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By
Christopher Clough
Dot Com Magazine
The advertisements in print and on radio and
TV are memorable and inescapable. Have you forgotten the
sight and sound of a crooning William Shatner for Priceline.com?
While
some dot-com industry sectors are struggling, Internet-based
clearinghouses for airplane tickets, hotels and rental cars
like Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and Priceline are doing
quite well.
And
if business is increasing at those places, it must be decreasing
elsewhere - meaning travel agencies are losing some portion
of their airline business.
Added
to that, most airlines no longer offer commissions to travel
agents, taking away another revenue source for agencies.
"From
an airline booking standpoint, yes, it has impacted us,"
said Brian Hurley, marketing director for Oshkosh-based
Fox World Travel, which has 14 locations in Wisconsin including
one in Green Bay. "When you take away up to 20 percent
of your gross income, certainly that's
an impact."
Enough
impact that some agencies could get run out of business?
"It has and is happening," Hurley said. "It'll
be difficult for small agencies to compete, if they don't
have a Web site, online booking, a solidly developed relationship
with the airlines, solid corporate
client base."
But
some Green Bay area independent agencies said they will
survive the loss of airline ticket bookings, because there's
much more to their business than that.
"Diversity
(in services offered) is huge for agencies right now,"
Hurley said. "I think some (agencies) could close,"
said Elizabeth Saunders, travel counselor with Omega Travelers
World, which has three offices in the area. "But there's
other things to sell besides airline
tickets.
"We
knew people would be (using the 'Net). But that gives us
more time to work on more interesting things like tours
and cruises."
<b>REAL
PEOPLE ON THE PHONE</br>
Saunders said she's heard of some agencies turning down
simple airline ticket bookings because of the loss of commissions,
although she added she didn't know of any in the area that
have taken that step. She said agencies have upped their
booking fees to make up for
the loss of commissions, which also is likely to send prospective
flyers to the Internet.
"It's
difficult to tell (if the Internet has taken business),"
said Martha Nicholson, founder/president of Sunshine Travel,
which has offices in De Pere and Howard and is one of the
busiest independently owned agencies in the country. "I
think Sept. 11 scared people away
from traveling, people are still a little skeptical, and
that has affected ticket sales."
Nicholson
said the biggest reason agencies likes hers - and Hurley's
and Saunders' - will survive is personalized customer service.
"I
think most people are taking a peek at the Internet sites
and then calling their agents," she said. "I don't
think the smaller agencies are threatened any more than
the big chains. Where else can you go in without an appointment
and have an agent spend half an hour with you
just to get your tickets?"
"In
a smaller community like this, I think the majority of people
see the advantage of personal service. (One of Nicholson's
clients) was almost stranded on vacation; because of a late
flight, she was going to miss her cruise. She called me
at home, and I managed to get her a flight where she could
get on the cruise at the first port of call.
"She'll
never forget it. If she was doing this on the 'Net, where
would she go? Probably she'd have booked a flight back home,
because she'd never catch up to the ship."
"We've
had a couple people call us who had problems with Internet
bookings," Saunders said. "If you have a problem
with the tickets, a missed connection, who can you call?
And what if you make a mistake on the computer? When you
call us, a person answers the phone.
"I
had a lady who booked on the computer, a schedule change
happened, and the airline would not help. She didn't know
who to call. We can do something about it, get on the phone
with the airline - we have good relationships with certain
carriers. We're better
problem-solvers."
<b>BEEN
THERE, DONE THAT</b><br>
That leads to another advantage people working in agencies
say they have over the dot-coms - work experience.
"We
can get you seats the airlines won't give you, can get seat
maps and assign seats," Saunders said. "You can
do that on the 'Net, but you have to know what you're doing.
It's time consuming to shop on the Web, too."
"We
work with travel issues every day," Nicholson said.
"Those Internet systems can get someone into a lot
of trouble. If you book a nonrefundable ticket and discover
half an hour later you booked the wrong date, I could correct
that immediately."
"We
can tell you where to stay, the best hotels and beaches,
and where to avoid," Hurley said. "That's because
we've been there. We've stayed in those hotels, walked those
beaches."
Agents
said people looking to fly outside the United States, or
to a location requiring changeovers, are likely not prepared
to handle the bookings themselves.
"We
found that once someone is looking for travel outside our
borders, they come to us," Hurley said. "Whenever
the travel is more complicated, if it's multiple stops or
a new experience, you want to make sure your vacation is
right. (Agencies) make sure your travel is
as smooth as possible."
Besides,
the agents said they can usually find airline seats at or
near the same price as the Internet sites offer. Almost
all work from an automated computer system that searches
out the best fares, just
as the dot-coms do.
"We
look at other sites that can capture fares," Hurley
said. "We know where to search, and that saves the
client time and money in the long run.
And
that professional experience plays into potentially lower
fares too, they said.
"The
prices go up and down throughout the day," Saunders
said. "You might see tickets on the Web for $250 and
that sounds good. But if you don't buy right away, look
10 minutes later and it's gone.
"The
'Net also doesn't tell you when cheap fares apply. Say you're
looking for Friday. You'll get the info for that day, but
it won't tell you Thursdays are cheaper."
"When
a flight is not sold out, the airline wants to fill the
plane," Nicholson said. "Their tariff department
will get lower fares for that flight. However, once a few
seats are bought, the price may go back up.
"From
what I understand, many of the flights on the Internet,
you have to make a connection or double connection to get
the lower fare, where for $20 more you could get a more
direct flight."
"You
might find the best fare that day, but it might not be the
best the next day," Hurley said. "If you do get
a lower fare later, we can reissue in the form of a voucher."
All
of which comes back to the customer service abilities agencies
said will keep their offices up and running in the face
of increasing competition.
"The
travel agents' focus never changes," Hurley said. "We
still work for the client, not the vendor. That's something
the Web sites don't offer.
"We're
all aware that the onlines are out there, but we're still
healthy."
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