In an industry facing increasing pressure from rising labour costs, talent shortages, growing demand for immediate service, and an increasingly unstable geopolitical environment, specialised co-sourcing models are gaining ground over traditional outsourcing.
According
to data from 24/7 Travel Partner Desk (247tpd), a company specialising in customer
service operations for the travel industry, this model enables companies to
reduce operational costs by between 40% and 50% in functions such as customer
service and 24/7 operations.
In markets
with particularly high cost structures, such as the US or Northern Europe,
savings can reach up to 70%, according to company data.
The figures
are based on operations with more than twenty clients across sectors including
airlines, cruise lines, travel agencies, travel intermediaries, and car rental
companies, including Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Air Europa, Viajes El
Corte Inglés, and Avoris.
A model
positioned between outsourcing and in-house integration
Co-sourcing
is defined as a middle-ground approach between traditional outsourcing and
fully in-house teams. Under this model, external teams work in alignment with
the client’s processes, KPIs, and standards, functioning as an operational
extension of the internal team without impacting the brand image.
For 247tpd,
this model responds to a structural transformation in the travel industry
driven by three key factors: the sustained increase in labour costs in key
source markets, difficulties accessing specialised talent, and growing pressure
to provide immediate, omnichannel customer service.
Added to
this is the impact of automation and artificial intelligence, which is
redefining operational roles and raising the efficiency standards expected from
customer service operations.
“AI has
raised the standard of what is expected from human agents; it has not
eliminated them. Managing a last-minute cruise disruption, coordinating airline
IRROPS, or resolving a complex post-sales claim requires judgment, product
knowledge, and decision-making ability. 247tpd integrates real-time monitoring
and analytics platforms for queue management, interaction recording, and KPI
tracking, but places the trained agent at the centre of its model,” says
Gerardo Ariño, Founder and CEO of 247tpd.
He adds:
“We are not a technology company. We are a people company that uses technology
to deliver excellence. In the travel industry, operational complexity still
requires teams that can think, make decisions, and identify with the brand they
represent.
Specialised
multilingual talent as a competitive advantage
One of the
main challenges in the BPO sector is staff turnover, which in Latin American
contact centres typically ranges between 30% and 40% annually, according to
data from Metrigy and SymTrain (2024).
In this
context, talent management becomes a critical factor for service quality.
“Every departure involves recruitment and training costs, as well as a loss of
operational knowledge that directly impacts the customer experience,” explains Ariño.
The
company, which operates with more than 600 professionals from Cali, Colombia,
has developed a continuous training model focused on deep travel industry
expertise and operational integration with client teams, supported by a talent
management approach based on Gallup’s strengths methodology.
This
approach accelerates integration, strengthens service consistency, and ensures
a seamless traveller experience regardless of the team or market handling the
operation. The result is more cohesive teams, greater operational stability,
and stronger responsiveness in highly demanding travel environments.
“The value
lies not only in training agents, but in achieving continuity. An agent who
works for two years under a brand’s standards delivers a level of consistency
that is difficult to replicate in high-turnover models,” Ariño concludes.
This model
has been adopted by leading travel companies such as Norwegian Cruise Line
Holdings (NCL, Oceania Cruises, and Regent Seven Seas), Air Europa, Viajes El
Corte Inglés, Avoris, World2Meet, Logitravel, OK Mobility, and others, which
have been working with 247tpd for years to support everything from
transactional operations and incident management to financial support and
quality control, with deployments that, according to the company, can be
activated within a matter of weeks.