NEWS TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS CONTINUED FROM THE BACK
personalisation in everything they buy.” Natal intends to explore three
key issues at the convention. “First, how well do travel
retailers know their customers? What kind of insights are key to travel?” she says. “Second, how do we
stretch and leverage a brand proposition through different channels, blurring the boundaries between digital and physical? We want an integral, omni-channel experience. “Third, how do we build
trust? How are retail brands doing this? Where are the blank spaces for travel retailers to build trust and experiences?” Natal says: “It is a moment of challenge – different players are disrupting the way you relate to the traveller. “This does not mean stores
are going to close. But what new kinds of experiences can the travel retail store offer? Can we get the travel agent out of the store? What is the role of the human here?” She adds: “I know travel only
as a traveller, but I know general retail [and] in hospitality and travel there is lots to do. “When I make an online car
[rental] reservation, I expect the whole process to be sorted. Then I get to the [car rental] store and I have still to fill out a form – something is wrong. When I go to a hotel and have to wait in line and give further information, something is wrong. “My expectations are different.
I expect things to be much more connected than they are. But above all, she insists:
“There is a need for truth and trust.” And as a consequence: “Maybe the human factor will be very important [in the future].”
■ The Travel Convention 2018, October 8-10, Barceló Convention Centre, Seville
thetravelconvention.com
Classic Collection 1.3m
On the Beach chief executive Simon Cooper reveals the rationale behind its £20m acquisition of luxury operator Classic Collection Holidays. Lee Hayhurst reports
had not sold packages. However, that all changed with the new Package Travel Regulations. “For about 12 to 18 months we
have been having discussions, with the new PTRs on the horizon, and about post-July, when the new rules came in. We asked ourselves, is there an opportunity, now what we sell is a package, for us to offer that via agents?” Cooper said the new regulations
have made it potentially more complicated and costly for independent agents to sell dynamically packaged holidays. With Tui and Thomas Cook
A new travel agent supplier born out of the deal last week that saw On the Beach acquire Classic Collection Holidays will exploit the popularity of booking with high street agents.
The online agent plans to set up
trade-only division Classic Online. It says it will be built on market- leading technology, and will be up and running in early 2019. It will supply third-party agents
with mainstream beach holidays, combining the buying power of On the Beach with the trade relationships of Classic Collection. Simon Cooper, On the Beach
founder and chief executive, said: “On the face of it this [acquisition] does not look like an obvious move. On the Beach has historically benefited from increasing online penetration for short-haul beach holidays. “We believe we will continue
to benefit from that trend. But offline, we do get regular inbound enquiries from high street agents saying ‘can we book your product?’.”
New package rules
Cooper said OTB had until now never been in a position to consider these requests because it
62
travelweekly.co.uk 23 August 2018
selling more product in-house, agents are looking to find more suppliers of the kind of product their customers are walking in off the street demanding. “We are looking at the choice
out there on the high street,” he said. “Does the situation exist where we can sell a portfolio of product through agents provided it’s via the right type of portal?” Cooper said Classic Online
would provide a breadth of product at competitive rates that could not be found on any comparative brand’s B2C website. He said Classic Collection was
a natural fit because it “does not take risks” in terms of taking out large commitments, and the bulk of its business is in the short- haul beach sector, which OTB specialises in. However, Cooper said Classic Collection, which does not have online booking, should be supported to focus more on tailor-made, bespoke travel sales through its contact centre. In the future it could benefit
from OTB technology to offer online bookability, but only if agents want it, Cooper said. “This is not a matter of Classic Collection not selling mainstream beach holiday product. It should continue doing what it does and
Number of passengers On the Beach can carry with its Atol
broaden its destination mix and type of products on offer,” he said. “Classic Online should be a more mainstream, value-for-money proposition sold in a more efficient manner in a market in which price is potentially more important. “The key message for agents
selling Classic Collection is that it continues to do what it does. There is a very clear division between OTB B2C and Classic Collection, whose business is largely B2B.”
Consumer demand
Cooper said the move by a leading OTA into third-party offline distribution reflected the fact that there remains a sizeable market of consumers wanting to book their holidays through high street agents. “There are plenty of instances of
online businesses going offline and offline ones going online,” he said. “While online penetration has
grown hugely during the period we’ve been in business, from an insignificant minority to a majority today, there’s still a lot of people who feel more comfortable booking through an agent they’ve come to know and trust, and will continue to do so. “Prior to the latest changes
to the Package Travel Directive (PTD), it very much made sense for a business like ours to maintain a clean [B2C] model rather than a hybrid model because we did not sell packages, and did a very good job of not selling packages. “But we have known for five
years the new PTD was coming in.
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