W hatever the spin doctors say, the Advantage/Airtours franchise is effectively over. Any special relationship between the franchise agents and Airtours is no longer. When non-franchise agents are offered virtually the same commercial terms as franchise agents, then you can no longer pretend there is any difference between the two.
Matchmaker never happened, neither did the promised central accounting system. Airtours has itself written off a not insignificant £3m it had contributed to marketing, advertising and running costs.
The new deal is now very similar to any other agreements between agents and suppliers with just a few added perks.
But after over a year of broken promises and in-house bickering, it is time for Advantage agents to just close the lid on the whole affair and put it all behind them.
What has come out of the deal which is good news for Advantage agents, however, is the removal of the direct telephone number in Airtours’ brochures. This will now be replaced with a phone number directing customers to Advantage members.
Agents hate being forced to display brochures on their racks which effectively promote operators’ directbusiness.
Let’s hope other operators now follow suit and win some serious browny points with agents.
Liz Bird – deputy editor