Steve Endacott, chief executive, On Holiday Group
As an ex-mass market tour operator, but an on line travel agent (OTA) for the last seven years, I take great issue with Noel Josphides view of life, as expressed in last week’s Travel Weekly.
Reading it just highlights how Abta board members like Noel have distorted the association’s view on the proposed new European Travel Directive.
Noel openly tries to set high street agents against online agents by labelling OTAs direct sell tour operators who are taking business away from agents. What utter rubbish.
OTA’s put holidays together using the same flights and hotels that high street agents have access to.
Crucially, the prices of these components are exactly the same for both and hence the two markets are not really competing on price, but on service and convenience.
High street agents can provide a more personal service and often are able to charge a higher price for this service.
Yes, of course, OTA’s are competing with high street agents, but at least it’s a level playing field.
Contrast this to the major tour operators who constantly undercut the prices available to independent shops both online and via their own shop networks.
This is likely to get worse in the next few years as the major tour operators have too many high street locations for their current capacity, given their internet growth.
High street agents should take note of last week’s comments by Tui Travel’s Nick Longman, who stated that independent agents commission in 2014, is likely to be reduced to 4% if they want to match online prices.
Is it coincidental that this will be just as new European Package Directive, banning agency status when creating holidays may come into legislation?
Noel as a member of AITO may try to ague that his company can provide an alternative to the big tour operators and agents should just sell their product.
But this is just not realistic, since most AITO members offer niche products and relatively small capacities.
The real battleground both high street agents and OTA’s are fighting for is the mass-market beach holiday, which is highly price sensitive.
If Noel gets his way and forces prices up by £20 per passenger by making agents principals, what percentage of customers will simply cut us out and with a couple of clicks source flights via Skyscanner and hotels via Booking.com.
Nobody knows the answer, but the likely net result is that fewer customers will have financial protection, than under the current Flight-Plus Atol regime.
Noel also repeats the myth that the UK’s Package Travel Regulations do not make principals liable for health and safety issues in the hotels they sale.
Technically this is correct, but we all know that the UK courts regularly rule that principals are liable for the health and safety of the hotels they sell.
Thomas Cook’s legal expert Andy Cooper confirmed this at the Abta Travel Convention and explained that this was why the major tour operators needed such large Heath and safety departments.
Firstly its not practical for agents to replicate this infrastructure and more importantly, why should agents be burdened with this liability when online accommodation players like Booking.com or hotel direct web sites don’t have need to worry about it.
The answer is that it is simply madness and the only people calling for it are tour operators like Noel who want to drag agents into the same regulation applied to them.
I can fully understand his motivation, but Noel please stop trying to con agents about the implications of the threatened extension of the European Travel Directive and who their enemies are.
This is exactly why we have been forced to form the “Association of Travel Agents” (ATA) as how can Abta possibly represent travel agents’ views when the agendas of the major tour operators and AITO are so clearly opposed to the interest of Agents.