FlightCabs

For many in the travel trade the collapse of another tour operator is not s surprise, it really was a question of who and when.  In fact Goldtrail will not be the last and we can expect further collapses for the next 18 months to 2 years as the economy starts to settle down again. Low cost and budget tour operators are the ones at greatest risk of collapse because they operate at minimal margins and have lower reserves to fall back on during this time of trouble.

Flightcabs used to try and operate a budget service with low cost taxi transfer to the airport but we changed our business model almost 2 years ago and dropped the bottom end of the market and we’ve not looked back since – we’re now a stronger and expanding company.  When we tried to operate the budget service we were not able to provide quality cars and we were not able to get quality drivers and staff because the pay was so poor. Now that we have moved away from the price conscious market we are able to ensure some of the best quality cars in the airport transfer industry and we can now pick and choose our staff. Our staff earn good money and that means we attract the best drivers available.

Operating a tour company is no different. If you price your holidays 20% or 30% below the industry average then quality suffers. If you buy a holiday that’s priced 30% or more below the industry average then you are not going to get reasonable hotels, staff or service. There’s only so much saving that can be made through economy measures – after that you’re cutting back on quality and that impacts on your reputation and ability to build you business on recommendations. You only have to see the reviews about Goldtrail to see that many people were expecting a lot more for their money than they actually got when going on a Goldtrail holiday. Only part of the blame for the complaints lie with the company tough. The customers also have to take responsibility. They must have known that we they bought such a cheap holiday that it was not going to be that good. You don’t get quality cheaply.

There is no doubt that other tour operators will go out of business over the next 2 years and most of those will be operating at the budget end of the market. If you’re buying at the bottom end of the market the you need to be using your credit card to ensure your money is safe and refunded in a reasonable period of time. 

There’s something that never ceases to amaze me with British people and that is their ‘something for nothing’ attitudes that’s endemic in a large part of society at the moment. They pay bucket-shop prices and are surprised when they get below average holidays. There’s a lot of people who need to get a lot more mature in their understanding over costs and quality of product.

One of the things that happened to us when we moved out of the budget market was our market sifted from being predominately British people to overseas customers. Overseas customers now make up 80% of our passengers in the UK. When customers contact us about transfers there is a very clear difference between British people (including ex-pats) and overseas people. The Brits are only interested in price – it must be cheap, cheap, cheap. Overseas customers are more concerned with the quality and the safety of the car, how reliable is the driver, will the driver wait if they get held up at customs or lost luggage, generally the overseas customer is more concerned about service levels than cost.

So next time you book your 7 night holiday in Turkey for £160 including flights and taxes you really do need to get a sense of perspective on what you are buying and what to expect.

Related articles

• Goldtrail collapse leaves British tourists stuck at home and abroad (guardian.co.uk)
• Goldtrail collapse: Q&A (telegraph.co.uk)
• Q&A: Goldtrail collapse (bbc.co.uk)