Agents say they will go bust if holidaymakers follow the latest advice of consumer champion Martin Lewis to haggle their way to the cheapest deals.
A new online consumer guide by Lewis, founder of Moneysavingexpert.com, was slammed by agents as it offers tips on how to haggle over the price of a holiday. It was launched amid the continuing furore over the price of travel during school holidays.
The guide says consumers should “haggle already-cheap package holiday late deals down by a further 10%” and suggests playing agents off against each other.
“It’s worth remembering to stay polite, charming and smiley, as travel agents don’t like the tactic – or us – much,” Lewis says in the guide.
Karen Allen, retail manager of Manchester’s Aspen Travel, said: “We’ve been on the high street for 28 years and will not do all the work and then give away all our commission or we won’t be here much longer.”
Allen said Lewis was forgetting the importance of the customer experience as well as the added value and knowledge of a good agent.
Homeworker Alan Hughes, of Independent Travel Experts, said haggling would destroy small independent businesses, adding: “There won’t be anyone left on the high street to haggle with.”
The criticisms – which led to a Twitter debate with Lewis – follow the controversy on higher‑priced holidays outside of school term times.
MPs are due to discuss the issue on February 24 after an online petition attracted more than 160,000 signatures.
This week, Hays Travel managing director John Hays added to calls for staggered holidays so prices for families can reduce outside of term time. He told BBC’s Look North news programme: “It would be quite simple to stagger the holidays so that different schools are out at different times.”