| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 15/05/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 8 |
| Copyright: Other |
Comment
Mending fences is key to working in harmony
F ollowing on from the revelations of last week about direct telephone numbers in brochures, Co-op Travelcare has discovered that attempts to get people to bypass agents go much deeper.Many operators are telling retailers’ customers to cut out the middle man and book over the phone (see front page). As I’ve said before, there’s nothing wrong with taking direct bookings. But there is a lot wrong with actively encouraging people to bypass agents and promoting direct-sell numbers in brochures, while all the time pretending you want a good working relationship with retailers.
I’m quite sure operators would take all their bookings direct tomorrow if they could. But they know travel agents are important and instead they are trying to save cash by chipping away at them and reducing their influence.
It’s dangerous double standards and operators need to be careful. Agents are still very powerful and it’s pie in the sky to think most package holidays will be booked direct in the near future.
Operators need to mend fences. A few dinners with agents around the country, as some operators are hosting, is a good idea but it’s not the answer. They need to offer something more concrete to prove they want to work with agents. Separate brochures for direct customers would be a start.
Jeremy Skidmore – editor