“You know, it’s the low season and you could have gotten good rates yourself,” I said.
“Yes, but with this, I didn’t have to think. My girlfriend sent it to me, asked if I wanted to go and all I had to do was tick one of 3 hotels. No brainer,” she said.
And that is one of the attractions of deals. Besides the great value, it removes the thinking process for customers. The more choices we have, the more we want someone to make those choices for us.
I suspect too that most of us spend so much time making decisions in business and at home that sometimes, it’s just nice to well, not have to decide when you play.
“You order. I’ll eat anything.” Don’t you hear that all the time at dinner tables these days? At such times, I’m often tempted to order sheep’s eyes.
It’s clear though that deal sites are having a huge impact on travel and is affecting hoteliers and all travel agents, online or offline, and as you will read later on, causing huge waves in Taiwan.
Yes, maybe 90% of them will go under at some stage but while they are around, expect lots of disruption.
One hotelier in Phuket told me that he had been approached by at least 30 companies asking him for deals. “We are waiting to see, we’re not sure it will add value to our brand,” he said.
He is in the minority. Hotels in Thailand, particularly Bangkok, are ripe for deals – business is still not returning to the capital city. Corporates may be returning but leisure is soft.
Some hotel groups are asking their individual properties to stay away from deals – it’s a nightmare for rate parity, they tell me. One OTA offered a deal in Thailand which ruffled some feathers among competitors who asked hoteliers why they had offered that OTA that special rate.
In Taiwan, this disruption to the traditional distribution channel is making some people unhappy.
A recent article raised the question of why Groupon, which is not a travel agent, is being allowed to sell travel when local regulations state that you have to be a travel agent to sell travel and those flouting it could face a fine of NT$50,000.
In this particular story, it said that Groupon had been selling a cruise itinerary online and a reporter had posed as a customer and called Groupon to buy the deal. The reporter said the invoice had been issued by a particular travel agent which denied knowledge. Groupon declined comment.
Taiwan travel agents have also raised issue with supermarkets and convenience stores selling air tickets. Sometime ago, Uni Air, the Eva Airways domestic and regional subsidiary, started selling tickets at 7-11 but this was stopped after agents complained, saying convenience stores did not have a travel agency licence.
Daver Lau, general manager of Amadeus Taiwan, told me, “A lot of different forces are at play here. Everyone is trying to go multi-channel but in Taiwan, there’s a lot of protection on the travel agency side. Airlines have been quite restricted in selling tickets directly.”
He said the lines weren’t clear. For example, if you paid for your ticket online and then pick it up at 7-11, it would be looked at differently from when you pay for your ticket at 7-11. At the same time, convenience stores are allowed to sell high speed rail tickets (which travel agents also sell), so it “will be interesting to see how things develop,” said Lau.
Questions such as these will continue to be asked as new players enter to disrupt the traditional model of distribution and customers continue to seek value, convenience and oh yes, the need not to have to think too much about play stuff.
