| THOMSON Holidays is using its core package holiday brand to make its first serious inroad into the accommodation-only sector – but agents can’t book it for several months. |  |
The operator has pledged to sell the bed bank – which has
offers of £1 per room per night – through the trade
within six months once the technology is in place. But initially
the 1,500 hotels and apartments in 48 beach destinations and 475
city hotels are only available on Thomson’s consumer
website.
Rivals Thomas Cook and First Choice launched accommodation-only
sites through agents this year and Airtours Holidays will launch a
product by the new year.
TUI UK sales and marketing director Miles Morgan said the launch
was an opportunity to serve a new market of customers.
“The number of packages sold is fairly static but if we’re
to get into significant growth this is one of the opportunities.
We’re attacking the low-cost sector with Thomsonfly and the
bed bank sector with this,” he said.
He denied the move would hit core packages with Thomson likely
to continue selling four million packages annually.
“There will be minimal cannibalisation – it’ll be
incremental business not substitutional.”
The launch follows TUI UK’s decision to seek more business
direct and become a dynamic packaging player.
Retailers reacted with surprise that the product was unavailable
to the trade. Worldchoice chairman Colin Heal said: “The biggest
impact could be on their own Lunn Poly agents as they sell a high
proportion of Thomson product. It certainly doesn’t help
agents generally.”
But Malvern-based Select World Travel director Lee Harrison
questioned whether agents would use the site, given the number of
accommodation-only providers in the market. He claimed the site
would shift unsold package stock. “If Thomson went back to basics
and priced sensibly it wouldn’t have this problem.”
Kent-based Miles Travel managing director Richard Loosley agreed
the £1 lead-in price could be because TUI owned hotel stock it
couldn’t shift.
Meanwhile, an Apartmentsabroad.com spokesman said Thomson would
add credibility to the sector but added: “Last week Lunn Poly got
out of discounting on the high street and now we’ve another
TUI brand with a message of £1 per night.”
Lastminute.com UK MD John Kent, responsible for Medhotels, said.
“The problem Thomson will have is its focus on committed beds.
Consumers don’t always want the same package product.”
MyTravel deputy MD Steve Barrass said the move would allow
Thomson to compete with Expedia.
Thomson’s accommodation is ABTA-bonded with “strict health
and safety checks”. Reps will not be offered but there is a 24-hour
telephone line for queries, car hire and excursion bookings, and
emergencies.
Meanwhile, TUI’s Irish tour operator brand Budget Travel
is to slash agent commission from 10% to 5% from January 1.
Irish Travel Agents’ Association president Michael Doorley
said many of its 340 members had threatened to de-rack the brand
following the announcement earlier this week.
He warned it could be bad news for the UK. “If it can get away
with paying 5% in Ireland then it’s possible it can do the
same in the UK.”