STA Travel hailed its third annual flash sale a success after customers camped outside two of its stores for up to three days to bag a £49 return fare to Malaysia.
The travel agency chain gave away 49 flights to Langkawi with Malaysia Airlines at its London Victoria and Manchester Deansgate branches to the first 49 customers in the queue at both locations.
UK country manager Tim Fryer said: “It has seen a fantastic response and the huge response of so many people coming out to our London and Manchester stores epitomises the brand.
“We are in a time where people will go the extra mile to get a better deal and this proves our customers will come out, and camp out, to get the best deals. “
First in the queue Billie Green and Thomas Gough, who both work in customer care of clothing brand Asos, said: “It was such a relief to finally get the tickets and also the warmth from the STA offices! We have booked our tickets and then we’re planning to go to Kuala Lumpur and to Australia to work for a year.”
Student Paige Summers said: “I queued for Thailand last year, arriving at the same time as I did this year, and I was 10 further places forward so it is obviously getting more popular.”
Student Dan Jeffs added: “If other high street agents did this we would visit them too. It is all about what is on offer.”
High-street travel agents praised STA Travel’s flash sale but said the move was risky, favouring in-store customer events instead.
Midcounties Co-operative group general manager of travel services Alistair Rowland said: “Fair play to STA Travel for being so creative, but a word of caution: flash sales create disappointment, as does Black Friday, because the stock available is so small. I like the idea of creating early impact but it’s got to be cost affordable.
“The Co-op did it a few years ago with £99 holidays to Greece. These created more disharmony, than harmony.”
Holidaysplease non-executive chairman John McEwan, a former boss of Lunn Poly (now Thomson/Tui), said: “Good travel retailers already do regular event days, but there are many that still don’t engage as well as they could with customers.”
Steve Cox, regional manager at Premier Travel, which has 17 branches, said: “It’s important for agencies to create awareness of their brand and for us, holding one-off events and offers are incredibly effective. There’s a lot of competition for people’s attention these days so everything helps to keep us in people’s minds.”
Events include a children’s colouring competition have attracted queues at its branches, he added.
Brian Woodhouse, partnership marketing manager at Kuoni, said: “We’ve had everything from African dancers to orangutan puppets outside our stores over the years, so there is definitely something in creating theatre to attract attention. We’re always looking for innovative campaigns which generate the “talkability” factor. “
John Sullivan, head of commercial at consortium Advantage, said: “A lot of agents realise it’s about getting out there. Some things are really simple, like offering ice-creams to customers on a hot day or hot chocolate on a cold day. It’s about having a good presence in the local community.”
Richard Carrick, who has several non-executive director roles and is a former MyTravel boss, said there should be more retailers creating this sort of excitement on the high street.
“Shops should be performance venues with talented people, as you get in restaurants, hotels and good retailers recognise this and recruit accordingly. It’s also good to see travel agents spill out onto the street, have captivating window displays, take their ‘art’ into the community.
“So yes it’s a gimmick, but bring it on and let’s have more of it. Travel used to be a fun, people business that people were desperate to get into and we often forget it in the race for the best technology and online experience.”