TravelMole Secret Agent – online rivals forcing me to discount
Aaaaarghh….all l want to do is scream. As much as l love my job, my customers are pushing me to the edge of sanity.
Can you tell me what reasonable person thinks that they are going to get a holiday in peak school holiday time for £200 per person? With a kids club, near the beach and at least a 3* rating. If you find one let me know.
I said to one customer: “If you divide £200 by seven nights that equates to £28 per day; you would not even get a hotel in Blackpool for that. What makes you think that you are going to get half board in Spain with flights peak season?”
He actually laughed and agreed with me, but did he book anything…did he heck.
I could not even switch sell him to Turkey (which is my top selling destination at the moment ) which was much closer to his budget. There is just no pleasing some people.
It has been a really tough month for us on the traditional bucket and spade holidays, people are hunting around for the best deals, understandably.
But they have no loyalty, even if you have been the most helpful and have given them a really good deal, they will book with the company that offers them just £10 cheaper than you (and that tends to be the online companies Travel Repbulic, On the Beach, Sunshine and many more).
As much as l hate to discount, as this is all my profit l am giving away, I have found that l have had to just to secure bookings.
I have looked back at my sales for this time last year and l am about 50% down. That is a lot.
I do think also the problem has been the call quality, not the volume as that is plentiful. It can be so demotivating taking call after call and getting nothing. You give out what you think are really good prices and get nothing back.
I have to wonder is it down to people being cautious with the spending that they are not booking or is it down to bad advertising that we are getting poor quality calls? It would be interesting to hear what other homeworkers think.
On a lighter note one of my regulars who l have mentioned before, my little Dominican Queen, called me last week to tell me she is now going out to the Dominican to live with her toy boy lover. And to top it all Channel 4 have made a documentary about her and her shenanigans and it will be aired in the autumn I cannot wait to see it, as over the last year all l have done is speak to her over the phone. It will be interesting to see her in glorious technicolor and also to see the toy boy! Only downside is now l will lose her as a regular.
It will be interesting to see if August is better than July. If not l think shelf stacking at Tesco’s might be on the cards for me.
Phil Davies
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
France prepares for a massive strike across all transports on September 18
Turkish tourism stalls due to soaring prices for accommodation and food
CCS Insight: eSIMs ready to take the travel world by storm
Germany new European Entry/Exit System limited to a single airport on October 12, 2025
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt