Travel franchise

[Wicksy]

What do people think of this - my son is determined to give it a go - is it too good to be true?

http://www.explorertravel.co.uk/franchises/Promoter.htm

 

[sellickbhoy]

Wicksy

the future Mrs SB is very interested in getting into the line of work - and we were planning to investigate something like this so she could spend the time on maternity leave setting it up!!!

So, i'd be really interested to hear how your son gets on if he goes for it.

Have you been able to see the web site of any other "franchisees"

who are you able to buy holidays from? do they offer any kind of ABTA protection etc? Are you limited or tied to a couple of holiday providers?

Basically, are you buying a copy of their own site and promoting their holidays for free - getting paid on sales only. Or are you free to expand what you offer tying in other deals?

 

[patientlady]

Not sure what they are offering and why just a Mobile number as contact? Franchising should surely be based on a tried and tested business model. Perhaps I just looked at the website to quickly?

 

[Andrew@EKWgroup]

I agree with 'patientlady', franchises should be based on a proven business model and a mobile number as a primary contact number doesnt exactly project the right image.

Also you have to take into account the travel industry is extremely competitive, therefore would you make any impact? It may be worth tailoring the website to a niche holiday, specialise on a specific type of holiday, for example luxury/bargain holidays or location. Both require research.

Check the legal side of the contract. Are you liable or is the franchise if something goes wrong?

With them designing and updating the website, how much control do you actually have? By the sounds of things you are just giving them money for a website.

If your son takes up the opportunity let me know how he gets on.

Kind Regards
Andy

 

[That Guy]

Mobile number at the top puts me off a little

 

[Deliberator]

Firstly, franchises need to be considered very very carefully indeed as there are many firms around who make oodles of money simply by charging people with very little biz experience large fees for setting up a franchise when they could have set up themselves at half the price !

I would strongly suggest that you get some sound biz advice from people you know first but only after researching via franchise forums for example, the company with whom you're considering taking out a franchise with. There may be some adverse publicity about the company and current franchisees that you need to be aware of so tread carefully !

 

[Be Known PR]

Aside from the mob number issue, I would be extrememly cautious with this. From the looks of things you have little control over your website, essentially you will just be a middle man to the middle man.

The company actually seems to have a good backing because it is a division of Hays Travel Ltd, which is a well established travel agency with a good reputation.

Whilst I do not think that there is anything dodgy going on here, your son needs to be aware that travel agents generally do not make very high margins on hotel and flight bookings. Therefore the 70% profit commission is in reality likely to be just a few percent of the actual booking. Therefore in order to make any money he will need to be making a very high volume of sales.

He should also be aware of how the travel market is changing. Generally the top end of the market has moved away from general high street and online agents to either booking directly or dealing with specialist agents and operators. Therefore the share of the market your son will be reaching is going have lower value bookings.

As has been said already, the competition for travel companies is huge and thereofre on top of the costs of set up, he will also need to invest in advertising and marketing.

The other thing he should be aware of is accountability to his clients and managing his own reputation. If, say, he was operating as ABC Travel, as far as his clients are concerened they are buying their holiday from ABC Travel. They will not be aware of (or even care) that actually ABC Travel is just an agent for Explorer, who themselves are actually just buying the product from Thomas Cook/TUI etc. Therefore is something goes wrong with their holiday, the person they will complain to is your son and the company that they will bad mouth on internet forums will be ABC Travel.

This is of course just my humble opinion, but it is based on ten years of doing PR & marketing for the travel industry.

 

[lockyer]

I have looked into adding a travel agents to our business, and in my opinion the best looking one out there is Global Travel.

Let me know if you want putting in touch

 

[ChrisAITY]

I wouldnt do it, £500 and you can have a up and running travel agency.. ABTA protection alone is £500, and you need ABTA in order to sell holidays.. I think Freedom Travel are better than Global Travel, and there cheaper.
You see Freedom Travel offers £8495 for 1000s of suppliers, ABTA protection, Atol and loads of others.. then after the first year, you pay hundreds a month.. so from looking at that link in this thread, its a con! I wouldnt do it.. Its rubbish..
Also I see it says Hosting £20 a month.. Ive got hosting for £40 a year at the moment..!!
Its up to your son though.. If he goes for it, tell us how it goes..

 

[Be Known PR]

I wouldnt do it, £500 and you can have a up and running travel agency.. ABTA protection alone is £500, and you need ABTA in order to sell holidays.. I think Freedom Travel are better than Global Travel, and there cheaper.
You see Freedom Travel offers £8495 for 1000s of suppliers, ABTA protection, Atol and loads of others.. then after the first year, you pay hundreds a month.. so from looking at that link in this thread, its a con! I wouldnt do it.. Its rubbish..
Also I see it says Hosting £20 a month.. Ive got hosting for £40 a year at the moment..!!
Its up to your son though.. If he goes for it, tell us how it goes..

The difference between the two options are that by being a member of Global/Freedom, I believe, you are expected to put a lot more effort in to actually running your own travel agency. The Explorer option is just a white label of their existing site, so you have to put little effort in to the running of it and are essentially just acting as a sales agent.

Which you go for depends on what you want to get out of it I guess.

 

[traveldoc]

Is anybody out there who joined Explorer Travel as a Promoter? any feedback on running website and homebased agency with Explorer Travel. What is the potential income?

 

[Naughty Vend]

Right, firstly I am a franchisor and before I even put that hat on... no way on God's Green Earth should you consider this..., I also worked for Pickfords when I left school... and no I didn't paint my nails and say "The Computer Says No".

The software is a white label API supplied by http://www.comtec-group.com/ , speak to them and do it yourself, most of these things hook into a data source or backfill. The franchise, MAKE MONEY NOW and IT IS WONDERFUL and HEY 70% WOULD YOU LIKE IT EASY to WORK FROM HOME. Aye, you can smell pish on a tramp even if he's eating a fish supper from the top end of Argyle Street.

It's the BEST OF the oportunities in comparison, hint hint. Way too similar...

 

I would have some specific reservations about the professionalism of this company based on a brief look at their website:

- Mobile number given.
-Typos on the home page
- Doesn't connform to Business Names legislation in that it doesn't tell you who you are dealing with.

Having said that, it won't hurt to escallate the enquiry with the caveats I would always put on a franchise:

1. Make sure you know who you are dealing with; there are plently of members on here - including me - who will run a credit check for you.

2. Make sure you are 100% clear as to what will be provided / paid by either party. Get it in writing & don't stop asking questions until you are 100% satisfied.

3. Get real tesimonials - not just the ones they guide you do - get random numbers of franchisees and call them

This might be genuine or might be a scam normally they will back off if it's a scam & you start asking questions.

 

[traveldoc]

Thanks, Naughty Vend and fundingportal,
My enquiries on a list of Promoter members and does one pay £500 (or whatever level of franchise) each tear? have drawn blank!
So far I understand that a Promoter has no control on the website, prices are not competitive, as such you may struggle to close the sale! and earn any commission.

 

[Psl]

Right, firstly I am a franchisor and before I even put that hat on... no way on God's Green Earth should you consider this..., I also worked for Pickfords when I left school... and no I didn't paint my nails and say "The Computer Says No".

The software is a white label API supplied by http://www.comtec-group.com/ , speak to them and do it yourself, most of these things hook into a data source or backfill. The franchise, MAKE MONEY NOW and IT IS WONDERFUL and HEY 70% WOULD YOU LIKE IT EASY to WORK FROM HOME. Aye, you can smell pish on a tramp even if he's eating a fish supper from the top end of Argyle Street.

It's the BEST OF the oportunities in comparison, hint hint. Way too similar...

Well said, saves me typing a reply, although my reply would have been....save your money. And that is with my franchisor hat on