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YOU NEED TO KNOW


‘Don’t overpay before the fees ban comes in’


Agents have been urged to make sure they don’t overpay for credit card transaction charges ahead of the surcharge ban coming into effect this January. Vim Vithaldas, The Travel


Vim Vithaldas: ’Effectively your overheads are going up’


Consortium starts petition against ban on card fees


Lee Hayhurst and Ben Ireland


Worldchoice and Travel Trust Association parent The Travel Network Group is to petition the UK Parliament to demand credit card charges are kept in place.


The travel agency group urged members to get colleagues and customers to sign the petition, which was awaiting approval this week before going live. Vim Vithaldas, commercial and


finance director, told delegates at the group’s conference in Monaco this week that EU legislation to outlaw card payment charges in January was “unfair”. Under new rules, firms will no longer be able to pass on the cost of merchant services fees, typically


around 2%, charged by banks. Vithaldas said the result would be costs, and holiday prices, going up for everyone regardless of how they paid. “This is extremely unfair. It


cannot be right for our members or the end consumer,” he said. “You will still be levied a fee,


but you cannot pass that on to your customers. Effectively your overheads are going up. “As far as consumers are concerned it’s not good news either. Today the consumer has a choice [of how to pay].” The group’s petition states:


“Keep the costs of holidays down by keeping credit card charges in place. The travel industry is a high-volume, low-margin business. Please help to keep the cost of holidays down and not penalise


4 travelweekly.co.uk 23 November 2017


“This is extremely unfair. It cannot be right for our members or the end consumer”


those consumers who choose not to pay with a credit card.” If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures, Parliament will be obliged to debate it. Vithaldas said: “Talk to colleagues, family members and customers and urge them to sign this petition.” The group has urged suppliers


to raise commission rates to offset the impact on agents. Vithaldas said this had seen “mixed feedback”, with the majority of suppliers “sitting on the fence” to see how competitors react.


Network Group’s group commercial and finance director, encouraged members to negotiate merchant deals with banks, citing one agent with turnover of £250,000 who saw credit card costs reduced to 1% from 1.8%. “If they say ‘no’, we have other providers we can recommend,” he said. Similar advice was given by


Ross Cooper, Barclaycard’s travel management company business development manager. Speaking at Advantage


Travel Partnership’s Business Travel Symposium this week, he said some bank charges for processing card payments had reduced from around 2% to 0.2%, but said the onus was often on agencies to renegotiate.


Travlaw partner Farina Azam


told delegates the vast majority of operators would increase prices to absorb the costs. She said agents could add a booking fee, but it must apply across the board; offer a non- monetary incentive not to pay by card; or stop taking credit card payments altogether. Speaking at an Advantage Travel


Partnership event, Ken McLeod, director of industry affairs, said agencies would be reluctant to bring in a blanket fee, while other payment methods such as bank transfers would add a hurdle to the sales process, as would selling more ancillaries to cover added costs. “I would say that 90% of leisure agencies will probably never


charge a fee for booking,” he said. › Conference report, page 14


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