TravelMole Interview: Bob Hohman, Classic Custom Vacations

Virtuoso’s apparently sudden decision to end its preferred-supplier relationship with Classic Custom Vacations was a “complete surprise,” but one that is harmful to travel agents, according to president Bob Hohman. “I think it hurts travel agents. It hurts Virtuoso. It hurts Classic,” he told TravelMole. A major reason it harms agents, he said, is that they are put into a painful decision. “It puts them in the difficult decision of deciding to do what is right for their customers, or what to do based on what’s handed down from Virtuoso headquarters. There’s no good to come out of this at all,” he said. Virtuoso had been Classic Custom Vacation’s number-one source of travel agency network sales, and vice versa, said Mr Hohman. About 20% of Classic’s business is originated from Virtuoso. No one from Virtuoso was available for comment, but a story in Internet Travel News quoted Virtuoso principals as making the move primarily to offer travelers, travel retailers, and travel providers an alternative to the IAC travel business model. Classic Custom Vacations is owned by InterActiveCorp (IAC), which also owns Expedia, Hotwire, Hotels.com, and other on-line travel companies. The decision came as a shock to Mr Hohman. “It was a complete surprise. There were no warnings. No discussions. No opportunity to have a meeting of the minds in some way and address this concern,” he said. Classic has been among top preferred suppliers for Virtuoso for a decade, admitted Virtuoso CEO Matthew Upchurch. He was quoted as saying it was impossible to ignore recent public statements from IAC, Expedia and others about the future of the travel industry. Another Virtuoso official, President Kristi Jones, was quoted as saying that the travel industry would support two types of companies: “One that commoditizes and competes on price and volume, and one that provides a unique process and/or unique travel experiences truly tailored for each client. “Both the commodities model of IAC and the ‘bespoke’ model of Virtuoso have great potential in the travel industry; we’ve chosen not to blur the line between the two,” he added. Mr Hohman said: ”The whole trend is for everyone to become more integrated and murkier. That’s been going on for many years.” Mr Hohman said he was concerned about the loss of business, but that four out of his five top agencies told him they would remain with Classic. A fifth has not yet committed. “Some of them said they would leave Virtuoso before leaving us,“ said Mr Hohman. He added that Classic has demonstrated its commitment both to the travel agent industry and to its own clients in the millions of dollars it has invested in technology and other improvements. “We believe we’re the best. We really and truly believe also in the agent distribution channel, particularly in the luxury end (of the market),” he said.