| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 07/08/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 8 |
| Copyright: Other |
Analysis
Has the time come to ditch price panels?
Trading standards says consumers are being misled. Steve Jones reports
PICK up a brochure next April when operators launch their 2002 programmes and the likelihood is there won’t be a price panel in sight.Amid claims from trading standards that operators are misleading customers with brochure prices that rarely reflect the true cost, momentum is growing to overhaul the existing system.
In an age of fluid pricing – where rates can rise or fall every hour – prices in brochures have almost become redundant.
It is this that set alarm bells ringing at trading standards, which claims customers may be misled into paying higher than advertised prices.
Although the consumer watchdog declined to reveal who the offenders are, Thomson is believed to be the prime target. Thomson claims it is being upfront with customers and acting within the law. Trading standards disagrees.
Ripping out the price panels would not only alleviate this problem but require the publication of one, possibly two, year-round brochures, saving operators hundreds of thousands of pounds. The move has been spearheaded by Airtours Holidays managing director Richard Carrick who predicted brochures without price panels will appear next May, when the summer 2002 programmes are launched.
“I would like to see us move to a position where we have a gazetteer or hotel directory and issue separate pricing,” said Carrick. “For a start, printing just one edition instead of four would save money. Stock control would also be easier.”
Carrick said electronic pricing, rather than issuing regular price supplements, is the most likely way forward.
“Any form of printed material will have the same problem as brochures. Prices could be out of date as soon as they are published. With fluid pricing or promotional discounts, call it what you will, prices can change hourly.”
One answer, according to Carrick, is to publish price bands and refer customers to agents, Web sites or Teletext for the latest, up-to-date prices. “We would also publish a maximum price the customer would pay so we would not breach any regulations,” he said.
A drawback to issuing separate price supplements is that agents would be required to insert them into brochures.
And with an ever-increasing number of brochures being churned out by operators, the margin for error is magnified.
“One answer to this is producing one price supplement containing all our product and installing a dispenser in agencies where customers pick it up from,” said Carrick. “It would be like printing the Yellow Pages but it’s something we will consider provided there are significant cost savings.”
Agents are likely to resist moves to make their staff insert supplements.
Thomas Cook commercial director Mike Beaumont said: “Transferring responsibility to agents would be unacceptable.”
JMC has already trialled a new pricing policy in its Airfares brochure with prices available on viewdata.
Sales director Denis Wormwell said it may extend the policy to main brochures and like Carrick, said price bands, in place of specific prices, could appear.
“Many people have an idea of how much they want to spend so I believe this could work,” said Wormwell.
He added it would reduce the number of editions and eliminate errors that creep into brochures.
“Having four editions puts pressure on brochure production staff which leads to more mistakes,” said Wormwell. “The industry needs to move together on this. I think anyone doing it alone could find themselves at a disadvantage. That is quite a risk to take.”
The price is wrong: customers rarely pay the amounts quoted in brochure panels
quotes
“Any form of printed material will have the same problem as brochures. Prices are likely to be out-of-date as soon as they are published. With fluid pricing, prices can change hourly.”
Richard Carrick, managing director, Airtours Holidays
“As it stands, price panels are no more than a guide. I would challenge anyone to book a holiday and pay the brochure price.”
Denis Wormwell, sales and operations director, JMC
“If you walk into any shop and see the advertised price you would not expect to pay more when you take it to the counter. Why should holidays be any different?”
Bruce Treloar, trading standards spokesman
Carrick: would publish maximum prices for customers
Wormwell: in favour of bands to replace specific prices