NEWS


McAuley tips shift by operators to direct payments


Lucy Huxley


More operators will insist on direct payments from customers to protect themselves in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis, according to the boss of Gold Medal. Lisa McAuley, managing director


of dnata Travel Europe’s B2B brands, said it was not a move currently being planned by Gold Medal, but she could see “benefits” for both suppliers and agents despite the impact on the latter’s cashflow. Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, she said: “One of the


things that we’ll see is tour operators taking payments directly, which is something that the cruise lines do. “Agents still receive commission


and the partnership will still be there. That obviously will have an impact on their cashflow – and I’m not saying this is something that we will do – but I can understand why there will be benefits to both parties.” She added: “The risk is limited on


the tour operator side. And, potentially, it means the agent won’t have the stress and angst when they’re not in a position to refund because the operator has taken a stance on refunding.”


Lisa McAuley on webcast with Travel Weekly’s Lucy Huxley


McAuley’s


comments echo those of Alan Bowen, legal advisor to the Association of Atol Companies, who told a recent Future of Travel Week debate that operators had mooted the concept following the collapse of Thomas Cook last year and said things were “doubly worse” as a result of Covid. McAuley also said dnata’s


communications with agents would begin “in earnest” this week following the completion of the merger of trade-only operators Gold Medal


and Travel 2 and the closure of


Travel 2’s Glasgow base. She said there would not have been


a need for the merger “in a normal world”, but insisted 30 retained staff from Travel 2 would ensure continuity for trade partners regardless of previous brand relationships. She said: “There’s a real loyalty to


the brand but actually it’s a loyalty to the people. So the homeworkers that I’ve got in Glasgow and the GM team are going to be integral to ensure that agents move with us as well.”


InteleTravel ‘close to gaining Atol’ Ben Ireland


The boss of InteleTravel says the homeworking company is close to securing an Atol licence to sell its own packages in the UK. President James Ferrara said the


group, which joined Abta in March 2019, would create its own packages for recruits to sell and would also enable them to dynamically package once trained. “We’re preparing to package our


own product,” said Ferrara. “We have to do a lot of tooling in our model to be able to have independent agents responsibly packaging product. “That’s all under way. There’s a


lot of development work going on to fulfil the Atol certificates and that, I promise you, you’ll see shortly.”


travelweekly.co.uk Speaking on a Travel Weekly


webcast, Ferrara said InteleTravel had “secured inventory” to create packages that were “higher-margin” than the commission on suppliers’ product, and he wanted to sell “a healthy mix” of the two. InteleTravel now works with 60 suppliers. He added: “I have no illusions.


Being a packager, or a tour operator, is fraught with operational challenges. This is not about replacing [suppliers] or thinking we can do a better job.” InteleTravel has also built its


own booking engines for villas and activities. The group recently reported it


had 10,556 recruits in the UK, and Ferrara said he expected them to turn over a collective £25 million this year. When it was put to Ferrara that


James Ferrara


most recruits must be making small numbers of sales as the figures suggested each was turning over less than £2,500 on average, he described that as “the lie of averages”. Defending


recruits who used the platform part-time, he said comparing such homeworkers with full-time agents was “not truly equal”. Ferrara said the firm’s “low bar of


entry” was a “blessing” during the pandemic as it had allowed thousands of people to pursue a new income stream. And he said the business model had been “vindicated” by its continual growth in the face of criticism from existing travel agents. Ferrara also addressed criticism


of InteleTravel agents actively recruiting, saying that those who had done so had made “mistakes” and would be “clamped down” on. He said agents could also work


for separate company PlanNet Marketing, but could not recruit when representing InteleTravel.


8 OCTOBER 2020 7


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