ONLINE VERSUS TRAVEL AGENCY
The case for the live agent versus the online website
With the popularity and ease of use of online travel booking sites, it seems that many are foregoing agencies for the “do it yourself approach” in order to benefit from last minute discounted prices or other special offers. Yet, travel agencies insist that they bring added value to travel planning and provide services or reassurances that online booking sites can’t. “It is true that online booking has become very popular, but the role of the travel agent remains necessary due to many factors. Today when you book online there is no one to really advise you on the kind of hotel you want and even if you do check the online reviews, it is not the same. We as travel agents, and based on our past experience with our clientele, are able to advise clients on which hotels or destinations suit them best,” says Nakhal. Another reason Nakhal gives to justify the need for travel agents is that “everything is good until something goes wrong and when that happens, travel agents have a role to help in crisis management.” In his opinion websites are impersonal and follow guidelines blindly, so if a traveler books a trip online through a booking engine and something goes wrong, there is no one to negotiate with. He gives the example of how, when the July 2006 war took place and Lebanon’s airport closed for 30 days, Nakhal was able to reimburse the full amounts paid for planned trips, with no cancellation fees, to their clients, while those who had booked directly through Nakhal’s partners (such as Costa or Club Med) were not able to get their money back. “We are their partners and they know we are serious. The rules online are strict, and there is no room for maneuvering,” he explains. Modawar explains that the role of the travel agent is especially viable in Lebanon where people are more used to having services provided for them rather than doing things for themselves. “Lebanese still like having a personal contact or someone to be able to refer to, and would pay extra to guarantee satisfaction,” he says giving the example of Wild Discovery, which plans to launch two more offices in Lebanon in 2016 as evidence of how big the demand for travel agencies still is in the country. Yet, the prevalence of all the online travel booking sites cannot be denied and although the travel agents interviewed for this article do have an online presence, they say that people still tend to book their trips at the physical agency. “Today what we are facing in Lebanon is, from our experience, that people are still visiting our agencies and taking our offers but also having a look online to compare and benchmark prices. The internet lacks the complete package of airlines, hotels and programs but instead has pieces that you blend on your own. This type of travel has its clients but these are not our core clients who are people who are still coming for our agency for the consultancy and expertise,” says Modawar explaining that this trend of online browsing and benchmarking places a positive pressure on them as agencies to always be up to date on the best hotels and deals. Boutros gives the example of Go Kurban, their travel booking website which he describes as a “dynamic catalogue and online agency”, saying that in the five weeks since they launched (at the time of the interview late June) they have had more than 21,000 original users and 25,000 visitors but that people have yet to adopt the website and actually book online instead of just browsing the packages. “People are still afraid of online payment but I think it is just a process of adoption and we will get past that,” explains Boutros, enthusing about the plans they have to increase their online presence which include a new mobile website and a regional expansion of what he calls a “hybrid online agency”.
Chartered planes make summer traveling more convenient and less time consuming. Nakhal cites Vienna, Austria, and the Czech Republic as the ‘new’ destinations they are promoting this summer, through chartering direct flights to these places. “This makes it much more convenient for travelers who no longer have to take multiple connecting flights, which is why we consider this a creation of a ‘new’ destination, as chartered planes really encourage people to travel to these cities”. Nakhal explains that during last summer they chartered direct flights to Dubrovnik, Croatia, and Montenegro. This saved travelers from having to take three connecting flights to get to these places, and thereby opened a new market for these destinations, attracting both the high and medium end travelers.
“CHARTERED FLIGHTS ARE GOING
EVERYWHERE.”
According to Boutros, this summer offers a lot of new destinations as “chartered [flights] are going everywhere.” For example, Barcelona is fast becoming a popular travel destination this summer partly because Kurban chartered Vueling Airlines to travel twice a week from Beirut. Kurban has also opened up Belgrade, Serbia, as a new destination for the Lebanese this year through collaboration with their airline partners.
THE LODGINGS PLAN
In parallel to planning chartered flights, travel agencies secure hotel rooms at the selected destinations early on as well. Boutros explains the process by highlighting their choice of hotels, which is based both on the selected destination and on their experience in past years. “Most of our rooms for the summer are prepaid at the beginning of the year and it’s an internal strategy