Marriott’s Direct-Booking Campaign: Agents Angered, But Not Surprised

Travel agents reacted with anger over Marriott International’s new YouTube campaign urging consumers to book direct, but several said the go-direct message comes as no surprise and will not affect their business with the hotel chain.

“[Encouraging direct bookings] is not a new concept,” said Michael Holtz, CEO of SmartFlyer. “Would it have been better if they said, ‘book with a travel professional?’ Yes, [but] honestly who cares?

“Marriott is a great company that’s generally supportive of travel agents but sometimes the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.”

‘It Pays to Book Direct’
ASTA alerted the industry to the campaign although agents we spoke with during this week’s Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas reacted not to ASTA’s statement, but to the campaign itself.

ASTA issued an unequivocal denunciation of the campaign which features three vignettes in which comedienne Grace Helbig interrupts various awkward, roundabout conversations with advice to be direct.

The upshot is her message that,  “It pays to book direct.”

“Suppliers have the right to market their product however they choose, as long as the advertisements are legal and truthful,” said ASTA CEO and president Zane Kerby in ASTA’s statement.

“Marriott’s new marketing campaign, which tells consumers that they can only find the best rates on Marriott.com, is not only disparaging to travel agents, but also misleading to the traveling public,” he said.

Marriott International was not available for comment.

‘Not true’
Paul Ruden, ASTA’s executive vice president for legal and industry affairs, elaborated.

“The statement that they [Marriott.com] have the best rate is not true,” Ruden said. “When they say Serena Williams is the best tennis player, it’s not because there are ten other players [that are best]. We say it because she is at the top of the list of the best.

“That’s what those ads [the YouTube ads] say; they mean we have the best rates,” he added. “Best means best; better than anyone else. The common sense way that people hear this ad and will react when they hear ‘the best rate’ at the website is that they have the lowest rate and that’s just not so.”

Ruden said ASTA isn’t saying Marriott cannot promote itself but it also objects that the company “overtly disparages travel agents in their effort to drive traffic to the website.”

Buying only on price
“It’s definitely a bit of a stab at us,”  W. Josh Whitaker, CTA, said referring to the YouTube spots.

“We know the product inside and out,” said Whitaker who is with Dallas, Tex.-based Rudi Steele Travel. “What type of advice can a website give you on room types or the destination?

“If somebody is buying only on price, they don’t need a travel agent,” he added. “For our agency, it won’t impact us. Our clients are devoted to us.”

Still, Whitaker isn’t surprised by the go-direct message. “We’ve always been bypassed by vendors,” he said. “It’s not new.’

Ellen Markus, with Worldview Travel in Palm Desert, Calif., agreed.

“[Marriott has] always done things like that,” she said. “They’ve always had rates that are non-commissionable, so this doesn’t surprise me. [But] this won’t impact my Ritz-Carlton business.”

Ironic
Other agents commented on the YouTube spots’ cringe factor.

“It’s uncomfortable to watch,” said Patricia Pesti, CTC, president and CEO of Westin, Fla.-based Incredible Destinations. “It’s funny because Marriott really tries the hardest of all the [large hotel companies] to support us. Seeing this doesn’t really make sense.

“We should be the first client of a supplier,” Pesti said. “Once they give the benefit of our commission to the client, I don’t support that [approach]. I have to be able to offer the same rate.”

SmartFlyer’s Holtz, however, struck a philosophical note in his reaction.

“If there is one thing that’s constant in life, it’s change,” he said. “If you can’t deal with change, it’s going to be rough.”