Travel agents found the admin’s comment in the telegram channel of the Travelata online tour store to be incorrect. Under the post with prices for tours to Turkey, he wrote literally the following: “Let’s tell you a secret: travel agents work through tour operators and they have the opportunity to set their remuneration under the contract, which covers rent, utilities and makes a profit. Our prices are broadcast directly from tour operators and are relevant at the time of the search query, the human factor is excluded.”
Subsequently, this remark and all correspondence were deleted, and the comments under the post were closed.
However, the travel agent Svetlana Korostyleva, who sent a screenshot to the editorial office TourDom.ru He believes that the reputation of the community has been dealt a blow, since due to such a contrast, tourists may have a misconception about the work of travel agency companies.
“They say that radish agents are cashing in on you, taking more from poor tourists, and we, Travelata, do not do this,” Svetlana is outraged. According to her, if the administrator had given a specific example of a travel agent who “set his reward” and overestimated the price, there would have been no questions, but it turned out that everyone was indiscriminately talked about. There is no point in inflating the prices of tours for travel agents, “since tourists are well-versed in what costs how much.”
Colleagues discussing the situation in the Sources of Travel chat agree: what happened looks like unfair competition, when one company seeks to show itself in a favorable light at the expense of others. “So Travelata separates itself from travel agents? Completely incorrect behavior. When you can’t talk about the quality of services as an advantage, then you appeal to the financial component (you simply climb into someone else’s pocket),” Oksana writes. Andrey Voskoboinikov, co-owner of the Travel Management travel agency near Moscow, draws attention to the fact that Travelata, although it positions itself as an aggregator, is also a travel agent from the point of view of the law, it is in the corresponding register. Therefore, the juxtaposition looks doubly inappropriate: “When some tour operators talk about bad travel agents, it is already familiar. But when a travel agent does the same thing, it’s very strange.”
Maria Chapikovskaya, a lawyer for the Alliance of Travel Agencies, whom we contacted for comment, said that the Federal Antimonopoly Service is dealing with claims in the field of unfair competition. Those who are dissatisfied can file a complaint, referring to Articles 14.1-14.3 “On Protection of Competition”. The FAS will check it and find out if there is a violation or not.
However, judging by the comment that our editorial staff received from the Travelata press service, they listened to the arguments of their colleagues and drew conclusions: “Thank you for noticing inaccuracies in our work, we are glad to be better. We apologize for the inaccuracy in writing the comment, the work with the employee has been carried out.”
Earlier, the editorial board of Turdom wrote about the idea of creating a blacklist of travel agency companies and “concierge services” that are engaged in tour operator activities without financial guarantees.
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