Perhaps Darren, it’s because the specialised travel Agencies know what they’re talking about , and have a greater range of Independent Product to advise their clients about.

Select World Travel for instance is also an AITO SPECIALIST TRAVEL AGENCY and has access to AITO Tour Operators that are not sold through the Multiple agencies and also to any other Agency that is not an AITO member
( Association of Independent Tour Operators)

If there is such a thing as a ” Traditional Travel Agency” then we are probably the closest role model.

The Multiples, i.e Thomson,Going places,Thomas Cook, etc are all owned by their Tour Operators , TUI, Mytravel ( airtours), First Choice etc
Over the years they have shot them selves in the foot, offering ridiculous discounts,convincing staff that they can only sell own brand product and cutting out the Independents by reducing commission levels to an extent that many Independents no longer rack their brochures.
We have seen many Changes to the Multiples and How their Parent companies operate over the years.
The Name Intasun used to be as big as TUI, and it’s collapse saw the Changes being made with the BIG 4, How on Earth Mytravel has been allowed to continue when it was so close to collapse is beyond me!!

Now we have the closures and Job losses by the merger of Thomas Cook and Mytravel and soon a similar thing happening with TUI and First Choice.

It’s no surprise that the Multiples are moaning about lack of custom, after all when have they really been interested in their Customers?

Find yourself a Good Independent and trust them.

When your computer says: The flight is full
We say: We can easily check for alternative airlines and other airports close to you.

When your computer says: The hotel is full
We say: We´re happy to ring the hotel and check for rooms extra to our allocation

When your computer says: You can only book a standard room
We say: We´re pleased to give price quotations and book room upgrades and suites

When your computer says: Booking on-line is cheapest
We say: We offer the lowest price and best possible value through our price promise guarantee

When your computer says: Why not try this hotel?
We say: We´ve inspected all our properties and operate strict quality control standards – we only select the best

When your computer says: Multi-centre?!?!? & Tries to throw you out!
We say: We´re happy to create a tailor-made itinerary for a twin or multi centre holiday with all transfers included

When your computer says: Follow this link for further information
We say: We can offer you extensive travel knowledge and expertise and what´s more we´ve actually visited all our featured destinations and resorts

When your computer says: Error
We say: We are committed to meeting and exceeding your expectations but in the unlikely event that something does go wrong, we´re here to help

When your computer says: I´m acting as an agent not a principal and we aren´t responsible
We say: We always act as the principal, we care about you and all elements of your holiday including your enjoyment and safety

When your computer says: Unable to process payment for this booking
We say: After spending 45 minutes on line there´s nothing more annoying than being dumped out of a website on the credit card payment page! Simply book with your local independent travel agent or call us with your credit card details

When your computer says: Book your next holiday with us
We say: we value all feedback after you´ve returned from holiday and we´ll enter your name in a Champagne Draw if you send us back a completed questionnaire

And If your Booking with a Multiple, The Computer is likey to say NO

Credit where it’s due, Lee: the second half of your comment comes from dontbookyourholidayonline.com, which was set up by Classic Collection Holidays. Its MD wrote a good post for Travel Weekly Blog promoting the site earlier this week.

Darren, I think you’re probably right - the people ‘missing’ from the multiple stores are the ones buying easy trips that they don’t feel they need to book face to face.

The busiest I’ve seen any agency for ages, for what it’s worth, was when I visited the St Helens branch of Co-op Travel to film one of their agents for a TW competition. 10am on a weekday and not an agent free. And it’s a very big branch.

If Lee can get away with a near blatant plug for his agency, I will do the same for our Special Report page on the Travolution website.

The Long Tail of Travel explains exactly why specialist agencies will be those that survive the enormous changes in consumer behaviour.

And, I suspect, Lee will be one of those…

The long tail of travel

But let’s also get some perspective here. The reason why the public are apparently abandoning the Big Four retail agencies is not because of poor customer service - consumers have far more choice in terms of product and price via the web.

Simple…

NB: Echo Nathan. Shame on you Lee for the blatant rip-off from Classic Collection.

I’m Sure Nick Munday Won’t Mind, especially as Classic Collection Holidays have just been voted by AITO Specialist Travel Agents as The Best Aito Tour Operator for their Outstanding service and Product and also Were the TTA members choice for best European operator recently and won a coveted Bluey award.
It’s nice to see for a change a Tour Operator who genuinely should Win these awards winning for a change, compared to some Operators whose names, regularly feature as Winners, who don’t deserve to win.
In fact one of our clients in Madeira recently celebrated a special 25th Anniversary, Sue Smith the Classic Collection representative in Madeira went out of her way to present our Clients with a 25 year old Bottle of Madeira. I Couldn’t get one of the big 4 to do the same!
And Kevin not really a Blatant plug for our Agency but all Independents, and the fact that Nick Munday’s thoughts on reasons for clients to consider not booking on line are echoed by many and just helping to get the message out there.

Too much to read here but as a holidaymaker, I do not think I will use a travel agent again. We love organising our holiday and yes we understand the risks with this.

I Would like to ask Debbie the following?
When Organising your own Holiday, do you still visit Travel agents to collect Brochures?

Do you spend any time with the Travel Agent asking for advice on a particular destination, resort, Country, Region or Hotel ?

Do you collect the brochures from a Travel Agent and then telephone the tour Operator direct ?

How much time would you say you spent researching and booking your holiday from time of thinking about a holiday to actually booking?

Thanks in anticipation Debbie for your thoughts

Lee,

Why would I visit a travel agent when I am organising my own holiday, that is why it is called Do It Yourself isnt it?

I have no communication with travel agents whatsoever. I book my flight with the airline and our hotel online with the hotel direct.

We save money doing it this way, but that could because we book out of season when the kids are at school.

At first it took us a few days to organise our holidays, but because we have experience of the internet, it takes an hour or two at the most, and most of that time is taken up with looking for reviews of hotels.