Agents Flex Their Muscle & Woman’s Day Responds

The travel agency community showed its mettle this week with its furious reaction to a WomansDay.com article that stated inaccuracies about the travel agency business in a decidedly anti-agent tone.

Travel professionals’ aggressive response sent the message—loudly and clearly—that they are ready to defend the value of their services and will not tolerate misinformation about their role.

Their action also demonstrated that travel agents can be a powerful force.

Article went viral
The online Woman’s Day article, originally titled “10 Things Travel Agents Won’t Tell You,” went viral in the travel agency community at the beginning of the work week.

By Tuesday, hundreds of agents had posted angry comments on the Woman’s Day website.

ASTA too was quick to strike back. By Tuesday afternoon it had sent a letter defending agents to the editor of Woman’s Day.

Bias debunked
The article’s assertion that supplier commissions bias agents’ recommendations was a prime rallying point in agents’ response to Woman’s Day.

Agents are “making commission and maybe even a bonus for booking your travel. This means they’re trying to influence your vacation decisions based on perks on offer at that particular time,” the article’s author wrote.

In its letter to Woman’s Day, ASTA strongly refuted the statement. “No agent in his right mind would risk the loss of a client by an unjustified slanting of advice or booking for a few dollars,” it wrote.

ASTA also sent Woman’s Day its own article—titled  “8 Reasons Why Booking with a Travel Professional Creates Value”—saying it would “have better served your readership.”

Article is revised
Woman’s Day had revised its article by Tuesday evening. The new version deleted one of its 10 points about travel agents: an item asserting that agents don’t give customers options for cheaper flights because they are influenced by airline commissions.

Woman’s Day also tacked on a statement at the end of the article, thanking the “hard-working agents” who commented.

“We recognize that travel agents provide valuable services that help women’s vacation dreams come true. We’re very sorry if that didn’t come through with this article,” it read.

“Woman’s Day has thrown in the towel,” one travel agent said, on learning of the magazine’s reaction.

The magazine said it plans to highlight travel agency services in its October issue and in a December story on WomansDay.com.

Power of swift action
The magazine’s back pedaling illustrates the “power of overwhelming response; the power of quick response,” said Colleen Gillette, owner of New Paltz Travel in New Paltz, N.Y. “All this happened within 24 hours. ASTA [and others] acted very quickly.”

Among those who spoke out was Travel Leaders Group. On Tuesday it informed its associates that CEO Barry Liben was sending a letter to Woman’s Day editor-in-chief Susan Spencer protesting the “missteps and major errors in the article.”

In an email to associates, Travel Leaders Franchise Group president Roger Block said, “[I] want you to know how seriously we take this egregious representation of our travel agency community.”
 
By Wednesday some suppliers joined the fray by voicing their support of agents.

Royal Caribbean International issued a statement saying, in part, “In response to the recent WomansDay.com article, Azamara Club Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, and Royal Caribbean International strongly value the travel agent community.

“We remain committed to the travel agent community and will continue to support them in the promotion of the value of cruise vacations and growing their businesses.”

Travelzoo
One source quoted in the Woman’s Day article was an executive with Travelzoo, which publishes travel deals. Woman’s Day quoted Jaime Freedman, group publisher at Travelzoo.com, as saying Freedman “suggests ‘being your own travel agent.’”

Woman’s Day also cited Freedman in an item stating that agents don’t tell customers about last year’s DOT rule change regarding air ticket refunds.

Christie McConnell, marketing director for Travelzoo, told Travel Market Report that Freedman’s comments were not meant to be anti-agent. “Apologies if that’s the way it came off,” she said.

“We publish a lot of deals with a lot of travel agencies, a lot of cruise agencies. We work hand in hand with them and consider them partners.”