But if products aren’t priced competitively, no amount of goodwill from agents will help them sell the brand. This was one of the issues facing James Coughlan and David Green when they joined Belleair as joint directors in April 2014. And they are the first to admit their pricing structure wasn’t working.
“The business was based upon a very traditional charter model, with seats bought at certain rates, which meant our prices became untenable at certain times,” Coughlan explains.
“We were paying very high levels of commission, which was great for agents, but it wasn’t helping them sell us. They weren’t doing good volume, and we were losing market share to our competitors.” Green agrees, adding:
“If someone else has got a similar product and it is £100 cheaper, then you will lose the booking. “Agents shop around, customers shop round. Belleair had been 40 years in the market but we found they would go somewhere else.”
“We’re still top-end in terms of commission; we’re beyond the market rate, and agents can earn additional incentives on top of base commission”
James Coughlan
When they took charge of the business 18 months ago, the pair set about reshaping it, by introducing low-cost airlines, more regional departures, and greater overall flexibility for the customer. Belleair is now able to offer prices as much as a third lower than previously, they claim, and while commission levels have been reduced, it’s been done in such a way that agents were kept onboard.
“They heard our story and they met us half-way in what we wanted to do commercially,” Coughlan says. “But we’re still top-end in terms of commission; we’re beyond the market rate, and agents can earn additional incentives on top of base commission,” he insists.
Changes to pricing appear to have paid off, with agent sales now accounting for 60% of the overall business, up from the 50% to which it had dipped. Pricing has been just one of the changes the pair have implemented. Coughlan, who was previously head of retail sales for Thomas Cook UK, and vice-president of travel at Affinion International Travel, recognised that investment in an on-the-road team had slipped at Belleair.
“We weren’t getting the cut-through on the agent business that we should have had. At the time, we had one person doing a part-time role. When you see the investment that competing brands are putting on the high street then you need to counter that.”
On the road
Three full-time reps were appointed within the past 12 months, and they have already made their presence felt. “They’ve put Belleair back on the map and they have started to build relationships.
To sustain your business on the high street you need people at every level, not just in head office.” Fresh new branding, a relaunched website and a new reservations system have also played their part in helping agents do business with Belleair.
Online bookings by agents are now 10% up compared to last year, with scope for further growth. Reconsidering the product mix has also been key to turning the operator’s fortunes around says Green, who had previously been director of purchasing and director of Flexibletrips at Thomas Cook Group.
Already this year, Belleair’s core programme in Malta, Gozo, Sorrento and Sicily has been upgraded from mainly three-star to four and four-star-plus accommodation. This was in response to market demand, and the fresh focus on higher-end product helped offset any loss in revenues from reducing prices elsewhere.
To secure growth though, they quickly realised that Belleair could no longer focus on just its traditional destinations. Green explains: “Malta as a destination has had some fantastic years, but the island is not growing any bigger. If you’re going to get growth, you have to move outside.”
Branching out
So, having offered just two countries for most of its history, Belleair will introduce 17 new destinations in its 2016 brochure, launching next month.
New European destinations are Greece, Cyprus, Spain, the Canaries, Madeira and Cape Verde, alongside Turkey, Egypt, Morocco and Dubai. A new long-haul programme will see the inclusion of South Africa, Goa, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand and Bali, plus Orlando, Florida and Miami across the Atlantic.
Coughlan says: “We’ve done our research, and we do feel there’s a gap, or something that’s not being done well enough, in these destinations.” Green also believes staff will be able to hit the ground running when it comes to selling the destinations, adding: “Many of our staff in the call centre are well travelled and knowledgeable and they are sharing that knowledge with their colleagues.”
He is also unconcerned that two of the new destinations – Egypt and Turkey – have suffered in recent years due to political unrest and consumers’ concerns over how safe they are. Green says: “We’ve had these destinations planned in for a long time and we believe in them.
“One of the things we can do to help these destinations is to feature them in the UK as a safe destination now.” They are also confident that the final addition to the operator’s product range, Belleair Cruise, will also prove popular.
“Malta as a destination has had some fantastic years, but the island is not growing any bigger. If you’re going to get growth, you have to move outside”
David Green
The new brand is the trade-only iteration of its Flexicruise arm – a direct-sell brand established in September 2014. Coughlan says: “Belleair Cruise is all about cruise and stay. We’re targeting the independent agents who don’t have an Atol licence.”
He adds that the new cruise product should prove popular with both new and existing customers, while the operator is eyeing up both the Mediterranean and Miami as potentially the most popular destinations for it.
The new Belleair brochure will be released in November with the hope that being racked a little earlier this year will help drive sales. Coughlan says: “Forward bookings are looking good for winter. With the summer business we wanted to get the forward bookings as far in advance as we could in winter. We will have a very busy peaks period.”
The brochure has grown from 70 pages to 196, but it is still intended to offer only a taster of the operator’s programme, with the website providing the most up-to-date information. Coughlan is happy with the improved trade sales achieved so far, and he is hopeful for more, albeit controlled, growth. “Given the huge expansion of our programme, we’re looking for significant sales growth,” he admits.
“We’ve put a lot of investment into the business and that investment has to start paying us back next year. “But if you just look to double the volume and you’re not getting the service right, that growth can cost you. We’re looking for more organic growth.”
The fact that agent sales have already grown this year – despite commission actually being lower – would seem to suggest that those 40 years of offering great service and destination expertise to agents do indeed count for a lot.
