News

TWO major retailers are poised to sign deals with London-based firm The Exceptional Travel Company to use a new holiday card concept, which could significantly reduce the role of the agent and do away with standard brochures forever.

Director Darren Bastin confirmed he is in final stage talks with two well-known groups about rolling out the concept - provisionally dubbed T cards - in various stores.

The cards will be trialled in a number of agencies under a holiday type, such as families, adventure or honeymoon, or by price, for example £300 and less.

Each card will display standard details and pictures of the hotel, resort and general facilities, with the price and availability of the holiday shown once a bar code on the card is scanned at a computer screen in the store.

Customers can then take the cards to their travel agent or take them home and continue with the booking through the operator’s call centre or on-line.

The idea behind the cards is to encourage customers to make their own buying decisions - without the assistance of a travel agent - and to bring down the cost of brochure production.

Bastin said: “This isn’t something that replaces brochures, but it does take the pressure off agents in the shop.

“The bar codes act as a reference and will allow operators to track bookings coming from the Internet, the call centre, the telephone and travel agencies.”

Following a deal with NTL - owners of selling system Traveleye - there is also scope to extend the T cards to potentially unstaffed stores and non-travel retailers, such as Sainsbury’s and WHSmith.

The unnamed travel groups were set to sign exclusive contracts with The Exceptional Travel Company as Travel Weekly went to press, with trials due to start next month.