10,000 Trustpilot reviews: the story behind P1 Travel’s service

Booking a ticket for a match, race or concert is often much more than just a purchase. For many customers, it marks the start of something they have been looking forward to for weeks or even months. That is exactly why Customer Service plays such an important role at P1 Travel.

Now that P1 Travel has reached the milestone of 10,000 Trustpilot reviews, this is the perfect moment to highlight the team behind many of those customer moments. That is why we interviewed Bregje Schippers, who has been working at P1 Travel for more than 10 years. She talks about the daily work of Customer Service, staying in touch with fans from all over the world and what it takes to help customers travel to their event with confidence.

Can you briefly explain what Customer Service at P1 Travel involves?

Customer Service at P1 Travel covers everything that directly affects the customer when it comes to customer contact. This includes personal contact through our support agents, as well as automated customer contact, such as the chatbot on our website. We also play an important role within the wider organisation: we help make sure the information on the website is clear and complete. The feedback we receive from customers is shared internally, so all customer-facing information flows continue to improve.

What do you enjoy most about working in Customer Service at P1 Travel?

What I enjoy most is the daily contact with customers who are about to experience something special. They have booked something they are really looking forward to, such as a match, race or concert. We are also the first place within the company where customer feedback comes in. That makes our work very valuable. It also helps that everyone in our team is a huge sports fan. This allows us to understand the customer better and share in their excitement.

What does it mean to you as a Customer Service team that P1 Travel has reached the milestone of 10,000 Trustpilot reviews?

For us, this is a huge milestone and, above all, a real sign of appreciation for the work we do as a team. The 10,000 reviews are of course fantastic, but perhaps even better is the average score of 4.6 out of 5. It shows that the vast majority of our customers are not only satisfied, but genuinely happy with the service we provide and the product they book with us.

Customer Service for live events does not stop at 17:00, of course. How do you support each other during the evenings or weekends, when the pressure is at its highest?

Our Customer Service department is available seven days a week, until at least 21:00. This fits well with the times when most events take place, often in the evening. It means customers can also reach us when it really matters, just before or during an event. In emergencies, they have access to our emergency number, so we can help immediately when needed. As a team, this allows us to be available at the moments when the pressure is highest.

What do you do every day to give customers the best possible experience before, during or after their event?

To be honest, this is difficult to answer briefly, because our entire way of working is focused on customer satisfaction. Everything we do, from clear communication to strong support and reliable information, contributes to that.

From Spanish to Japanese: fans from all over the world contact you. How do you handle it as a team when someone speaks a language you do not speak?

That is not a problem for us. With the help of AI tools, we can communicate in our own language, after which it is automatically translated into the customer’s language. Within the team, English is our working language, but with these tools we can help customers around the world in their own language. Customers can simply chat and ask questions in their own language. Both customers and the team experience this as very helpful.

Can you give an example of a situation where the team really made a difference for a customer?

We recently had a customer from Australia who booked a whole series of events in England through P1 Travel. In our system, we saw that he was attending around ten matches over the course of about a month, with a new event every few days. As a team, we thought this was such a special and wonderful trip that we decided to do something extra for him. We handled it personally and arranged a number of surprises. Among other things, we organised a dinner for him before a West Ham match and added a few small extras to make his trip even more special. For him, this really was the trip of a lifetime and he was incredibly grateful. He even said he would recommend P1 Travel to everyone in Australia. Moments like that show us how you can truly make a difference as a team.

How do you deal with customers who are nervous, for example just before a match, race or concert?

We actually deal with that very often. For some people, attending a sports event is something they do regularly, but for most customers it is a very special day out. Something they may have been looking forward to for months. That mix of nerves and excitement also means they want reassurance. Will I receive my tickets on time? Will everything go smoothly? Many customers only feel fully reassured once they are actually in their seat. As a Customer Service team, we mainly try to offer calm and confidence. We clearly explain that all tickets we sell are official and that customers are therefore guaranteed access to the event.

We also make it clear that we are available outside regular office hours. Many people assume, for example, that we are not available at the weekend, while they can actually contact us then as well. Even on the evening of their event. We also keep customers actively informed in the run-up to their event. For example, we send a message with practical information ten days beforehand and another update closer to the event. This helps customers feel well informed and reassured.

With 10,000 reviews, there must be some funny or very special ones among them. Which review made the team laugh the most?

To be completely honest, we receive so many reviews that we mainly focus our attention on the less positive ones. We actively respond to those and genuinely try to learn from them. The five-star reviews are often a bit shorter, so we do not read them as intensively. We do not often burst out laughing because of a review, but there are definitely some lovely and fun comments among them. Anyone who is curious is very welcome to scroll through the reviews themselves.

Looking ahead to the next 10,000 reviews, what do you want to keep improving or holding on to?

A score of 4.6 out of 5 is incredibly high. It shows that we already make a lot of customers happy with their experience, and we are proud of that. For us, the most important thing is to maintain that level. To keep helping customers at the moments that really matter and to keep delivering on what we promise. Another 10,000 reviews would be a great next step. We will need to be a little patient for that, but if customers remain satisfied with our service and product, we as a Customer Service team have every confidence in it.