INDEPENDENTbusiness travel agents should not be afraid of introducing management fees, according to Woodside Travel Trust managing director international operations John Melchior.
He claims in the US and Scandinavia, where management fees are the norm, agents have not lost business as a result of switching to this way of doing business.
“If clients have left, they have since come back,” he said.
“UK agents need to get that nervousness out of their mind. If they are offering something that’s worth charging for, their customers will pay. If they aren’t, then they are in the wrong business.
“Agents need to convince their clients that it will be better for them under management fee because agents will be 100% committed to getting the best deal for them.
“Agents will argue that this has always been the case, but if I was a client I would have been suspicious that agents weren’t just booking with the airline which pays the best commission.”
Melchior’s advice comes as other airlines start to show signs of following British Airways’ decision to cut commission to 7%.
British Midland is expected to announce a cut within days while SASand Lufthansa are expected to make changes to their commission structures later this year.
Woodside said experience in other countries has shown that UK agents should not be afraid of moving towards management fee to counteract these cuts.
“Basically, there is no real alternative for clients. They have the choice of booking direct with the airline or going on the Internet, but neither of these are making an impact,”he said.
Clients need agents to handle complex transactions and to give impartial advice, he said.