Seaside Travel response to negative Facebook comment gets trade backing

Loyal customers of Seaside Travel and members of the trade have leapt to the defence of travel agents after they were labelled “pointless” in a comment shared on the agency’s Facebook page.

Seaside Travel’s Wingate branch posted details of an offer for a trip, underneath which somebody wrote: “It is 2026. We don’t use video rental shops. We don’t use phone boxes. We don’t use travel agents. You are pointless.”

Seaside Travel owner Nicola Park shared the post on her personal account and received dozens of comments from fellow travel agents, tour operator partners and customers criticising the post and defending the agency’s staff.

One person said: “He has never found a holiday he wants then popped into Seaside Travel to be told they can save money on that and given lots of advice about the resort! Peace of mind if anything goes wrong too.”

Another said: “I prefer to talk to real, local people, who offer a reliable, caring, honest service. I’m a proud Seasider.”

Paula Gleeson, Seaside Travel head of business and commercial, said negative comments on social media were becoming more common, which she “will never understand”, but that responding was important for the agency.

She said: “We do get it all the time. It could be a deal and underneath a comment could say it is a ridiculous price or something else about travel agents, but we don’t back down.

“Managers always check with us about what to say and we have to be careful, but we try to turn it into a joke and a positive.

“When you see all the comments from customers and partners backing us, we have actually got new business from it.”

Gleeson added: “If it is something like a complaint situation, then we will deal with it privately, but we never ignore good or bad.”

She stressed that people of all ages still want to come to a trusted agent to book holidays, especially after Covid.

“I do not think that will ever change, and I have been in travel for 35 years,” she said.

Seaside Travel now has 13 shops and has 58 homeworkers after launching its UK-wide homeworking division last year.