A range of suppliers have publicly backed InteleTravel despite a fierce backlash from those who believe the US homeworking group’s Abta membership could devalue the role of the travel agent.
Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line, Uniworld, Affordable Car Hire, Cosmos, Avalon and Holiday Extras all welcomed InteleTravel’s Abta membership, granted last week.
Travel Weekly posed the question to a number of suppliers, many of which said they were still assessing whether to work with the firm, which actively recruits new entrants with no travel experience.
Giles Hawke, chief executive of Cosmos and Avalon said: “We recognise Abta are the experts [and] welcome any new entrant into the market”.
Uniworld’s national sales manager Rachel Healey said “every travel agent is important to us” and the river cruise line would “give them all the tools they need” – as it would any agent.
Adolfo Perez, senior vice president, sales and trade marketing for Carnival Cruise Line said InteleTravel is a “strong partner” in the US and Carnival “look forward to working with them successfully in the UK”.
A spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean, which works with InteleTravel in the US, added: “We hope we’ll be able to build an equally strong relationship in the UK.”
Holiday Extras’ partnerships development manager Lindsay Garvey-Jones said it has an existing “positive relationship” with InteleTravel and will help train recruits. “The Abta membership should give the industry more confidence to work with them,” she added.
Angela Day, chief executive of Affordable Car Hire, added: “InteleTravel have been a pleasure to work with.”
Agents have been hitting out at Abta’s decision to grant membership since it was announced last week.
Martin Sandland-Owens, of the Holiday Village, said: “Selling travel is not a hobby and if Chloe down the road selling Juiceplus alongside make-up is selling travel with no experience our industry is well and truly doomed.”
Kate Thomson, of Freedom Personal Travel Advisors, said: “How can you provide customers with the best service with no experience?”
Thomas Cook’s Helen cross said: “Anyone can be good at selling but to be good at creating amazing experiences requires more than passion alone.”
Other agents were less concerned at InteleTravel’s impact.
Cruise Me A River managing director Anthony Blackmore said: “I can’t see many becoming big agents as let’s face it the consumer is very savvy and people who have this as a hobby will soon get sick of endless quotes where xyz is cheaper”.
Broadway Travel’s Claire Nicholson said: “Surely we all started in this industry with no experience at some point?”
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