TRAVEL AGENTS


Mary McKenna


Travel Weekly webcasts: The question of whether agents should charge a booki UK OPERATORS


Travel Weekly’s Lucy Huxley


Shirley Brooke


Alistair McLean


David Walker


Diana Evans


Harold Burke


Travel Weekly’s Katie


McGonagle


‘Agents need to consider charging a booking fee’


A


gents should consider charging booking fees and insist on stronger supplier guarantees for


customers in the future, according toTravel Weekly webcast panellists. Alistair McLean, owner of


Dorking Travel, said: “If we charged a fee, I could say to a customer, ‘If anything goes wrong with this holiday, in terms of the fact you can’t go anymore, I’m going to keep my commission or a portion of that commission. So I’ll refund you this, but not for the work that I’ve done’. “We don’t put a value on what we


do. I’ve spoken to friends in different professions and asked, ‘For house purchases no longer happening, are you refunding the conveyancing fees?’ They look at me as if I’ve grown two heads. ‘Of course we’re not, we’ve done all the work,’ they say. “I tell them I’ve done all the


work for a holiday that’s now been cancelled, and I’m having to refund the lot. They don’t understand it. They say our industry needs to put a fee on what we do.” But McLean warned: “Every


10 28 MAY 2020


travel agent and tour operator has to do it, otherwise it won’t work.” David Walker, of Not Just Travel


member The Travel Snob, suggested getting confirmation in writing from operators that could be passed to clients to offer clarity and reassurance. “The difference now is that we’re


explaining to the customer the ‘what ifs’,” he said. “It’s about them knowing that, if something does go wrong, we will just move the dates or whatever. And I’m getting stuff in writing.” McLean said customers were


becoming increasingly nervous about the security of their money. He said some who would previously have been happy to take a refund credit note were now demanding refunds instead. Mary McKenna founder of Dublin-


based Tour America and Cruise Holidays, said it had never been more important for agents to tell customers they are “licensed and bonded”. “In the past it wasn’t really


important to them,” she said. “But as travel agents, our value proposition is that we are licensed and bonded, and that means the customers’ money is financially protected.”


Domestic specialists set their sights on late-summer sales


D


omestic operators believe UK summer holidays will see a “slow start” amid uncertainty around the


lifting of the UK lockdown, but say short lead times means there is still hope for a spike in late bookings. Great Little Breaks managing


director Diana Evans said: “There is a trickle of bookings coming through for July and August but September, October and November certainly seem to be peak months for us at the moment, so fingers crossed.” A recent GLB survey found 60%


of customers wanted to take a break within three months of lockdown being lifted, although only 17% said they would do so in the first month. “Traditionally, the UK’s short-break


market has seen a late lead-in time for the summer, so all things being well, and if government restrictions are lifted in July, we might start to see a spike for last-minute bookings for July and August.” Shirley Brooke, head of leisure sales


for GP Associates, said independent hotels she represents are “frustrated


September to


November seem to be peak months at present, so fingers crossed


because there’s a slight lack of guidance as to when they can open”. She said many hotels were getting


enquiries and there was “huge, pent-up energy” for domestic travel, adding: “A lot of people who would potentially take a villa in France or Italy now want to go to the UK.” Harold Burke, sales director for


escorted tour operator Grand UK Holidays, said the return to domestic travel would be slower for his company’s predominantly over-55s market, with recovery not expected until at least November. The operator has extended the


cancellation of all tours until August. Burke said Grand UK


Holidays’ customers are in “the most vulnerable age category” and that it would be irresponsible to encourage them to travel currently.


travelweekly.co.uk


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