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Review highlights issues for retailers Hazel Dawson, Focus Travel Partnership’s Commercial Manager outlines some of the issues and frustrations third party sellers of rail have faced and how the new Great British Railways can have a positive impact
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s the leading business travel consortium for the independent and SME sector with 50 travel management company (TMC) partners (or business travel agents), Focus Travel Partnership had the opportunity to present its Partners’ issues to both the first and second stages of the Rail Delivery Group’s Retail Review and was pleased to have their frustrations recognised. Pre-pandemic, Focus Travel Partnership had a collective buying power of £1billion, £125 million of which was rail revenue, and its size enables the Focus buying team to negotiate mutually beneficial partnership agreements with suppliers across multiple travel sectors including aviation, technology and rail. During the pandemic, Focus Travel Partners have worked tirelessly to ensure that their clients who still had to travel on essential business could do so in a responsible way. Focus Travel Partners increased their dedication to duty of care and high service levels. Before the end of November 2021, domestic travel recovered at a steady pace – giving rise to a greater demand for rail – which was elevated by the heightened interest in sustainable travel. As both domestic and international travel remain complicated, business travel clients have come to rely more on their travel management company to provide safe travel; agile technology and up-to-date, on-theground intelligence, as well as access to the best, most flexible fares. The Retail Review is part of the UK’s rail transformation process following the recommendations from the Williams-Shapps Plan to create a new public body ‘Great British Railways’, which dismantles the franchise system and aims to make railways easier and cheaper to use. During these stages of the Retail Review, Focus Travel Partnership attended one-toone meetings and drop-in sessions to ensure its sector was fully recognised and heard. For too long, our TMC Partners have been deeply frustrated by the overly complicated,
outdated and unprofitable nature of selling rail. This mode of transport holds the key to more sustainable business travel – but for agency retailers, the model needs to be updated to suit the changing needs of travellers. We firmly believe that TMCs can really help with the recovery of the rail industry and boost passenger numbers by selling high volumes of tickets as well as providing a higher yield of revenue to the train operators. Our travel management Partners can also encourage greater use of rail services and partner successfully with the rail industry to improve customer service and satisfaction. The Rail Delivery Group’s report on the initial stage of the Retail Review found
that rock bottom remuneration structures mean that third-party retailers often have to charge booking fees that train operators don’t. Third party retailers need equality and a ‘level playing field’ when it comes to terms and conditions, based on the same remuneration. Travel management companies pay additional fees for the use of the retailing infrastructure while receiving lower commissions, resulting in examples of lower value tickets costing more in fees than the industry remuneration received. Retailers should have an equal ability to retail to their customers. Within the licence conditions, there should be no restrictions on retailers to sell any products or services
