Travel agency bosses have appealed to tour operators to bring furloughed staff back to work to save the industry from losing valuable future bookings.
Amanda Matthews, managing director of Designer Travel, and Miles Morgan Travel chairman Miles Morgan, claimed suppliers had moved too quickly to furlough too many staff with the result that they were unable to answer travel agents’ calls or deal with future bookings.
But, speaking on a Travel Weekly Covid-19 webcast, they stressed there was now an opportunity for the trade to lock in longer term bookings if suppliers acted quickly.
Under the government’s job retention scheme companies are allowed to bring staff back for a limited period, a move they believe could prove a lifeline for the trade’s future.
Matthews said: “It is in everybody’s interest to save a sale. We should all be on the same team.”
She said it was vital operators dealt with longer term bookings booked for July and August for example, rather than just focusing on short term sales in April or May, to stop more clients from cancelling.
She added: “We should be sorting out clients that want to go ahead and book. It’s so easy for suppliers to say ‘computer says no’. Quite often we [agents] are giving them ideas on how to save a sale.”
Morgan said it would be “common sense” for operators to act now and bring staff back.
He said: “Once they lose these customers for summer you cannot get them back. Now is the chance for them to put people on the phones and offer agents the chance to reprotect [bookings] which is crucial, rather than furloughing people longer term and losing the client forever.
“It’s a no-brainer decision to bulk up their staffing, all be it for the next three weeks, to get ahead of the game.”
Matthews said her business had managed to save around 50% of bookings for March and April, around 25% for May and June but only around 5% to 10% for July and August.
With balances for summer bookings due imminently, she fears clients will refuse to pay balances and that these summer bookings could be permanently lost if operators refuse to work with agents on them now.
“We need to be creative as an industry to move these bookings on if clients wish to. We need to find ways round to make sure clients hold on,” she said.
Matthews commended Jet2holidays on the way it was dealing with amendments but criticised Tui for charging amendment fees that were higher than the original holiday deposits. “It’s frustrating. We will just lose sales,” she said.
