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Triton conference special: Agents complain again about direct sales
The familiar theme of direct sales reared its head during questions in the trade panel session at Palma.
One agent wanted to know why Kuoni and other operators printed direct telephone numbers and a website address on their brochures.
But Kuoni sales director Manuel Mascarenhas and Gold Medal head of travel industry sales Lee Marshall both made a robust defence of their policies.
“I come back to the customer,†said Mascarehnas. “If the customer wants to deal directly, we’ll take that sale.
“If we have a close enough relationship, we’ll do everything to support the sale of Kuoni products through your business. But surveys show that two thirds of customers can walk out of a travel agency without making a booking and we need a safety net.
“I can tell you there aren’t many operators that will market their specialist travel agents on their consumer website: that’s what we do.â€
Marshall said it would be naieve to sell all its products only through agents.
“We don’t see enough business coming out of one area, just to be in that,†said Marshall. “It would be naieve to be in just one market.â€
Silversea UK senior vice president and managing director Trudy Redfern said 60 per cent of bookings were repeats and agents automatically received commission if one of their agents rebooked while on a cruise.
Former St Andrew’s Travel managing director Andrew Dickson, now a consultant, said he was frustrated by direct sales when he was a retailer, but told agents they needed to work harder at closing sales.
by Jeremy Skidmore [www.jeremyskidmore.com]
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