Sandals Calls Agencies “Misinformed” About Changes to On-Resort Rebooking

Travel agency groups that have expressed frustration with recent changes to Sandals Resorts’ “Soon Come Back” (SCB) program represent a “vocal minority” of Sandals vacation retailers who are “misinformed” about the origin and purpose of the SCB program, according to Kevin Froemming, president of Unique Vacations, Sandals Resorts, Sandals and Beaches Resorts in-house wholesaler and representative. Froemming said changes to SCB will create a more efficient program that will ensure that all travel agencies continue to earn commissions.

Froemming also said agencies that are upset about the SCB changes fail to cite Sandals’ substantial investments in agency commission and marketing support across various programs, and the company’s efforts to create “price parity” for traditional travel agencies challenged by deep-pocketed online competitors.

Sandals’ SCB policy came under fire following a Feb. 22 e-mail to Sandals-selling agencies from Gary Sadler, senior vice president of sales for Unique Vacations, Inc., Sandals’ in-house wholesale company. The message stated that effective March 1, commissions on SCB bookings that were previously eligible for overrides would be capped at 10 percent. Sadler’s email also requested agencies sign agreements outlining several new conditions for SCB participation, including a stipulation that all SCB bookings would be processed exclusively through Unique Vacations, barring agencies from transferring bookings to “third parties,” including other wholesalers.

Following the e-mail Susan Bonesso, president of Travel Agents of Suffolk County (TASC), sent Sadler a letter urging him to reconsider the move. “Under the new plan, our future revenues are eroded, our relationships with our mutual tour operators are undermined, and all while the program is subsidized with our lower commissions,” she wrote.

“We are surprised by some of the negative comments,” said Froemming in an interview Thursday with TravelPulse.com. “But there is always a vocal minority that tries to speak on behalf of the travel agency community as a whole. They are generally misinformed and sometimes they have their own agenda. They are not telling the whole story.”

Froemming said escalating costs had led Sandals to search for ways to continue the program while operating more efficiently. “We pay credit card fees, we have (SCB) staff, and there are operational charges,” he said. “We have to do closing work on those bookings, and there are costs associated with that. So we needed to create a program that protects travel agents and our partners and makes a lot of sense. When we looked at the costs of this program, we wanted to create something that was sustainable for the long term, and was fair for all travel agents to participate in. We think we now have it in a position where it works for everybody.”

Froemming said that despite the letter from TASC, overall reaction to the changes have been positive. “We have only had 1 to 2 percent negative reaction to this,” he said “Most retailers have thanked us for continuing the program.”

Froemming said that despite the changes, the SCB program continues to provide agencies with a way to earn significant commissions on bookings made at the resorts. “An average Sandals booking is $4,000,” he said. “So a Sandals customer goes down to the SCB desk and makes the booking and the travel agent gets the customer to acknowledge they want the booking turned over to the agency. We turn it over to them and the agency earns $400 for less than an hour’s work. For less than a phone call, that’s all we’re asking them to do.”

Froemming also disputed the notion that processing SCB bookings would be more difficult after the changes. “When I hear comments that it’s too much to ask that they call a customer, I wonder what kind of relationship they actually have with that customer,” he said. “Our best travel agencies are those that have relationships with their clients. Most good travel agents are in constant communication with the customers.”

Froemming also said SCB booking represent only a small piece of the overall pie. “The number of bookings done at our resorts is small,” he said. “For every 20 people that walk up to the SCB desk, if we get one booking, it’s a lot. The numbers are small. It’s more about making people aware.”

Froemming said that when the full measure of travel-agent initiatives Sandals offers to travel agents are considered, the company is extremely supportive of travel agents. “We are doing several millions of dollars worth of television commercials per year and in every one there is a call to action that says ‘Call Your Travel Agent,’” he said.

Sandals has also worked to protect traditional travel agencies from large online travel agencies during their rise to prominence in the last several years. “I’ve been president now for nine and one-half years,” Froemming said. “In one of the first meetings I had with [Sandals Chairman] Butch Stewart we took a look at our distribution network as the big national discounters were beginning to come online. They became our biggest producers overnight, [but] we saw their model as a significant threat to our travel agency distribution business. And we took those people on and said, ‘You can no longer price the product any way you see fit. You can’t undercut the pricing in the marketplace and undercut commissions and force everyone to make cuts.’ So we went out in the marketplace and created price parity with our products. A travel agent never has to worry about taking part of their commissions and giving it back to be competitive.”

On the other hand, Sandals may be making an major effort to better explain its plan to agents. According to John Hawks, administrator of the formed Destination Wedding & Honeymoon Specialists Association, a group for agents who sell those categories of travel, Sandals has called an “emergency meeting” of its top-producing Chairman's Royal Club agents during the first week in March at Sandals Emerald Bay in Exuma to discuss their “strong concerns” with the SCB rule changes.

Source: Travel Pulse, http://www.travelpulse.com/sandals-calls-agencies-misinformed-about-changes-to-onresort-rebooking-plan.html