This year, Black Friday officially falls on November 29, but the exact timing and duration of the promotion always, as before, depend on the tour operator and hotels. So, the tour operator “Multitour” and the management company “ATELIKA” launched their campaign today, November 8. We are talking with Yulia Vysokanova, the head of Multitour, about the timing of the campaign, its stages, commissions to agents, as well as why the travel business needs such actions now.
– Julia, this year you are launching your special Black Friday promotion. Which hotels and tours will participate in this sale?
– Yes, this year we launched the traditional Black Friday campaign earlier than the official one. And we will conduct it in two stages.
First, we made a separate promotion for the ATELIKA, Wondrous World and Sunville hotel chains. This sale will last from November 8th to 15th. But if the owner of the hotel chain considers the sales plan completed, we can finish it before the 15th. Therefore, you should hurry up if tourists want to buy holidays in our chain hotels at discounted prices.
Opening the veil of secrecy for those who will read this article: from November 15 to 22, the promotion will be extended, but no longer for hotels in our chain, but for objects from our rest of the hotel range.
I would like to pay special attention: not all hotels that are on sale at Multitour will participate in the campaign, but for 20-30 selected ones. And during this period there will be a sale of some sightseeing tours. I will not voice them in advance – for obvious reasons: the action should be a surprise.
– Many of our readers are traditionally interested in the “background” and motives of such actions. Why do Russian hotels and tour operators hold Black Friday promotions on the Russian market?
– It’s simple. I think that many of our customers secretly understand all the motives of the business, but, indeed, we meet such questions every year, just like you.
Black Friday promotions are necessary to receive a large amount in a short time, which in the case of hotels is then launched for renovation, purchase of equipment before the high season. In the case of a tour operator, this money is used for advertising, prepayment to hotels (to get better prices and more seats), the introduction of new technical solutions, etc.
In any case, it is more profitable to sell your product at a reduced price now than to take loans from banks for development, especially with the current key rate. So this is an affordable way for the travel business to take important and voluminous development steps during the off-season (while there is time for this), which will bring long-term benefits to hotels, travel companies and the buyers themselves.
For example, large blocks of guaranteed rooms in hotels in Russia, Belarus, Abkhazia, more convenient websites, booking systems, personal accounts. Renovated rooms, new restaurants in hotels, landscaping and infrastructure, and so on. Such autumn sales are fought off quite quickly – during the season.
– At the same time, we also see questions from retail of this kind: “why is the commission for agents reduced during such actions?”.
– Yes, this is the most popular question. Indeed, the commission is lower. Some people are indignant about this, although I personally do not understand the reason for this indignation. An agent always has a choice:
- It is more expensive to buy and sell to a tourist, but with a high agency commission under the contract.
- To buy and sell to a tourist is very cheap (40-50% discount on hotels of the Atelika chain, 20-30% on other hotels of the Multitour product), but with a limited commission.
The second way, if you think about it, is beneficial to everyone. It is beneficial for tourists because there is an opportunity to buy a tour for very little money (the difference will be perfectly visible in the season, prices are dynamic and grow as hotels fill up).
It is beneficial for agents because they have an increased flow of customers due to the promotion, and their earnings, in fact, do not decrease as a result – due to volumes .
It is beneficial for the hotel chain and the tour operator – because in a short time we see a sharp increase in the amount of money on the accounts for different purposes, even without much profit. Which we have for the period of the promotion, of course, is also decreasing.
The network and the tour operator themselves minimize their profits when selling . Therefore, the wishes that the supplier of the product would reduce the price by 40-50%, and figuratively speaking, would also give away the “last cowards”, paying agents a standard commission or giving tourists cashback – well, sorry, such statements are not realistic. We are already sharing generously.
And the Black Friday promotion (like any other) is an opportunity in which it is good for all participants in the sales chain, and not just one. And accusing someone of “violating loyalty” in this case is at least incorrect and unfair. Perhaps next year there will be no such action at all.
– Everything looks logical. And if you still do not cut the commission to agents for the duration of such actions? What then?
– In fact, it is impossible not to reduce the commission. If, with a significant reduction in our price “from the manufacturer”, we keep the standard commission to the agent – we will simply go into the negative.
I hope we all understand that hotels and tour operators are engaged in business, not charity and “giving money away”. And everything has to be justified from a business point of view. I repeat, during the promotion we have different tariffs – choose any. Everything is fair.
Although not exactly like that. Still, you can not reduce the standard commission if you hold a “hand-drawn” action. Namely, prices are artificially “raised” before the action, and allegedly “lowered” during the action. But, I’m sorry, we don’t do that. And we won’t.
– Speaking of promotions… Will you have a traditional “Early Booking” promotion for Russian resorts this year?
– We are still thinking about it. The paradox is that many of our prices for next summer are already lower than those of some other market participants. I just don’t see the point in calling these lowest prices an “Early Booking” promotion and trying to advertise it as a “price reduction.”
On the one hand, this is a good psychological or marketing move. On the other hand, customers who can count can laugh at us or start treating us negatively.
We will decide closer to the middle of November what to do. But in my opinion, in the current conditions of the Russian market, early booking in the form of a separate promotion is generally beginning to get out of hand.
Interviewed by: the editorial board of the ATOR Bulletin
