Jim Hornthal, who runs an online travel company, Preview Travel,
predicts the implosion of the "brick and mortar" retail travel
agency business. "There might be a morning," said Hornthal, "when
the agents don't answer the phone because the economics don't make
sense anymore." He added that "customers don't want their
information filtered...they want self-determination and full
choice."
Hornthal's a bright guy but even bright people occasionally
engage in self-serving generalizations. His view isn't shared by
everyone in the computer industry.
No less than PC Magazine, one of the bibles of the computer
business, just published a survey of the leading Internet travel
booking sites and concluded that they were "useful and interesting,
but a traditional travel agent handles most arrangements more
effectively.
"We were disappointed in the vacation services offered," said
the magazine. "Many contained the same prepackaged content licensed
from Worldview Systems, and no site could give us what we truly
wanted: reliable price quotes for vacations that could be purchased
on line."
The magazine also pointed out that a travel agent "won't forget
you after finding you a fare: If a lower fare comes along two
minutes after you book yours, no travel Web site has any means of
letting you know as a travel agent can."
In a cautionary note, PC advised its readers "while you may be
impressed with what you can do, don't forget all you can't so don't
lose your travel agent's number---at least not yet."
David Wardell, in his column in our Jan. 15 issue, noted that
"most electronic booking tools lag behind performance expectations
and are, on the whole, a poor alternative to existing
distribution."
He also pointed out that "beyond motivated self-bookers,
customers are usually quite vocal about their desire to retain a
human, agent-based presence in the travel process. Those who are
most enthusiastic about displacing agent-based distribution should
be cautious about evaluating such a strategy through the prism of
their own values."
Hornthal's Preview Travel has gotten off to a promising start,
sold a bunch of travel online, and established a name for itself.
That doesn't mean that online travel selling has revolutionized the
industry or has any guarantee of doing so.
Anyone who believes that online travel selling isn't here to
stay is foolish. Undoubtedly, it is making progress as another
means of conducting travel transactions. In all likelihood, it will
continue to gain market share as the Internet becomes easier to use
and more universally available.
But that's a far cry from predicting the end of the traditional
travel agency business. Hornthal underestimates the resilience of
travel agencies. More importantly, he overestimates the number of
travelers seeking "self-determination."