the verticals – thomson, thomas cook and the like – are making no hesitation of their desire to sell more product online.

thomson is currently selling around 50% via the internet. it plans to sell more.

the role it sees for its shops is as specialists and for customers that feel the need to discuss a travel product with human!

as for the independent travel agents, the situation is difficult.

ABTA member numbers are decreasing each year, is a demonstration of the number of high street shops that are closing.

one of the biggest threats does not come from the likes of the online travel agents such as Expedia, Lastminute.com, Ebookers et al, but the tour operators that are increasingly turning their attention to the web.

km, ed, travo

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I find it a bit concerning that the numbers of ABTA members are decreasing. What is really needed is a way of covering online bookings with something like ABTA.

Booking your own package online is great, but if things go wrong there is often no way money can be recouped. Most travel insurances will only cover for the bit that went wrong, i.e. if the villa owner renages on the booking you are not entitled to claim back for your flight or car rental, and vice-versa.

As a villa owner we need people to feel reassured about choosing this type of holiday.

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Lots of food for thought above. First of all there is an alternative to ABTA and if anything ,as discussed on T.R. before the Travel Trust Association offers a better cover than ABTA.
The Recent events around the World have also highlighted why a Travel Agent and bonded Operator are Worth booking with for complete security of mind.

A family of 4 in Great Malvern booked their holiday over the net, and recently tried to add another person, only to find it was a bogus Company and not bonded, they lost approx £1,500.00

A Couple book seperate flights and accommodation directly, their contract is with the owners in a foreign Country, they arrive to be told the Hotel is overbooked and OK Sue me then. Fancy trying to do that in lets say Bulgaria?

The Recent bombings in Marmaris, Tour Operators put emergency plans into place immediatly, looking after the injured and their care, Book direct and there is not that Cover.

Hurricanes, Flooding, Natural disasters, Building Works and lots more Scenarios
spring to mind and in most cases, a reputable tour operator can put emergency plans to Move Clients, Re-locate or re-patriate as necessary.

Self Package at your peril.

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Can’t argue with the facts you put forward Lee, but you have rather left all of us who are villa owners up the proverbial creek.

I make a point to all my guests that they need to ensure they take out an insurance policy which will cover all parts of their trip. Such a policy does not come cheap. If I knew of one company who would offer such cover I would recommend them, but everyone’s travel is unique so people need to shop around. This insurance needs to be taken out as soon as the first party of the holiday is booked – The benefits of staying in a really good private villa are well worth the extra hassle of booking each part of the holiday separately.

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Hit the wrong key there, and submitted this before I had finished. The reason for taking insurance out as soon as a booking is made is that most companies will then cover for cancellation should an untimely event mean you need to cancel he whole trip.

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The internet is changing the way that we do everything. Whilst the demise of the high street travel agent is unfortunate, look on the bright side – the same thing is happening to estate agents!

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Travel agents are suffering along with other people e.g. estate agents, book shops, music shops etc.
They are offering dynamic packaging (DIY in the travel agents) as a result of competition with the Internet. Thomsons sell holiday homes. I think there are many more merges to come and I think virgin will end up buying lots more shops from others who merge. I also think travel agents will start offering other products and changing there methods of selling.
Going to a travel agent has some benefits which the Internet can not offer such as the friendly service, the comfort and safety of knowing they are there for you if something drastically goes wrong and you get stranded somewhere, you can trust where your money is going and it is easier. If you book online, you cannot be sure if a website is a scam and you will not have anyone to complain to. Although if you book online it is cheaper (but you can take quotes into the travel agents and they’ll match it for you.) you do not feel rushed, you can take your time. You can visit a certain hotel and look at past customer reviews.

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Zara: virgin to buy shops? Thomson to sell holiday homes? “if you book online you cannot be sure if a website is a scam”? really, really, really…….

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ye, virgin are going to buy some more travel agents, not shops as in marks and spencers. I only know all this because I have based my coursework assignment on it.

In the Travel Trade Gazette issue 23rd February on page 2 and 3, Virgin Holidays general manager, Stewart Baird said that Thomas Cook and my travel will have 500 too many travel agents and they would like to buy 200.

quote from Internet site: http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/302005207.htm
”Thomson will enable people to surf through foreign homes available at its 750 high street shops via computers and take a virtual tour across the various properties that Thomson is offering in Cyprus, Spain and Portugal. ”

And yes, apparently (biased info as it was a travel agent) some people have given out credit card details online and not recieved a holiday. However, I think this is unlikely to be honest. I think it was some ABTA member trying to scare everyone out of booking online.

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One thing you can do if renting a private villa online is to see if there is an online guest book. If so it is worth reading the comments previous guests have left.

I’m not talking about a guest book on the owner’s own site because that could be fabricated, but a reputable site such as Rentors.org

Try contacting the guests direct if in doubt. Also it can be worth while phoning the owner before parting with any money just to get a feel for the sort of person they are, and ask what guarantees they can offer that the villa will exists and will be vacant when you arrive.

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Zara: a throwaway quote in TTG.

you may find, as the merger plays out, that what Virgin is alluding to is its tie-in with Hays Travel.

Hays has said it would consider buying some shops. other virgin officials have been very lukewarm about the issue ever since…

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[...] websites beat high street offices Written by Mike on June 17, 2008 We all know what happened to travel agents as a result of the internet and a lot of people tend to think that the same thing will inevitably happen to estate agents. I [...]

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