I LOVE January in the travel business.With time on my hands this year, I can look at the various campaigns as a consumer rather than being stuck in daily meetings to review how the market is doing.
We have already seen the retailers go from 10% to 15% to 20% off, and who is to say that 25% is not on the cards?
Brochure prices have obviously been inflated to absorb a big retail discount, this being the most effective and simplest way of communicating a good deal to the consumer and staff in the agencies.
This year it looks as if the price on the page is almost irrelevant. I am not so sure. Consumers can only be fooled for so long. At the end of the day surely the net price you pay year on year for your holiday will be the determining factor?
That said, we have all done a fantastic job of confusing, yet tempting the customer to come into the shops and book.
Who out there really knows the net price changes on the same holiday booked in May 1999, September 1999, January 2000, or May 2000? I suspect only one or two people in the pricing departments of each tour operator.
All four vertically integrated companies are spending fortunes trying to outdo each other. The winner will be the company that had the simplest, most co-ordinated message across tour operator and retailer, and stuck with it. Whether all the sums add up at the end of February and all the money spent was really good value is another story.
I enjoyed reading all the editorial comment about not opening Bank Holiday Monday when all other retailers were open. What rubbish. Most multiples will be open seven days a week throughout January and possibly longer.
The market does not pick up until the end of the first week in January. One day will make no odds. Give the staff the break they deserve, since many of the call centres and text sites are owned by the big companies anyway, so bookings still come in.
The best thing is that for a couple of weeks there should be enough brochures as bulk drops land.
Enjoy the moment, if you don’t sell, you will soon get cut off.
Not enough is written about the remaining winter capacity still to sell.
From the third week in January through February and into March there will be many tense faces in tour operator commercial departments, struggling with getting January and February holidays sold at a reasonable price.
It really is great when late holidays sell at a higher price than in the brochure. The later you book, the more you should pay and the more money everybody makes. Greed is good.