Consumers in the north ‘particularly resistant to agent fees’
ABTA Convention Special: Agents may say there is no customer resistance to charging service fees, but this is not the case according to Voyager Travel director, Sandy MacPherson (right). But he added that agents who charge service fees will make more money.
Mr MacPherson (pictured), also an ABTA director, told TravelMole that customers in the north of England, and particularly in Scotland, where his company is based, were not willing to pay for a service they had previously got for free. He said: “Clients that have always done business with us are coming to us for information, then booking at home with carriers like British Airways, because they pay less for the ticket online”.
Mr MacPherson said that in five or ten years, charging fees will be the norm for agents, and commissions will be a thing of the past. But for the moment he said: “It is a brave agent that charges the fee. My independent shop is within 25 yards of five other agents, including multiples, who don’t have to charge fees – what am I supposed to do?”
He said Voyager Travel was now charging customers five pounds per sector. Service fees were initially introduced by agents to cover the cost of booking no-frills tickets. But as more traditional carriers have reduced or axed commissions some agents are introducing fees across the board.
Mr MacPherson said that in the long term, charging fees would benefit the agent. He said: “Agents are definitely making more money from charging fees. If you can be bold and take the decision, you will benefit, but you must bring added value for the fee. That means better quality of service.
“Once everyone is into charging fees, and it becomes the norm, the agent industry will become more profitable.”
Speaking at the ABTA Convention yesterday, ABTA president, Stephen Bath (pictured) said he knew of agents who were charging up to 25 pounds per person for making bookings with no-frills airlines, which he said was often more than what the agent would have received as a full commission.
Mr Bath said he knew of one agent that was making up to 50 no-frills bookings per week charging 25 pounds per booking. He said: “Our rents aren’t dropping by half, so we have to charge”. He said that his agency, Bath Travel was charging a ten pound service charge on all tickets.
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