Covid did ‘far better job’ of showing agents’ value than retailers

The pandemic successfully demonstrated the true value of high street travel agents in a way retailers failed to do despite years of trying, according to the chairman of Miles Morgan Travel.

Speaking in a panel discussion at Travel Weekly’s Future of Travel Conference, Miles Morgan said he spent 16 years stressing to people why they should book through an agent rather than go direct – only for Covid to do a “far better job” in just two.

“I look on the positive side of absolutely everything and that for me was a huge positive [of the pandemic],” he told conference delegates.”

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Morgan said his team initially tried to help as many people who hadn’t booked through the agency with their queries as possible, but that eventually they had to bring an end to the support as staff were “maxxed out dealing with our own customers”.

“We started by helping a lot and then realised it was unsustainable due to the sheer volume of people coming to our shops to ask for help,” he added.

“In the end we told these people we’d love to look after them but were sadly unable to.”

In an attempt to entice these people to book their next holiday with Miles Morgan Travel rather than go direct, Morgan offered each of them a £50 voucher to redeem on a booking – an offer that has already resulted in some new customers.

While Morgan has been encouraged by the increasing number of people choosing to book through high street agents for the “added reassurance”, he said the trade must continue to focus on its customer service levels to ensure the trend continues.

“I think we’re in for 18 months of people coming back to us, but we’ll have to be really good for this to continue,” he said.

“If we are really good we deserve to succeed and flourish, but if we’re not, we’ll simply be a statistic.”