EasyJet holidays has reiterated its commitment to the trade after agents voiced frustration at a legacy advertisement at Gatwick airport encouraging direct booking for the best prices.
The tour operator said its poster at Gatwick airport was two years old and would be updated with new messaging in 2025 to include a call to action to travel agents.
The advertisement, which offers to beat the price if the same holiday is found cheaper elsewhere within 24 hours of booking, reads: “For the best deal book direct online.”
It is understood the advertisement was originally aimed at encouraging consumers to book directly with easyJet holidays online rather than with OTAs or aggregators.
It was launched prior to easyJet Holidays’ decision to significantly ramp up its trade partnerships after initially launching a trade distribution channel in 2020.
The company said it now worked with more than 7,000 “brilliant travel agent partners” who have played a “fundamental role in our rapid growth”.
A spokeswoman stressed: “We are committed to continuing to nurture our successful relationship with our trusted travel agent partners in 2025 and beyond.
“This year we’ve expanded our trade distribution team, in addition to increasing our trade engagement, training and marketing, running exclusive trade promotions, and hosting even more fam trips and trade-only events than ever before.”
She added: “This specific advert was launched a couple of years ago. We’ve since updated many adverts across Gatwick and other regional airports, which include a call to action to book through a travel agent.
“The entire airport branding campaign will be refreshed again with new messaging in early 2025. We also have a call to action across our other marketing activity including radio variants and door drops.”
The operator responded after agents said they were disappointed the trade channel was not included in the Gatwick advert.
Deben Travel owner Lee Hunt said: “Any operator that allows the trade to book them should always advertise the option of booking direct or with your local travel agent.”
Martyn Fisher, managing director, Greenstar Travel, Surrey, said he would welcome the trade being included in easyJet holidays’ future advertisements.
He added: “I just flew to Antalya with them and at the front of the plane and in the inflight magazine they advertise EasyJet Holidays with no mention of booking channels other than online.”
Niall Douglas, managing director, Full Circle Travel, said the advert’s wording was likely to irk agents, noting: “It seems a bit misleading [to say the best deals are direct online].”
Travel Stop managing director Bridget Keevil made a renewed plea for price parity so that easyJet holidays’ online prices match those offered by agents. The operator offers exclusive discounts to agents to push to their client base but does not offer price parity.
Keevil insisted: “If there was price parity and people could not get these holidays cheaper online, I would have no issue with recommending easyJet holidays because clients would get better value from us, because of our expertise, knowledge and service. EasyJet is losing customers by not doing that [price parity].”