to think high street travel agents as a business model is dead?

[OtraCosaMariposa]

Just seen the news about Hays buying up the 500+ stores closed after Thomas Cook collapsed. This is undeniably great news for the staff who were wondering how they were going to pay the bills.

But won't we be here again in a few months/years? The high street travel agent is a relic of the past. People are buying holidays online. All the information they need is there and high street travel agents are struggling.

There is a gap in the market for highly specialist knowledge - there's a small travel agent near me which organises walking tours on the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. All the staff are Spanish speakers, have done the walk, really know their stuff. Staff in a general travel agency cannot ever have that level of knowledge.

If I had a friend/relative rejoicing that their job had been saved I'd be happy for them - but advising them to move into another job ASAP.

I tend to agree.
I have for years booked everything myself and see no value a travel agent can bring.
Although some people do like the boss fuss aspect, and I think it works well older people perhaps especially those without or don't know how to use the internet- weather that's enough to keep them in business though?

Ugh excuse the typos and spelling!

Not really. Managed well the shop model can and does work well - often the target market for these shops is cash buyers / people who want to pay in instalments / non-English speakers / people flying long haul or on specialist tours. Many of the shops that work well also have visa services attached to them too.

I am from an Indian background so have seen how vital these places can be. For example no Muslim I know books a Hajj tour online and many Thomas Cooks in Birmingham for example would offer the booking service, even contacting individual hotels to ensure they had the availability to book cars / guides etc. No Indian I know would risk getting a booking wrong online if they couldn’t speak English - many of the people I know used Thomas Cook to build the packages they wanted to Dubai / India and would happily pay extra if it meant nothing went wrong.

But that's what I mean - specialist services for people wanting to do the Hajj, or walk the Camino, or go backpacking round Uganda.

Not places selling a fortnight in Majorca.

Er most of the people I know also used thomas cook for Majorca / europe too.

There's nothing wrong with using Thomas Cook for package holidays! They did it very well.

But every year more of us are booking online through a package holiday website. Not sitting in a store with a sales assistant. That's the bit of the business which is outdated, not the package holiday in itself.

Hays Travel is a family run business and appears successful, so they must have a business model that works better than the Thomas Cook one. What I’d be worried about is the number of TC stores in close proximity to Hays. I don’t see how two or more close together is sustainable.

Not sure hays would have bought them if that was the case. They also have a huge online presence-I would imagine they didn’t pay full whack either. There is no doubt they will close some of them going forward as you won’t have tc and gays in same city but good news for now.

Hays-I’m sure gays and tc can coexist in the same city happily!

I don't know. After years of doing it myself I've started using travel agents again.

TC staff are also, on the whole, younger and more experienced / better trained than most travel agency staff. My guess is they bought the stores in part to try and refresh staffing too

I've never booked a package holiday. I've never used a high street travel agent.

I don't understand the business model.

Part of the fun for me is all the research before hand. Although I'd be screwed without the man in seat 61!!

I think it depends on what your after but I think it gives piece of mind, they can sort out so much and if things go wrong you have someone to complain to. I had to council half a holiday in the past and it was very easy going inot the ta, I think it would have been more hardwork explaining over the phone. (Once I finally would have got through.)

I'm glad people have been given the opportunity to maybe get their jobs back but I do think it is quite ambitious of Hays to take all the branches on.

I haven't been in a travel agents in about 20 years. I really hope Hays don't go the way of Thomas Cook.

I agree. I haven’t set foot in a travel agents for years. I don’t know anyone my age who uses them. Even my Grandma books her flights online now.

I just don’t think they can compete with low cost airlines and cheap hotel booking sites. You can find all the details about a destination online these days too so you don’t even need a travel agent for information.

I see other major holiday firms following suit.

I think Hays might be able to make a success of it as they're not as loaded with debt as Thomas Cook were. Servicing their debt was the problem after they were loaded with it after the buyout. As I understand it, Hays are just taking on the existing shop leases.