Endacott claims MyTravel agencies must add value

NEW MyTravel commercial director Steve Endacott has warned in-house agents will have to prove they add value to the distribution chain in order to survive in the long term.

Endacott, who recently claimed agents were nothing more than “brochure warehouses” (Travel Weekly March 18), has pledged to spend his first six months in the job concentrating on the basics of the business.

Although the founder of Holidays By Phone maintained the group’s retail network was the right size, he has not ruled out shop closures in the longer term.

“I think travel agencies are very useful as long as they add value. As soon as they stop adding value we will shut them,” he said.

“I don’t know if any Going Places shops are just brochure warehouses, but if they are, they will have to change.”

Endacott has criticised travel agents in the past for not keeping in touch with customers and they are likely to come under pressure to improve repeat visitor levels. He insisted MyTravel bosses were aware of his views and agreed with most of them.

“They just want me to implement them,” he said.

Due to start his new job at the end of next month, Endacott confirmed he would be looking to bring new staff on board but would not be drawn on potential job cuts.

“I have a budget to recruit who I want but first I want to make sure it is a focused and motivated team. I will concentrate on developing people internally and balancing that with recruitment,” he said.

“I want to concentrate on the basics, which are buying, packaging, pricing and selling. The fancy stuff can wait.

“I intend to spend the first two hours of every day in the yield department to ensure we make every penny we can,” Endacott said.

He said there were no plans to make immediate changes and strategic partnerships with JMC and First Choice would remain in place.

It is widely acknowledged that MyTravel has “lost its way” in recent months, mismanaging its seats-to-beds ratio and selling flight-only too cheap too early because of a lack of experience and support at a senior level.

Endacott, who worked at Airtours from 1990 to 1997, admitted he left because he could not get the job of managing director of Airtours Holidays.

“I had a talented boss called Peter Rothwell and he was in my way,” he said.