TRAVEL agents should look for more opportunities to sell car rental in order to bump up flagging commission payments from the airlines, according to Connect Car Rental managing director Adrian Duthie
Duthie said agents currently account for only 15% of all car-rental sales but the number of holidaymakers who book car hire is increasing.
“Car rental is a massive opportunity for agents but it has never been exploited properly,” he said.
“The global distribution systems are not geared up for car rental. It is a laborious process to book on them and often proves to be more hassle than it is is worth.”
Duthie said he welcomed the decision by EasyJet owner Stelios Haji-Ioannou to get into the car-rental market. “EasyRentaCar might well spur people on to book car rental. One of the things Stelios is able to do is to get a lot of publicity.
He has taken the industry back a way with a very low start-up price and added extras, but it will stimulate the market.”
Meanwhile, Connect has taken on two new sales staff and expanded its call centre in Luton to take on 12 new staff. On the sales side, former Executive Car Rental sales director Mark Newsome and Kay Joyce, who joins from outside the industry, have joined as senior sales executives.