Side-swipe at agents by ex-Travelscene sales chief
Agents’ obsession with dynamic packaging and their blatant disregard for commercial deals helped bring about the downfall of Travelscene, the operator’s former sales director John Harding has said.
In a candid speech on Travelscene’s demise – the first time he has publicly addressed the issue – former ABTA president Mr Harding branded retailers as “headless chickens” who are no longer agents for the operator but travel arrangers for consumers.
The result, he said, will see commissions tumble as operators rebel against the trade’s empty promises of support.
Speaking at the CIMTIG debate in London – titled Do or Die – Mr Harding said that Travelscene was unable to sufficiently adapt to the changing market.
“The development of accommodation-only websites with no bonding costs challenged our competitiveness and high commission demands from retailers did not produce relative levels of support,” he said. “The trade continued to diversify like headless chickens to use technology-driven products even though it paid less commission [than us].”
He said one Worldchoice agency even undercut Travelscene by £300 – even though the customer was prepared to pay the brochure price.
“The agent said he felt an obligation to prove he could do it cheaper despite earning less commission in the process,” said Mr Harding. “This was only three weeks after I had renegotiated an agreement with Worldchoice giving them improved level of commission. So much for commitment.”
He predicted the big four operators will not sit idly by and watch agents dictate how, when and to whom they sell the product. Commission will be cut, he said, with operator’s demanding increased sales, not just “mealy mouthed promises from head office”.
Returning to the demise of Travelscene, Harding admitted technology allowed Superbreak’s average selling price to increase while its own transaction values plummeted by 50% for accommodation only bookings.
Attempts to upgrade technology and the introduction of Travelscene Low Cost proved too little, too late, he said.
“We made the right decisions but were thwarted by the speed of change.”
Furthermore, the business of its Belfast-based operation, Just Cities, was “shattered” when British Airways scrapped its UK operations to the Northern Ireland capital.
*More CIMTIG coverage on tomorrow’s Travelmole.
Phil Davies
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