When my left hand cuts off my right hand, which one wins?
by John Dalton

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The airlines, hotels and corporate agencies have condemned one another for years. The disagreements between suppliers and brick and mortar agencies are endless. Airlines and GDS companies have been at each others throats over the past several years. Then we have the online agencies versus the traditional agencies dislike for each other. Trade associations, host agencies, trade publications, convention bureaus, consolidators and many other entities of the travel industry all have their axes to grind with each other.

Add to this the arrogance of our governments to tax our industry to death and not recognize us as a major contributing factor to the economy leaves tourism as one of the most divided and under appreciated industries in North America. So it is only logical the home based agents will join the never ending game of fragmentation and become a member of the love/hate relationship club of travel. What causes this annomosity?

The airline and hotel loyalty programs are abundant yet each traveler belongs to multiple frequent flyer programs. They participate in a variety of hotel point programs. There is little loyalty as clients accumulate miles and stays with as many airlines and chains as possible.

An agency has had a client for years and suddenly the client books on line. The client moves from one company to another. Suppliers go direct to take clients away from agencies to reduce their cost by not having to pay a commission for the client. In every one of these scenarios there is no industry growth. We are simply recycling clients.

What are the strategies for many companies to recycle clients? They provide discounts or product as the hook to attract the travelers. . In other words, they sacrifice portions of their profit to “buy” the recycled client. They are not increasing the size of the customer base. The result is lower profits and stagnant growth.

It is time to put the swords down and unify the industry. Instead of bad mouthing others we should be working collectively to attract more people to spend their dollars to travel. We should devote our attention to more rapidly growing or industry.

In my next article I will show how the home based agent community can achieve this better than any other travel entity. But for now I like to set the stage by asking a question. When my left hand cuts off my right, which one wins?