Confusing messages from Flight Centre and S8 – direct bookings or the trade path?

While yesterday Flight Centre announced that it has upgraded its well-established direct sell www.quickbeds.com accommodation web site to give travellers greater direct access to last minute rates at properties throughout Australia, both S8 and Flight Centre also warned operators with direct sell policies that they risk being squeezed out of retail distribution.

Flight Centre’s release to the consumer press yesterday said that customers can now book www.quickbeds.com’s last-minute specials direct, which in some cases are 70% cheaper than standard prices, up to 28 days in advance directly on the website or via a dedicated Hotel Hotline call centre (Telephone: 1800 002 333).  Previously, the discounted rates were available up to 14 days in advance.

The added, that in another bonus, www.quickbeds.com has also adopted a Price Beat Guarantee to ensure its customers secure additional bargains at hotels, apartments, bed and breakfasts, hostels, resorts and motels throughout Australia.  This guarantee means www.quickbeds.com’s Hotel Hotline team will beat any available accommodation price offered by competing Australian registered businesses and websites.

Flight Centre Limited Managing Director Graham Turner said the upgrade was part of the company’s ongoing strategy of strengthening its overall sales network of leisure and corporate travel outlets, websites and call centres.

“We expect the broader last-minute offering and the extended guarantee will prove popular with www.quickbeds.com’s customers because there is now greater opportunity to secure a bargain,” he said.   “Importantly, this is not restricted to online customers.

“Customers that prefer telephone service or want to take advantage of the Price Beat Guarantee can also phone www.quickbeds.com’s Hotel Hotline and book with a specialist consultant”.

“This human element is an important distinction, as is www.quickbeds.com ’s year-round booking facility”.

“This allows visitors to book rooms during the busiest times of the year, when most properties will be full and last-minute rates are rarely going to be available.”

www.quickbeds.com  which features 20,000 properties worldwide, is one of a number of sites in Flight Centre Limited’s increasingly popular leisure online network in Australia.

Flight Centre omitted to mention if this would have any impact on the viability of their agency chain by consumers booking direct rather than through agencies.

A report in another trade publication today says that Flight Centre and S8 both yesterday warned that wholesalers who wish to do business with them in future must be relevant, innovative, competitive and not in competition with agents, i.e. they must not sell direct!

Transonic Travel managing director Peter Lacaze also admitted that S8’s retail shops will start to favour in-house wholesalers, putting further pressure on suppliers, saying “If there are two brands with similar product, we’ll favour the one which doesn’t have a direct policy”.  “An obvious assumption is that we plan to favour our own wholesale businesses to drive synergies and financial gain. Of course this is true”.  “To suggest otherwise would be to insult your intelligence.” He added however that too narrow a focus may risk creating “new enemies and new competitors”. “It can also mean that our own internal operations are not exposed to market forces and may become uncompetitive”.

For the S8 retail brands to stay competitive we will always need to offer a wide range of products.” Flight Centre Global Marketing Manager Keith Stanley, referring to direct sell operators, said it would “not fund competitors”.

Keith Stanley was unavailable for comment this morning prior to loading this story, but of course the Mole would be delighted to take comments or responses from both Keith Stanley of Flight Centre and Peter Lacaze of S8, both companies operating significant direct sale businesses in addition to trade operations.

Hedging their bets perhaps?

Report by The Mole