TravelMole Fast Conference Special
In the latest TravelMole Fast Conference, Tapestry Holidays managing director Nick Wrightman was honest enough to admit that he had suffered a dreadful year.
Speaking about new opportunities for operators and agents, he said he would have to do more brokering rather than taking huge commitments on hotels (see separate story).
Nick was embarrassed that he was discounting stock on lastminute.com and, consequently, some of his clients were paying £200 less than others for exactly the same package.
The real crime is that there is far too much capacity on the market and decent companies like Tapestry are being dragged down by the business practices of others.
Hoteliers in the Mediterranean are increasingly extending credit to tour operators who are not paying their bills. To be fair, the hoteliers are stuck in a difficult position. They know that if they pull the plug on an operator, they’ll receive nothing, so they cling on to the hope that if they allow them to keep trading, they might just receive their money one day.
Unfortunately, of course, they don’t and all that happens is that they allow companies to carry on trading and offering ridiculous prices which trash the market for everyone. It’s not hard to sell cheaply when you don’t pay your bills.
Golden Sun, which eventually went bust, is not the only company which didn’t pay its hoteliers. Many others are playing with fire and, in the process, distorting the market for others.
In future, hoteliers need to learn the lesson that extending indefinite credit to operators will help no-one and stands a very good chance of ruining some legitimate companies who simply cannot compete with the crazy prices offered by those who are avoiding their responsibilities.
Let’s hope for some sanity next season so that good operators have a chance of surviving and prospering. But, in this market, don’t bet on it.
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