TRAVEL TRADE GAZETTE
28 January 2005
www.ttglive.com
28 January 2005
www.ttglive.com
TRAVEL TRADE GAZETTE
30 NEWS
31
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Letters
EasyJet’s ‘parasite’ jibe
does airline no favours
Not Tonight, Trevor –
haggling hints give
agents a real headache
NUMBER 2650
TRAVEL TRADE GAZETTE UK & Ireland Edition
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I’M FED-UP with the general disregard
shown towards agents – a problem typified
by the tone of last week’s Tonight with
Trevor McDonald: Holiday Haggles
programme (TTG January 21).
As a branch manager of a leading
multiple, I seem to spend all my time
helping my consultants close sales. Some
days I feel like a market trader trying to sell
my wares.
Customers no longer appreciate the hard
work and passion that most consultants put
into finding them a holiday. All they are
interested in these days is getting their
holiday for the cheapest possible price,
regardless of quality. They don’t care that
AFTER absorbing Sir
Trevor’s Holiday Haggles
with my team, we concluded
that we didn’t really care
what the programme had to
say about travel agents.
Where does Trev get his
information from? Service
comes with a price. As I am
sure all your readers know
only too well, agents offer
knowledge and customer
service levels that match
those of any other industry.
Travel has gone through
so much over the last few
years, so a few negative
comments by Trevor is
water off a duck’s back.
Oh, and thanks for
showing it on Friday – we
had a fantastic Saturday.
Paul Smith
director, Quartz Travel, York
WHEN I saw the trailers
for Holiday Haggles, I was
intrigued to see what advice
would be on offer.
Sadly, it came as no
surprise that Martin Lewis
suggested finding a suitable
package with a high street
agent, then playing one off
against the other to get a
rock-bottom price.
What was a surprise
was his recommendation
of taking the lowest price
without giving any warnings
over the security of the
company taking your money.
It is all very well taking
advantage of the free advice
from the knowledgeable
Going Places staff before
buying from a home-based
agent. They may be cheaper,
but what happens when
the agent goes under and
customers discover they
were not Abta bonded?
Agents have got enough to
deal with without this kind
of advice, Trevor.
Neil Smith
senior applications consultant business
applications, MyTravel UK, Rochdale
they never see the person who is booking
their trip, or that they have no idea where
their tickets are coming from. All they see is
the bottom line.
I’ve even had
customers in my shop
using mobile phones to
get direct-sell quotes,
and then trying to play us
STAR
off against each other.
Sir Trevor did little to
LETTER
help this situation.
Anne O’Donovan
branch manager,
Thomas Cook, Chatham
THE ITV Holiday Haggles
programme was a huge
disappointment. It misrepresented the hard work many
retailers put in to looking
after their customers.
A fairer concept would
have been to show people
how to buy the best holidays
– not simply the cheapest.
The programme merely
encouraged customers to try
to squeeze more out of their
retailers.
Perhaps quality makes
little difference to the £99
bargain hunters who do not
really care where they stay
or how they get there.
But for those looking for
holidays that really meet
their expectations, a retailer
can play a very important
role. How many clients want
a service, information on
children’s facilities, better
value, luxury without an
exorbitant price tag or a
cruise that really suits?
Tonight producers really
got it wrong.
Mathilde Robert
managing director, Planet Holidays, Barnet
MONEYSAVING expert
Martin Lewis obviously had
few morals when it came to
dishing out advice on the
Trevor McDonald programme.
I was extremely irritated
to hear a so-called people’s
champion advocating that
agents should be played
off against each other. His
theory depends on the first
agent approached having to
do all the groundwork for
nothing, and I found this
total lack of respect for the
people in our industry
particularly galling.
I pity the agents whose
convenient locations make
it easy for people to follow
Lewis’s advice, although I
suspect that most of them
are sufficiently well-trained
and experienced to
recognise this type of client,
and know not to waste too
much time or divulge too
much of their knowledge.
The treatment of
mainstream package
holidays as a commodity
is the reason why many
independents, ourselves
included, are no longer
actively marketing them.
When I tried to add
feedback to the ITV
website, I was referred to
Lewis’s own site – where I
noticed that a couple of
homeworkers are actually
exploiting the chat forum
to their own advantage.
Geoff Dykes
managing partner, Peregrination, Manchester
LIKE MANY of your readers,
I too watched Tonight with
Trevor McDonald last Friday
evening. And, like many,
my initial feelings were a
mixture of anger and
disappointment that the
programme so obviously
had an anti-agent agenda.
However, before we get
caught up in adopting a
posture of hurt pride and
anger, we should assess if
the programme actually
pointed out anything new?
The consumer has always
shopped around for the best
deal, be it for food, holidays,
cars or furniture. The most
successful retailers know
that price is only one
component of the overall
sale. The key is in the level
of customer service.
My advice to fellow
retailers is to build your
business with the focus on
guarding your customer base
as the asset it truly is. If we
continue with our excellent
customer service and
competitive pitching, we
have nothing to fear from
programmes such as Tonight
with Trevor McDonald.
John McEwan
managing director, Advantage
Vocational
skills are vital
to the industry
at school. The result is
severe skills shortages
across crucial sectors.
THE INDEPENDENT Schools
Council claims league tables
will become “useless” if the
government goes ahead with
proposals to take vocational
qualifications into account
alongside GCSEs.
While we do not question
the importance of academic
skills, we must recognise
that vocational skills are
equally vital to the success
of our economy. We cannot
afford to continue to treat
them as the poor relation
of traditional academic
disciplines.
People 1st, licensed by
the government to ensure
training and qualifications
are driven by employer
needs, has undertaken
research which shows that
nearly half of employers in
the hospitality, leisure, and
travel and tourism sectors
believe recruiting good
people is their primary
challenge. A staggering 85%
do not believe the school
system adequately prepares
people for work.
If we want an effective
workforce, vocational
learning must be a part of
the way schools are judged.
Indeed, if the Tomlinson
Review is implemented,
vocational learning will form
a much greater part of our
national curriculum and
be placed on a par with
academic disciplines.
Too few children are able
to start on a vocational path
Agents
are not
‘headless’
Tim Sinclair
sales and marketing director,
People 1st, Uxbridge
JOHN HARDING was being
unfair when he described
agents as “headless
chickens” at a recent London
event hosted by marketing
body Cimtig.
The best agents are
embracing the continuing
changes in consumer
booking trends and looking
for new ways to service their
customers. That is why there
is so much focus on dynamic
packaging as the way
forward for our sector.
The view that agents
should be the servants of the
operators is outdated. Yes,
we must continue to work
with operators to support
the industry as a whole – our
research shows that demand
for package holidays remains
strong. But if we ignore
the demand for dynamic
packaging, retail agents
will lose custom to other
sales channels.
Any retail organisation
must be customer focused.
As the cliche goes – they
always come first.
Alistair Rowland
head of retail distribution,
United Co-op Travel Group
I really enjoy
doing business
with Jetset
I WOULD like to praise the
efficient way Jetset dealt
with a recent inquiry.
They responded very
promptly, with an acceptable
price and two options.
Seats were held while I
consulted with the client,
and as soon as I emailed
Jetset with the customer’s
choice, they finalised
everything in double time.
I wish all operators were
as efficient. Thanks, Jetset,
for making my life easier.
Jean Young
owner, Genie Travel, Lancing, W Sussex
I NOTE that Ray Webster of
easyJet thinks travel agents
are “parasites” in his assessment of the British Airways
commission cuts.
He does not, however,
complain about agents using
his airline when putting
packages together, which
they then sell direct to the
public. Webster should not
underestimate the number
of agents who are supporting
easyJet in this way.
What is totally
unacceptable to operators,
however, is the fact that
easyJet is openly advertising
ski holiday “packages”. His
company is well aware that
a package is required by law
to include full financial
protection, with the
company selling such a
package required to take
full responsibility for every
aspect of the package.
Yet easyJet has no bond
in place, and no one takes
ultimate responsibility for
the overall arrangements.
How is the consumer
expected to differentiate
between package holidays
that comply with regulations
and those that don’t?
While companies such as
easyJet take advantage of
loopholes in the system in
the full knowledge that
they are bamboozling the
consumer, it seems
extremely hypercritical of it
to criticise agents and rival
airlines in this way.
A case of
mistaken
identity
Mike Beaumont’s picture.
Either that or I have had
some dramatic plastic
surgery.
On a serious note, we
have been able to redeploy
staff to new roles already. I
can assure you that the
measures we have taken
have been made purely on
a cost-cutting basis. Any
observations of “unrest” are
totally incorrect.
I would also like to place
on record my sincere thanks
to Mike Beaumont and Jane
Carty – and their respective
teams – for their excellent
I WAS slightly worried to see
my name below a picture
accompanying your report
on the job losses at the
Co-operative Travel Trading
Group (TTG January 14).
I assume it was a mere
printing error that lead to
my name appearing below
Noel Josephides
managing director, Sunvil Holidays,
Isleworth, Middlesex
WE AND our fellow
members within Aito
Specialist Travel Agents
are somewhat bemused by
easyJet’s recent Ryanair-like
tirade against travel agents.
So Ray Webster thinks
agents are “parasites”?
Turning to a thesaurus for
clarification, we were
interested to read that
parasites are leeches or
bloodsuckers; social
parasites are hangers-on,
scroungers, sycophants, free
loaders, cadgers, toadies and
– wait for it – passengers.
Presumably easyJet still
needs passengers to fill its
planes, whether they book
direct or via a travel agent?
The best response to this
ranting is, we think, to point
out that many Aito agents
are making more scheduled
airline bookings than ever
before, and that even leisure
clients are happy to pay a
fee for the benefit of our
expertise, financial protection
and help in navigating the
maze of websites.
For Aito agents, it is all
part of the caring service
we offer – we want our
customers to return and to
tell their friends and families
about us. We would hazard
a guess that Webster is
less concerned with high
service levels than we are,
which is a shame. He is
missing a key component in
the armoury of switched-on
21st-century companies.
Whatever caused this
venting of spleen about
travel agents, biting the
hand that feeds you doesn’t
make sense. Perhaps we
could invite you, Ray, to
come and meet some of the
UK’s best independent travel
agents at the Aito Specialist
Travel Agents overseas
conference in June? We
think you might have to eat
your words – and perhaps a
little humble pie.
Andrew Brownrigg
chairman, AITO Specialist Travel Agents and
managing director, Haslemere Travel
Kristina Hulme
panel member, AITO Specialist Travel Agents
and managing director, Travel by Design
achievements while working
for CTTG over the past two
years.
Mike Greenacre
chief operating officer, CTTG, Stoke on Trent
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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