NEWS


Agencies adopt flexible approach to shops reopening


Juliet Dennis


High street agents say flexibility is critical as many prepare to reopen their doors on April 12 alongside other non-essential retail. Among those reopening will be


Midcounties Co-operative Travel’s shop network, which has used the opportunity to rebrand its agencies from Co-operative Travel to Your Co-op Travel. Three of Midcounties’ 78 stores


will open with the new name next week, while its seven Carrick Travel branches will not be rebranded.


Advantage Travel Partnership said


more than 80% of members surveyed plan to reopen in England on April 12 but with revised hours and staff rotas. Leisure director Kelly Cookes


said: “The majority will show some [high street] presence but most will do shorter hours, such as 10am until 3pm or 4pm, and not all are going to open on Saturdays because of staffing. Some will do appointments, or closed-door policies. It’s tricky – once retail shops are allowed to open, the support [such as furlough] goes.” With the lack of clarity on travel’s restart, agents said flexibility was key.


The Travel Network Group said


many members were keeping staff on flexi-furlough until demand returns, while 50% of Advantage members surveyed by the consortium said they would still need to use furlough until it ends in September. Miles Morgan Travel is opening


stores without full complements of staff but is ready to scale up if the Global Travel Taskforce’s findings – due imminently – are positive. Chairman Miles Morgan


admitted: “It’s impossible to call. You have to have a game plan for every


eventuality. We’ll have to review it if demand drops away.” Barrhead Travel, which will


reopen its stores in England on April 12 and in Scotland on April 26, said it had learnt from last year’s reopenings and was preparing to be “as flexible and reactive as possible”. President Jacqueline Dobson


said: “In addition we have to prepare for regional or localised lockdowns, so we have a rapid closing strategy in place to ensure we can seamlessly


move people back to remote working.” i Special Report, page 10


Payments broker ‘seals rate freezes’ Juliet Dennis


A new broker says it has persuaded a group of payment providers to freeze their rates to help travel firms facing tougher demands from merchant acquirers. Payments4travel founder Wayne


Maraj has forged partnerships to provide access to more than 200 acquirers and 120 alternative payment providers keen to support the trade as it tries to recover from the impact of Covid-19. Providers have pledged to freeze


rates for at least two years and avoid demands of personal guarantees or rolling reserves from travel clients. “It has taken a lot of


convincing,” said Maraj, who set up Payments4travel a year ago as


travelweekly.co.uk


a trading name of his payment services consultancy Your Brand Ambassadors. A website is currently under development. He said: “A lot of them are


Europe-based acquirers but they are all financially stable, approved by or in the process of being approved by the Financial Conduct Authority, and members of Mastercard and Visa. “I’m trying to help the industry, to


get the industry moving again. “I have more providers coming on


board that understand my requests and understand travel. They have used their best endeavours to offer all travel firms the same terms. “We are looking at full long-term


relationships. It’s not a price-led acquisition strategy.” The move follows predictions of a


“perfect storm” of financial pressures for agents and operators, with merchant acquirers’ demands for processing card payments increasing and some deciding to sever ties with the trade with little notice. Agents and operators currently spend about


Wayne Maraj


5% of revenue on payment providers, without which they cannot trade. Maraj said merchant acquirers


and payment providers had increased the costs of processing card payments for agents and operators recently by requesting rolling reserves, cash deposits or personal guarantees. In the current environment, many travel businesses cannot afford that. “This is on top of the uncertainty


of whether they will be trading this year and is another headache for companies,” he said. “They don’t need the hassle.” Additional partnerships with a


leading trust account provider and insurance intermediary would see the launch of new products for the trade to ease cashflow worries for the sector, Maraj added.


8 APRIL 2021 7


Three Midcounties stores will reopen with the chain’s new name and branding on Monday


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