TRAVEL agents have slammed Eurostar’s decision to slash its 9% commission rate for electronic bookings to 7% on June 1.
The company is also reviewing the 5% commission rate it pays to agents who make bookings over the telephone and has admitted it may replace it with a transaction fee system from January 1 next year.
The company aims to persuade all agents to start booking tickets electronically and plans to turn its call centre into a helpdesk later this year.
ABTA transport committee chairman Doug Wardle attacked Eurostar’s plans, saying: “I am not pleased but who would be? It will be another nail in the coffin of agents and it will mean agency closures are inevitable.”
He added he was unhappy at Eurostar’s failure to notify or consult ABTA before announcing a commission cut.
Jonathan Reeve, commercial director at Harry Weeks Travel in Orpington, Kent, which books Eurostar tickets via the electronic rail-booking system ELGAR, also condemned the move.
“This is part of an increasing trend among companies to off-load their operating costs,” he said. “However, if they think they are going to increase their direct sales as a result then I don’t think they will. Our corporate clients still want a one-stop shop and Eurostar won’t be providing foreign currency, hotel reservations or car-hire bookings.”
Eurostar sales and distribution director Adrian Watts defended the decision to cut commission, which is intended to reduce costs at the loss-making company.
He claimed that Eurostar was planning a raft of improvements in the run-up to the launch of a high-speed link in 2003, including increased departures and service enhancements for business travellers.
Watts said the company wanted to consult ABTA and the Guild of Business Travel Agents before it decided what to do about its 5% commission rate.
It may either freeze the existing commission rate or reduce it rather than replace it with transaction fees, he claimed.