Travel Counsellors chairman David Speakman has hit out at Going Places over its new Personal Travel Advisers initiative.
He said the chain “seem to have been on a desert island for the past 13 years” when it comes to home working.
Going Places has launched a Personal Travel Advisers service for people with busy lifestyles under the umbrella brand ‘Going Places at Your Place’.
Working from home, the advisers will not be paid a salary but will earn commission.
Currently there are six advisers – four in England, one in Wales and another in Scotland – but a spokeswoman said there were plans to have a good geographical spread across the UK.
But Speakman said the chain has been slow to catch on.
“This endorses what we said when we started the company that the future for all agents is to work from home,” he said.
“It is an obvious move for others to try to copy us but Going Places have probably taken so long to respond because of their financial problems. But being empowered to run your own business is as important as where you are physically based.
“The weakness in what they are doing is that their customer proposition will be poor as they will restrict choice and directionally sell, in addition they will be competing against their own shops on the high street as well as being forced into matching their web prices so it won’t be about personal service, it will still be about price.”
He said Travel Counsellors is on track to increase its sales by £30million this year and now has over 630 home based Counsellors.
“We are recruiting one agent per day, so it’s no surprise that Going Places –and others – are trying to get into the market,” he added.
By Bev Fearis
