Paris Travel Service was a leader in many regards and in the particular case of their very extensive and very high quality Client Documentation Pack. It got better and better over the years and I was delighted to be involved in providing creative input and indeed, some rather innovative solutions.
We’ll look at each of the constituent products in turn below.
1: The Hotel KeyMap & Metro Map.
This was a neat little idea I developed that provided the company with an edge over the competition. There were around 120 different hotels contracted to the programme and these were spread out across Paris, even including some slightly out of the centre locations such as Puteaux. The idea was to provide each of their customers with the exact location of their hotel together with the relevant exit information from the metro on the front side, and on the reverse a smaller central area map of the metro itself.
As you may know, in a number of cases the exits from metro stations can be spread far and wide so you may find yourself exiting the metro on one side of a square only to find that you’ve now got to cross it to the other side and a number of other roads in order to reach your hotel.
And remember, this was a long time before Google maps and way way before smart phones of any description came along.
This product gave all the information a client required in order to have a stress-free start to their holiday. This particular product received very good feedback and several hundred thousand were provided over many years.
From a fulfilment logistics point of view, and to keep costs as low as possible, the hotels in the programme were grouped together on to cards that had similar passenger volumes. Head office staff needed only to pick out the required card number corresponding to the hotel number and insert to the Client Documentation Pack.
On average, per year, there were around 60 different cards covering the entire programme of 120+ hotels. Each had a different print-run depending on the total number of hotels and client volume combination.
I had the pleasure of walking the streets of Paris one Spring locating each and every one of the 120+ hotels in the programme. The job also involved going into each of the nearest metro stations to make a note of the specific exit information, for example, the exit numbers and ‘names’ that the client would need to use in order to make the best exit to their chosen hotel.
Kept me fit going up and down stairs to the circulating areas of each station that’s for sure. As you can see from the Travel Trade Brochure on this page here, the hotels are spread far and wide and even out to the suburbs!
2: Eurostar Ticket Wallet.
3: Street and Metro Map.
Provided to clients since the beginning of the programme, this product had been updated, upgraded, revised and relaunched with many new features, designs and useful information during our 16 year relationship.
4: The Passport to Paris booklet.
These neat little pocket guides of around 50 pages and an insert street map at the back were produced on behalf of Paris Travel Service by jpmguides, Lausanne, Switzerland (contact here) and featured my design of the metro system on the tip-in.
5: The Client Documentation Pack Folder.
The Client Documentation Pack folder. Absolutely crammed full of goodies. In the later years the paper folder was replaced by a rather snazzy fully branded cloth bag, sadly I don’t have an example of that so here is the paper one instead.
6: Client Booking Vouchers & Information.
This wallet contained all the details of the client’s booking from hotel address, to carriage, metro ticket information, check-in times, excursions, meal vouchers – everything the client needed specific information on.
7: Luggage Labels.
8: UK Customs Information.
So this completes the tour of Paris Travel Service Client Documentation Pack. But just before we go, here’s their last word on the complete offering: