ABTA has admitted its hands are tied over tackling web
discounts by operators which undercut and disadvantage high-street
travel agents.
Newman Street has investigated the matter on behalf of members but
can’t act due to anti-competition laws which cover
price-fixing.
The association’s trade relations group met last month to
investigate the issue following complaints from travel agents.
It discussed the introduction of a code of conduct covering
operators’ online direct discounting, which could have
included discount restrictions and rules on minimum pricing. But
ABTA says it’s powerless to act as it is bound by the
Competition Act 1998 which means it is unlawful for it to get
involved in restrictions on price.
Travel Weekly decided to investigate the scale of price
undercutting on the web following renewed complaints from agents
that customers are returning to stores and demanding price matching
when they discover their holiday booked through a travel agent is
cheaper online.
In a survey of random multiple retailers, we found 75% of prices
offered in-store for the agent’s own tour operator could be
beaten online.
First Choice was the worst culprit, undercutting its own retail
staff by £47.80 on a randomly chosen short-haul holiday and
£115.60 for a long-haul trip.
Going Places was the only agency which offered a cheaper price in
store with £40 off a long-haul trip but the short-haul holiday
tested was £25.90 cheaper online.
Thomson offered a cheaper online price of £70 for short haul
and a like comparison for long haul was £100 cheaper.
Thomas Cook offered the same price for short haul, but undercut the
store price for long haul by £145. All prices relate to
holidays for two people.
ABTA chief executive Ian Reynolds said the association was able to
tackle issues that concerned non-members, as it did recently with
British Airways, but said it could not get involved in commercial
matters of members. “It’s the reality of price.
It’s not always a fair world,” he added.