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Staysure reaches out to trade after being criticised by agents
Travel insurance specialist Staysure, which came under fire from the trade last week, is reaching out to agents to form referral partnerships.
The firm had been accused of using its position as an insurance provider and travel company to take bookings after agents had put in all the work.
Posting on the travel industry Facebook forum Travel Gossip, agents complained they had spent hours putting together complex itineraries for customers, who had then called Staysure for a travel insurance quote.
During the call, they say customers had then been referred to Staysure’s new travel arm, launched last July, which had undercut the agent’s price and also offered a discount on the insurance.
ABTA is currently investigating a possible breach of its Code of Conduct by Staysure’s travel arm, which is an ABTA member.
But speaking to TravelMole this week, Staysure Travel managing director Allie Westall insisted it just comes down to competition.
"It’s a symptom of modern day consumerism, where customers shop around to get the best deal. It’s the modern way of doing things," she explained.
But she said if an agent feels they are referring customers to Staysure in volume – whether that’s 10 or 100 – they should speak to its new partnerships team.
"It’s not that we’re knowingly trying to undermine anyone. We know what it’s like to have business go elsewhere and we often spend a lot of time working on travel and insurance quotes for a customer, who then goes elsewhere," said Westall.
"We respect the work done by agents and in the spirit of partnership, I would urge them to speak to our partnership team."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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