Bath tells agents: you decide on service fees

Bath tells agents: you decide on service fees

Report by JEREMY SKIDMORE

ABTA president Stephen Bath has warned agents they must make up their own minds about whether to charge service fees.

And in a swipe at consortia which claim ABTA should run a campaign to promote fees, he said:”Don’t expect ABTA to run your business for you.”

Bath believes agents’ ability to charge fees will depend upon their location, market and client base.

“As an agent, I don’t want anyone telling me whether I should charge fees,” said Bath.

“No two companies are the same, it is up to each member to use its own judgement.

“If in doubt as to whether fees would work, agents should experiment and make a decision based on the reaction,” he said.

ABTA is refusing to launch a national campaign to support fees but the Council of Regions has suggested providing money to produce leaflets that advise customers about some of the services that agents may charge for and a public relations drive. This will be ratified by the board on September 20.

ABTA is also pumping up to £300,000 into a consumer campaign promoting the professionalism of agents but will stop short of claiming that agents can justify charging fees.

Bath’s views have been backed up by ABTA chief executive Ian Reynolds.

“It’s dangerous to talk about bald fees across the board because you don’t want to give people a reason not to go to an agent,” said Reynolds.

“It’s not unreasonable to make a charge for credit card, visa and passport services or a complex itinerary for a tailor-made holiday but now isn’t the time to talk about charges for package holidays.

“Also, if you are fighting on price, it will be more difficult to justify fees to clients than if you are in an upmarket area with high-spending clients.

“I can’t see that an advertising campaign about fees will work with the public.

“It seems to be open season for everyone to say ABTAis sitting on the fence but I don’t see anyone else doing anything.”

Bath’s and Reynolds’ comments follow claims by the multiples that the public won’t pay fees (Travel Weekly July 31).

Meanwhile, assistant manager of Pole Travel, Manchester, Jill Waite, who is leading a campaign to boycott British Airways following its plan to axe commission, claimed agents were too scared to speak out.

“We’re getting a lot more support but one of the problems is that people who have business agreements with BA are scared to speak out in case they lose them,” she said.

Bath: has told agents to experiment with service fees and make a decision based on customer reaction