Agents have to get innovative to survive

On Thursday 26 October the keynote speaker at the Trans Tasman Circle lunch was Graeme Wood, CEO of Wotif.com who earlier last week reported significant growth in the internet accommodation booking company.  

The Trans Tasman Business Circle is Australia’s leading business networking organisation fostering Trans Tasman links and attracts leading political, business and sporting identities to speaking their luncheon events. 

Qantas, Air New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand and Accor are prominent tourism and hospitality industry sponsors of the circle.

Wood told the event that in the six years since he established Wotif.com, turnover now exceeds $1 billion per annum and despite many companies seeking to imitate the Wotif.com concept of a reduced fee accommodation internet booking service for hotels Wood claims that his company retains the lions share of this business in Australia and New Zealand. 

He stated that the secret to Wotif’s success was getting his concept out into the market first and retaining a commitment to innovation and excellence, with Wood saying that his primary strategy was to consolidate and solidify his reputation in Australia and New Zealand before he made major inroads globally.

However, a cursory glance at the Wotif.com web site will clearly show that it is possible to book from an extensive choice of accommodation in over 25 countries and Wood told the audience that his company receives extensive feedback on hotel service from clients who book accommodation though his site.

Wotif takes responsibility for following up on client complaints and compliments about specific properties  with Wotif’s hotel partners, with this resulting in Wotif.com becoming more than just a cut price booking service and the company committed to marketing product with an assurance of quality, providing a real service to the clients who book through the system, enhancing Wotif’s  sense of business partnership with hotels listed on the site.

When asked what advice he had for travel agents who felt squeezed by a growing tendency for travellers to book air fares and hotel accommodation direct Wood said that travel agents who will survive into the future should look at being able to provide niche travel services, innovative product and sell their expertise for managing complex travel arrangements rather than “bricks and mortar products like air fares and hotel nights”.

He said that if a travel agent marketed battlefield tours of Europe he would be loyal to them but travel agents who hoped to survive on providing standard air fare and accommodation services were the dinosaurs of the travel business and will suffer the fate of the dinosaurs.

Wood had some challenging advice for destination marketers, claiming that many destination marketing campaigns including Tourism Australia’s controversial “Where The Bloody Hell Are You” campaign were nothing more than very expensive media noise, believing that good destination marketing involves well targeted campaigns pitching relevant messages to niche markets using the media which will be noticed by that market.

Wood believed that many Australian and New Zealand national, state and regional tourism marketing boards suffered from an over reliance on high priced TV and print media advertising when they may be able to save money and better target a message to a relevant market using  alternative net based e media sources.

Report by David Beirman on behalf of The Mole