Travel companies have been urged to focus on the added value and flexibility of their policies in order to get bookings over the line this January.
Writing in a blog post, industry entrepreneur Steve Endacott said: “Holiday flexibility has never been greater, but customers are likely to see this as a minimum requirement – not a differentiator – when deciding between booking options.”
Endacott said generating demand for holidays in the early part of this year was “never going to be easy” and praised operators for offering low deposits as well as flexible booking offers, swift refunds, and allowing final balances to be paid later.
More: Comment: Holiday booking flexibility has never been greater
Pointing to research that suggests many UK customers have increased disposable income after a series of lockdowns and trends suggesting people are looking to spend more on fewer holidays, he accepted “being competitive on price will always be essential” but that customers were more focused on customer service.
He said large tour operators “can no longer afford the risk of the massive hotel guarantees” when “access to a country can be shut down at minimal notice” because “moving hotel commitments is impossible” and rescheduling flights difficult.
He praised On the Beach’s new ‘free’ fast track security and lounge access offer for four and five star bookings, because the OTA can easily “build the cost into its holiday prices without becoming uncompetitive in the crucial final price comparison” and “stand out from the crowd” in the marketplace.
He said agencies risked facing “massive reputational damage” from suppliers that offer late refunds because they are “forced to react to suppliers’ decisions”.
“Adding value and making the whole customer travelling experience easier is a key priority and it is surprising that no major player has continued to offer free Covid testing,” he added.
“That said, most travel companies would have planned campaigns ahead of the latest Omicron outbreak and the fluidity of testing requirements makes it risky to make this a key campaign message.
“But don’t be surprised if independent agents jump on this opportunity to differentiate. After all, they are best positioned to do deals with local providers for both pre- and post-return deals, which is all that will be required, if – as expected – if in-resort pre-return tests are scrapped in the next few weeks.”
More: Comment: Holiday booking flexibility has never been greater
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