NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4
Jet2 boss Heapy urges indies not to sell Tui or Cook
Ben Ireland Jet2holidays Conference, Tenerife
Independent agents have been urged not to sell Thomas Cook or Tui packages by the boss of Jet2holidays, who said doing so was tantamount to “helping your high street competitors”.
Chief executive Steve Heapy said
he would say “no thank you” if rival operators asked to sell its packages again via their retail networks. Thomas Cook chose to stop
selling Jet2holidays in February. Tui (then Thomson) had ended
its commercial agreement three months prior. The 250 independent
agents attending Jet2holidays’ ‘Partnerships 2 Success’ conference at Hard Rock Hotel, Tenerife, last week were told they have a “great opportunity” to be the operator’s face on the high street and “grow with” the firm, which has seen profits increase 30% this year. Bookings through the trade
have dipped from 32% of all sales in 2010-11 to 28% this year. Heapy attributed the drop to Cook’s decision to stop selling Jet2holidays, and declared
Jet2holidays “the operator for independent agents”. He said: “Every time you book Thomas Cook or Tui you are putting money into them, and they are your competitors on the high street. So [if you sell them], you are feeding your competitors. “It’s now impossible for Thomas Cook or Tui to sell Jet2holidays. If they ask us if they can start selling us again, we’ll say ‘no thank you’. “Let’s work together to stop
customers going into Thomas Cook or Tui shops and asking for
5 STORIES HOT Steve Heapy:
‘Selling Cook and Tui is helping your competitors’
Jet2holidays only to be switch-sold.” Jet2holidays once again assured agents it has no intention to open shops. It also revealed plans to add a list of independent agents who sell Jet2holidays to its website to direct customers to the high street. In June, Jet2holidays overtook Thomas Cook to become the UK’s second-largest Atol holder. Heapy said: “We never had an
expectation of overtaking Thomas Cook. We’ve just responded to
customer demand.” › Jet2 Conference, page 14
5 ‘Sell Jet2holidays on your website’
Ben Ireland Jet2holidays conference, Tenerife
Consumers will be able to book Jet2holidays via independent agencies’ websites – and agents will earn commission.
The operator has created an API link that agencies can install on their websites to gain access to Jet2holidays product.
It means consumers using an agent’s website will be able to book Jet2holidays packages that before would only have been available
for agents to sell in-store via Jet2holidays’ trade website. Agencies will still receive their
agreed level of commission from Jet2holidays, without having to take a call or see the customer. The API link is expected to be
available in time for the January peaks. It is being trialled with key independent partners including Dawson & Sanderson. Agencies that want to use the
API to its full potential must already have bookable websites. For those whose websites are not bookable, Jet2holidays packages
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travelweekly.co.uk 7 December 2017
“It’s giving them stock for their website that they would otherwise only have in the shop”
will appear in on-site search results alongside the agency’s phone number as a ‘call to action’ – a service that already exists. Before that was introduced, only
Jet2.com flights would appear in search results on independent agencies’ websites, so agents would have to dynamically package
and become the Atol-holder. Alan Cross, Jet2holidays’ head
of trade, said that led to more- expensive deals for customers. Cross said: “Travel agents don’t
typically get high volumes through their websites, but they need to be able to show the holiday to en- courage someone to make the call. “It’s basically giving them stock
for their website that they would otherwise only have in the shop.” Companies can sign up to use the API direct with Jet2holidays or via
third-party technology suppliers. › Jet2 Conference, page 14
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