Agents angry over DTCM booking system

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FEWTRELL: the DTCM's online travel reservation system is bad news for agents.

Travel agents are concerned that the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing's (DTCM's) new online travel reservation system will take business away from them.

The recently launched booking engine located on the DTCM's website (www.dubaitourism.ae) is a joint venture with Travelocity that offers deals on hotel and apartment bookings and will soon offer car rental, airline tickets and attraction bookings.

Dubai agents are offered the chance to be listed on the site, but will be charged a fee for the privilege - a rule that has outraged the travel trade community in the emirate.

"The DTCM is a government organisation and should be a facility for the agents of Dubai - not competition," said Maher Alsharif, a senior tours consultant at Xperienz Holidays, Dubai.

"Not all agents are going to be able to afford to pay charges to DTCM to be listed - it might be a good thing for some of the bigger agencies, but if they are doing deals directly with hotels, then that is just not on."

Al-Futtaim Travel Dubai general manager Mike Booker concurred that the DTCM booking system would inevitably damage the business of some agencies, but said it provided an opportunity for agents to raise their game.

"Of course it will affect some people, but at the end of the day if your customer service is up to scratch and you have built solid relationships [with suppliers], no website can compete with that," he said.

ATN asked Mohammed Mannan, the DTCM's head of media relations whether the new site was a threat to the profits of local agents.

He replied: "No, they should think of it as good news because they have the option of being listed on the system and can be involved when it comes to putting together packages."

The booking system is not the only DTCM development to concern Dubai agents.

The department has also revealed plans to implement a new format to its e-complaints system whereby grievances will be channeled into two streams - one for allegations against the DTCM and the other for complaints against travel agencies.

"We are routing the e-complaints system into these two separate areas so we can deal more closely with individual problems rather than lump them all together," explained the DTCM's director of IT, Suheil Buhleiba.

"We're always hearing about agents ripping people off. Sometimes it's a misunderstanding, but we have a legal advisor in-house who will look carefully at each case," he added.

Agents, including Al-Futtaim's Booker, expressed shock at this comment.

"I'm really surprised about their attitude to this - I think whether some agents make small mistakes or not, to be branded rip-off merchants is very harsh," he said.

He said agencies should be self-policing and adhere to guidelines put forward by organisations such as the Dubai Travel & Tours Agents Group (DTTAG) in order to maintain consistent standards across the travel industry in the emirate.

DTTAG manager Leo Fewtrell told ATN he hoped the DTCM would work more closely with his organisation to help agents monitor their own standards.

He also expressed reservations about the DTCM's new travel booking system.

"It sounds like a great move for DTCM, but it might not be so good for agents," he said.

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Contradiction of information provided on this page
Posted by Muhammad Qamarullah, Dubai, UAE on Tuesday 25 March 2008 at 13:23 UAE time


As per our Director Information Technology, Suhail Buhelaiba the issue relating to any sort of charge to the agents for listing is wrong besides other facts, given below. Please make the necessary corrections on the website.
"The DTCM’s website has featured a hotel booking system since 2001. After the new agreement with Travelocity we will be offering the additional features also.
All travel agents in Dubai – inbound and outbound – are listed on our website absolutely free of charge and we take great pains to ensure that their contact details are updated. We even list their web addresses so if they already have a booking engine it will be listed by default.
The Complaints against Dubai service has been in operation since long and is a service to arbitrate between the travel industry of Dubai and disgruntled customers. This service is a non-partisan, non-payment service. Any established organization realizes that complaints help us to improve and our complaint handling system ensures that both customers and suppliers (tourism industry) are given opportunity to vent their grievances without harming the reputation of Dubai.

The DTCM has always adapted a protective and helpful attitude with the tourism industry and we have never classified them as “rip-off merchants”. However, any tourism establishment found to be involved in practices that harm the industry and Dubai will be swiftly brought to book.

It was eGovernment’s initiative to handle complaints against Government departments and they have launched the eComplaint Service.

As a leader of innovation Dubai has always moved with technology and the Dubai Government has brought things of value to the city. The DTCM has launched the travel reservation system not as a competition to the industry but as a catalyst to change.
…. We need to talk about the Travel Tourism Focus groups that already exist.
Again, there is no charge for the Travel Agents – they are already listed in our website. Travelocity is being charged a commission to be a provider of this service to the DTCM.

This service provides a convenience to the traveler to book online and is tuned only for individual (as against groups). As we indicated before, if the travel agent provides a similar service the traveler will definitely visit their facility!

…. I don’t know about DTTAG. The DTCM has been operating and conducting meetings to hear issues from the Travel Agents since 1999. More details can be had about this group from our Business Department. we will help everyone in the travel agency business

DTMC Initiatives
Posted by Clive Bishop, Bristol, United Kingdom on Monday 10 March 2008 at 19:59 UAE time

I can see what the DTCM is trying to do but they should have involved the local agents as to their plans and not just to the extent of the policy of charging agents to be involved...I assume that in this case there was a government tender submitted to all and Travelocity won and are being charged the highest amount...I think not unless the DTCM will state publicly otherwise.

I agree with Mike Booker regarding his comments that it would hurt some agents, but those that have built their reputations on service levels, policies and price - irrespective of whether they are small or large businesses can win against websites....look at what markets are the DTCM looking to gain from this... could it be that those directly effected will be those outside of Dubai who are selling packages into the Emirate and not those selling packages etc to local residents etc outbound?

With regard to the other comment that the DTCM has made - complaints procedures....Leo Fewtrell has every right to be annoyed as should all of the other members of the DTTAG. I would make an educated comment that when this association was set up, similar to ABTA in the UK, one of the key things that Mr Andrew et al would have been looking to achieve was a standards level - something all members should work together to improve and police.

To have the DTCM handling this without proper consultation is an insult really even excluding the words that were quoted in this article.

DTCM you have done a good job overseas, don't make a mess of it at home, use professionals, even if you only promote those that are registered members of DTTAG or that pass minimum service levels that you may set out.

Use your local colleagues, don't ignore them and be an active member of the DTTAG group and others as one day you will need their support and they have a very big voice collectively put together all over the world. Many are also very experienced in global travel issues and so may be able to provide support and constructive criticism.

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