A number of online travel agencies and homeworkers are reviewing their business models after Teletext Holidays decided to work exclusively with just
one supplier.
Truly Travel, a member of the Travel Trust Association, will provide package deals to Teletext from January in a deal claimed to be worth £180 million in bookings for 2014.
The tie-up means Teletext will no longer work with 14 other suppliers including Qwerty Travel, Lowcost Travel Group, Kwik Travel and Hays Travel.
Matt Somers, managing director of Qwerty Travel, said the news had come as a “complete shock”. The company receives more than 50% of its sales via Teletext. He said: “I have nobody to blame other than myself for allowing Qwerty to be so reliant on one media.
“We will use all our energy and enthusiasm to reinvent and refocus the business.”
Somers said the company would be investing more in pay-per-click and affiliate marketing as well as increasing its presence on Icelolly.com, Holiday Discount Centre and Travelzoo.
Midcounties Co-op Travel said Kwik Travel budgeted for Teletext to account for 20% of its 2014 business, but this represented no more than 2% of group turnover. Alistair Rowland, group general manager, said the move would encourage more Kwik homeworkers to switch to its 60% commission model and hasten plans to provide leads via its own website.
“We are disappointed, but Teletext has made its bed and will have to lie in it. There will be no going back,” he said.
Trevor Davis, director of new business development at Brilliant Travel, part of Barrhead Travel, said Teletext’s decision had led to an influx of calls from homeworkers wanting to join the brand.
“Teletext was a source of business for many. Those companies will have to find an alternative to Teletext. They will have a gap to fill [in their earnings],” he said.
The switch in strategy comes less than two months after Teletext indicated that the number and breadth of suppliers it worked with could increase.