them. What we usually do is to go to someplace like the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club or the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club and have hors d'oeuvres and drinks, make the presentation and show people our brochures and it's been very well received.'' Also available through Franklin Travel is a VIP Hotline, an essential service for persons wishing to experience a stress-free holiday or trip despite any obstacle they might meet.

"It allows any of our customers to call into a 1-800 number anywhere in the world,'' Mrs. Daly Franklin explained. "And what they can do, is access their reservations. So if it were you, and you needed to change something or you lost your passport, you could call that 1-800 number and they will assist you.

They can get into our reservations at Franklin Travel, they can attach notes to us, send it specifically back to the agent, saying, `Susan has a problem, she's stuck in Hong Kong and she lost her passport, can you help her out?' Our agent could do that here for you and have the ticket change waiting at the airport or, she could offer consulate help if necessary or whatever.'' For those travellers roaming to those countries where English is not spoken, or is not spoken by the masses, an interpreter service offered through the agency can prove a welcome service, she said.

"The services are available in any language because this is a worldwide hotline. What we do is we issue you a card which you put on your luggage. It has a four-digit code which belongs to our agency and which is only available through our computer system. There's only two of those computer systems and I think we're the only ones who have signed up for this service. So, it's kind of neat. It's kind of a great thing.'' Other services aid in making travel in general, far easier for the customer, said Mrs. Daly Franklin. One is through a programme initiated by the agency which actually familiarises them with their clients.

"When they set up a new account, we ask our clients to fill out a travel information form, from which we set up what we call a `World File' on the computer. That way, when you call in, we know what your seating preferences are, we know what your children's ages are and what your passport numbers are.

We don't have to bother you with that information and, as your agent gets to know you, she can help save you time. Every time you go to the airport, or if you're dealing directly with an airline, they ask for that information every time, but we build a computer file on you and we can create that relationship.

That's what makes a travel agent special.'' agent clients call on most to assist with their plans.FRIENDLY SERVICE -- The pleasant service at Franklin Travel begins with receptionist Barbara Spence.

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