CONTINUED FROM BACK COVER Rzymowska said she believed there
were greater levels of male chauvinism among the baby boomer generation, but that would diminish as Generations X and Y moved through to senior roles. But she said she was not in favour of implementing quotas to impose diversity. “You need to build a culture [to achieve
diversity],” she said. “That’s different to positive discrimination. Quotas cause a lot of dissatisfaction in the workplace.” Rzymowska suggested pay and status inequality could be down to women lacking the confidence to ask for pay rises and being less sure than men in their ability to do their jobs well. Speaking from the audience, Chris Photi, senior partner at accountancy firm White Hart Associates, illustrated how things are changing by saying in his sector women under 30 are paid on average £1,400 more than men, although this differential was reversed for the over-30s. Commenting on a perceived lack of
female entrepreneurs in travel, Photi dismissed the idea women need specific help. “Entrepreneurs do not need help to be an entrepreneur; he or she just needs to be entrepreneurial. Until we see women taking to the forefront, we are going to have this debate for ever more.” Day said her entrepreneurial zeal came
from her family. “It was a case of this is what I need to do and this is how I’m going to do it. Sometimes when your back’s up against the wall there is only one way forward. “I wanted to try this for myself. I
come from a family of very independent people; my father was a market trader. I just thought if I do not do this now I’m going to regret not doing it.” Day, whose firm employs a high
proportion of women, built her business while raising a family. And she recalled how Affordable once had a crèche after members of staff had babies. Rzymowska said she could see how
maternity issues could be challenging for small firms but that parents increasingly share duties, so conversations with prospective fathers about flexible working are just as important as with mothers.
KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST NEWS AND ANALYSIS ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF TRAVEL BY LOGGING ON TO
TRAVELWEEKLY.CO.UK
78 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 21 May 2015
travelweeklybusiness BARCLAYS TRAVEL FORUM: By Lee Hayhurst
PRICE COMPARISON: ROCHE TIPS GOOGLE AS MOST LIKELY ENTRANT FOR HOLIDAY SEARCHES
The investment required to establish a holidays price comparison website is a huge barrier to entry, Barclays delegates were told. Chris Roche, who last year left leading UK online travel agent Travel Republic to turn Travel. co. uk, which is owned by Comtec founder Simon Powell, into a metasearch site for holidays, tipped Google as the most likely entrant in the market. Roche, who left
Travel.co.uk after just three
months to join online travel agent Loveholidays, said the cost of acquiring enough traffic, from channels such as Google, was prohibitive. “Yes, there is space in the comparison meta
market for holidays,” he said. “Technically it’s possible, but it requires quite a lot of cash to acquire the critical mass of customers.” The most successful metasearch sites, such
as Skyscanner (flights) and Trivago (hotels) have established themselves by offering comprehensive market price comparison for single components before adding searches for other product such as car hire. But no company has really perfected holiday
or package comparison, which is complicated by the nature of the product and the problem of comparing traditional pre-packed operator
CASHFLOW: FIRMS IN LOW-DEPOSIT AND LATE-BOOKING VICE
Mainstream holiday companies are facing a “perfect storm” hitting cashflows as they compete by reducing deposits. Chris Lee, Barclays head of travel, told the
forum that this, allied to a later-booking trend and low interest rates, was putting pressure on mainstream firms and OTAs. “We are seeing downward pressure on the amount of deposits achievable in the marketplace. Some companies are using that as a means to compete. The fact that lower deposits are coming in to bank accounts, and a later-booking trend, have created a bit of a perfect storm and some companies have found themselves with some pressure on cashflows.” However, Barclays bosses reported an upbeat mood among its business customers, with rising house prices and the decisive
Chris Roche
deals and holidays packaged dynamically, although sites such as Travelsupermarket, Dealchecker and Kayak do provide a holiday comparison service. Roche added: “We have not seen a new
entrant in meta for a while. The most obvious entrant for me would be Google. I would not be surprised if they look at holidays.” Roche described the search process in travel
as “terrible” and said the main way online agents can differentiate themselves is through customer service and by analysing data to find ways of making life easier for the consumer.
general election result adding to the sense of stability and certainty. Mike Saul, Barclays managing director of leisure and hospitality, said this was particularly true among Britain’s 11.1 million over-65s, the highest spending demographic group. He said they spend double what 18 to 34-year-olds spend. “The travel industry does very well [out of
this group]: 44% of travel businesses recognise them as being their best customers.”
Chris Lee
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84