I have recently come across Inspired Luxury escapes on line who are offering very competitive prices which as an agent I cannot match. When I spoke to them they confirmed that the prices shown on line were nett prices.Why therefore bother sending us brochures to sell their products when the client can get a nett deal on line. Double standards!
Hi,
I work for Inspired Luxury Escapes and just wanted to comment on the below. We sent you our 2009 brochure back in March 2009. In September 2009 we decided to become a direct brand and we notified all consortia of our intentions who in turn would notify their agents. We have a number of agents who still book with us and charge their clients a service fee on top of the prices without issue. We have not done anything 'underhand' as we have always made clear our intention of going direct and went down the correct channels to notify all consortia etc of this.
It is very sad to see operators/suppliers under cutting agents. There are quite a few industries out there who respect their agents/retailers and carry on to support them so that both sides earn a living. The travel industry is one of the largest and amount of money we earn is very little, most of that is then lost when we have airlines on strikes and riots and of course the Ash cloud and we have make refunds etc. The whole industry really needs a wake up call to work together, where everyone wins including the customer. If operators want to sell direct and under cut they should but they should then not rely on agents to support them when business is slow.
Thought i'd update the post I started back in May as I think it's got even worse out there in the industry with the main players. I did notice someone had sent a letter into Travel Weekly about it and the operators response being along the lines of not being like for like which we know as rubbish. Maybe we should start naming and shaming? Here's an example.
I've just a regaular client call me to see what I can do as Thomas Cook are offering the El Dorado Royale in Punta Brava for 7 nights from Gatwick for a total price for 2 people being £2524. There's no charge for in flight meals or your seat your choice and have given a £12 discount to reduce the cost to £2512. On viewdata the basic cost for exactly the same package is £3058 and then £178 discount. They also add the £40 charge for your seat your choice (I hate the fact that they add that automatically). The total viewdata price is £2922 like for like. There's not even enough commission in the package to match it. That's another customer lost thanks to one of the big boys.
Not saying you are being mislead but TC has differant brands and sometimes on Viewdata you need to get the correct brand. Try doing a accomodation search and take the cheapest brand. In all honesty we have not had a quote in about 6 months that was below nett (we did see on one quote the differance was less than £10).
We always managed to match as it seem on the quotes we been given by customers the Big 2 are marking up and smaller tour ops can beat their prices.
It has always been a problem for me when I was an agent trying to match the web prices from big operators such as First Choice/Thomsons and Thomas Cook. Before the merger with Thomas Cook, MyTravel's brand Direct Holidays was always the cheapest by far and when you looked at the same accommodation with the same flights with Manos/Panorama, Aspro or Airtours you knew you didn't stand a chance at matching that price. The company I work for now (Phoenix Holidays) is great as we offer agents the same prices as direct customers. There is absolutley no difference as we don't believe that agents or customers should be penalised for wanting or providing a personal service.
For months now we have been hitting our heads against a brick wall !! We are sick and tired of our customers looking on the internet and then coming back to us to pricematch, which enevitably means giving nearly all our commission away to get the booking, no wonder all these companies are going bust, we are all working for nothing!!
My second job in this industry was in the good old days when tour operators were not allowed to sell holidays at discounted prices but, Travel Agents were !!! In fact that was why the shop I worked at closed down and I was made redundent. How things change.
i completly understand where everyone in this topic is coming from...I work for a tour operator that deals direct with Travel Agents only so their is no stealing of business from agents or undercutting prices passengers can not contact us.
The only rivalry is between the agents that want the passengers business and for which agent to give the best deal through us.
Agents usually make 10% on flights or 14% to 15% on ground content which in my book is better than alot of the other operators that have side companies that sell direct to the public.
Now i understand agents complaining about the lack of commission on some bookings but when you see agents adding an extra £600 per person commission on top of the commission mentioned above then you can understand why passengers shop around online and we end up losing out on business because agents raise their profit margin too much.
not saying this happens all the time or all agents but some times you feel an agent is losing the sale as they are adding too much on.
Agents cannot simply add another £600 on top of commission without declaring it as a booking/service fee unless they are dynamically packaging using an ATOL. In that instance they can sell the holiday at an inclusive price with a mark-up.
Anyone putting fees on top of an Operator Package and not declaring it is breaking the law.
The only way forward for travel agencies going forward is to become mini tour operators. This is easier than ever with so many bedbanks, transfer add ons and airlines out there. It's easy to get use of an ATOL licence as most consortia have one. Members of Advanatge, WC and Global/Independent options can use the Triton ATOL
You can sell fully packaged holidays with ATOL protection that customers can't find cheaper online
Coupled with CRM tools, excellent customer service ands pro-active deals with trade only operators who do not sell direct, for example Travel2 there is a bright profitable future for agents
But not as they look/operate today - embrace change and prosper and most of all, support those who support you!!
It is not only operator undercutting that needs to be stamped out. Agents need to stop this discount culture that is spiralling out of control. This is especially true when someone approaches you having already obtained a price from elsewhere.
Respect other agents, if they have done the work then do not simply go lower for an easy booking. Imagine how you would feel if an operator did that to you? It is entirely hypocritical to moan about operator undercutting when there are so many agents out there doing just that to other agents on a daily basis.
The service of travel agents and the brands of operators are being devalued by a minority just out to get as many bookings as possible, regardless of the damage it is doing in the long term.