Lessons learnt while travelling….

Having just returned home from a beautiful family trip to Sri Lanka I am feeling refreshed and excited to take in 2018 and all that it offers.

Sri Lanka is a glorious island and the scenery, history, cuisine and culture is superb. As foreign visitors we had an itinerary, pre-purchased tickets, a Guide for some of our days, a good data plan and our handy Trip Advisor app; enough by any well-versed traveller’s measure to ensure we’d be safe from challenging situations. 

Interestingly enough though we still found ourselves in a handful of awkward situations.

These are the occasions when obligation and naive moments kick in.

Our Guide picked us up one morning for a long drive from Kandy to Dambulla and stopped half way at a regular tourist town called Matale. This region is recognised for the Spice Farms. Thinking I’d be enjoying the fragrance of freshly cooked Sri Lankan spices, I had been looking forward to this leg of the trip. 

I was a little mistaken.

Our stop wasn’t a cooking spice stop. It was a medicinal spice stop. The realisation itself wasn’t the downside to the experience – but the modus operandi of the ‘tour’ was. As our van pulled up, a fast-talking young man opened our doors and introduced himself as Doctor Raj. It was apparently his family’s spice farm and he was going to take us on a tour. I noted that there were several other young guys much like Doctor Raj and they too were apparently all doctors working for their family’s spice farm. I was intrigued that one family could have so many similar-age doctors and my skepticism had already taken grip.

The clincher came when the 30 minute garden tour ended and we were herded into one of the many presentation huts; mud brick built and seating up to 20 people on teak benches. Doctor Raj had all of the bottles and tubes aligned on the front bench and a masseur in waiting to give out shoulder massages with some of the scented balm on offer. We hesitated and Doctor Raj said “No no Madam. Massage is free.”

Nothing is free though, and realising that the sales pitch and high-pressure product push was about to come made me feel quite silly for not qualifying with our Guide earlier just what sort of operation we had walked into.

The ‘chemist shop’ at the end of the tour was as one would expect for a business model where tours are free and massage therapists sit around offering gratis massages. Completely overpriced stock marked up in US dollars and aimed at unwary tourists who were feeling relaxed, optimistic about the medicinal capabilities of the spices, and obliged.

Trip Advisor featured story after story in this village and they spanned various Spice Farms, all interestingly following a very similar model; young ‘doctors’ taking packs of tourists around a pretty garden, a free massage during a sales pitch for products and then a high-pressure visit to the ‘chemist shop’ at the end.

Paying a generous tip for the massage and getting out of the chemist shop with a 30g box of chai tea powder for US$12 was a lucky escape for us. A serious conversation with our Guide afterwards about our preference to pay for quality tours and avoid ‘free’ ones ensured that our Spice Farm visit was the only one of its kind.

What I reflected on is that this ‘free’ service type model exists in many industries, not just the tourism industry. 

‘Free’-property-advocacy models exist in my very own industry, and as much as professional industry bodies would like to stamp it out, it is still happens. Whether it be property spruikers or slick marketers selling development stock off a stockist and packaging up their pitch as ‘advice’, auditoriums and hotel conference venues still get booked out.

Many buyers still fall prey to buying the wrong property in a high-pressure environment.

Asking for credentials is important, as is understanding whether the recommendation is tailored and specific to your own needs. Most importantly, being certain that the advice is independent is critical.

Doctor Raj wasn’t free at all, and after reading the Trip Advisor reviews, I’m doubtful that the products were any good. Had I done my research I wouldn’t have stopped in Matale at the Spice Farm…. but then I wouldn’t have had this chance to compare the travel industry to my very own industry and reflect on what it is I pride myself on when I charge my clients a fee for my service.

Independence, experience and tailored advice.

Wishing everyone a prosperous and safe 2018!