AIRTOURS has admitted it made a mistake by poorly communicating its message to Advantage agents about how the franchise deal would work.
Sales, marketing and development director Ed Sims told the Advantage conference in Portugal that details of the deal could have been explained better.
He said:”We believe the franchise deal is an excellent one and in your best business interest but where we fell down was in communicating the deal.”
“Travel agents depends on commission so how can you say you’re independent? It’s not directional selling, it’s about being productive partners.
“The frustration is that we have not portrayed ourselves as your friends and have allowed our intentions to be misinterpreted. The deal is a good one but the delivery was poor. I do not want to run your businesses. Instead you are going to get negotiation strength, the support of a greatly strengthened Airtours sales force and the support of more marketing.”
The operator has planned a series of roadshows over the next couple of months to combat confusion.
Airtours UKLGdistribution director Peter Shanks also said the company had made an error by mentioning ‘targets’ in the literature.
“When the idea of the franchise came up it was not going to be like this. The members were going to pay more to come in and there was going to be a more targeted approach.
“But Advantage said they did not want targets. We made a mistake and put the word target in the literature.”
But he said he could not give a guarantee about targets in future, saying a decision on the matter was up to the Advantage team.
n Peter Shanks is to speak at the British Travel Industry Hall of Fame evening at the Savoy Hotel, London on May 5. See Hall of Fame preview, page 38.
n For more Advantage conference reports, see pages 20 and 21