p10-11 elite oct24 22/10/08 20:18 Page 10
news conference report
ttglive.com
Elite Conference 2008
October 18-19 ■ Lanzarote
Consortium’s tie-up with Advantage dominated event. Kay McLellan reports
Elite agents fear
Quick guide: Elite & Advantage
■ Elite board voted unanimously to join the
larger consortium, as from November 1.
Advantage fallout
■ Elite Travel Group and Advantage to
operate as one commercially.
■ The combination of Advantage’s 711
outlets and Elite’s 95 locations creates
Kay McLellan.
number of deals would increase his bottom line, an independent consortium with a total
ELITE members hope their board’s decision but feared the move could “dilute” members’ turnover of £2.6 billion.
to join Advantage could bring them higher relationships with suppliers. ■ The two consortia will jointly negotiate
commission, but also fear it could damage However, Lloyd Boutcher, director of Sunvil deals with suppliers, share best practice,
relationships with suppliers. Latin America, said the move was unexpected technology and marketing resources, and
Many backed it as an “inevitable” move that and had “ruffled feathers”. work together on strategy and products.
was necessary for Elite to maintain its position “If the ethos of Elite changes, then we would ■ Elite members to gain access to
in the market, but there was concern that look to work directly with agents that support Advantage’s financial services arm, which
operators used to dealing with a small group us. We want to work with a select band of agents; provides travel insurance.
would not want to pay higher commission rates we don’t want to work in a huge setup,” he said.
reflecting the volume Advantage can deliver. Dino Toouli, sales and marketing manager for
One supplier at the conference warned it Atlantic Holidays, said the tie-up with Advantage
might now have to work directly with agents would strengthen Elite. He added: “Some
ACCOMMODATION-ONLY.
rather than through the consortia. operators give slightly better commission to
Elite member Becky Horn, assistant manager of Advantage because it’s bigger and will now have
Agents urged: Be
Oundle Travel, welcomed the prospect of higher to pay higher commission to Elite members. But
commission, but added: “The only point I’m no one minds that if you deliver on the goods.”
worried about is whether operators will pay it.” Neil Basnett, managing director of Tana Travel,
wary of bed banks
Another agent said having access to a larger suggested the move could lead to a full merger.
BED banks’ business models
were branded “very risky”,
BENEFITS.
with agents warned to be
Tie-up to ‘revolutionise’ groups
wary of the ones they did
business with and the risks
involved.
THE market clout of Elite and Advantage will be benefits for our members for commercial Darren Panto, director of
be “revolutionised” by the smaller consortium earnings that will be made available to them.” Peltours, warned agents Darren Panto
joining the larger group, their leaders believe. Elite chairman Wayne Darrock said: “When we of the dangers posed by
The consortia have been partners since started working with Advantage, we realised the dynamically packaging holidays themselves,
January this year, after Elite signed up to use Ad- similarities between the groups. and of offering Atol protection in light of the
vantage’s Central Advantage Payment System. “The big appeal to us is that the philosophy number of companies that have gone bust and
Advantage chief executive John McEwan said: behind Advantage is very similar to ours. the cost of repatriation.
“I think we can revolutionise “We want to send a clear Agents using bed banks should be sure they
the position of our message to suppliers that had all the necessary documentation relating to
respective groups in the we are a single entity com- health and safety in case of a problem, he said.
marketplace; it will be of mercially. “You book a hotel directly or buy via a bed
tremendous benefit to both. “The key thing for agents bank and you might save a couple pounds – but
“We can provide our is that our commercial base you might not,” Panto added.
business partners with will have strong buying He said some bed banks were doing very well,
even more volume than power and their earning po- but highlighted losses posted by several of them
individually and there will Darrock (left) and McEwan: similar philosophies tential is going to increase.” in the last year (TTG analysis, October 10).
10 24.10.2008
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