<B> LETTERS</B>
<B>A Hickory Stick</B>
I am concerned about the blatant distortions in the Travel Agency Consortia and Travel Agency Franchisors data of the Business Travel Survey (<I>BTN,</I> May 25).
I can honestly say that our numbers are significantly more accurate than any others contained in those tables. For example, some organizations have lost over 50 percent of their members and are less than one-half the size they were formerly, and yet claim to be up as much as 27 percent. This distortion does not rival the even more absurd claims of Thor Inc., which takes credit for the entire organizations for which it supplies only a hotel program, and less than 10 percent of its members even utilize the program. Thor's real service business is approximately 30 percent of Hickory's, in terms of usage and dollar revenue. Service suppliers such as ABC and Thor should have separate categories, for they are not in the same business, in any respect, with the balance of what are considered consortia.
Giants outsources all corporate services, as does ITP/Corp Net. Both are merely "commission clubs" or "preferred supplier clearing houses." Woodside is only a fraction of the size claimed and, again, outsources most services, and is primarily a "networking club," as is Synergi. Travelsavers and First Travel Management International/Hickory Travel Systems Inc. are the survey's only full service suppliers of products/services, networking, etc., and are very different from one another as they focus on leisure while we focus on corporate.
Regarding travel agency franchisors, International Tours is the leisure supplier to Hickory agencies in the U.S. and Canada, and over 40 percent of their stated volume comes from Hickory members/customers. Furthermore, they do not supply any "in-house" products/services, such as hotel programs, 24-hour service, international faring, market support, etc., all of which are outsourced to others, including Hickory.
To the best of my knowledge, the only true franchisors are American Express, BTI Americas, Carlson Wagonlit, Uniglobe and First Travel Management International.
Therefore, it seems to me that a more equitable, and certainly a less confusing, way to present this information would have been to list Hickory Travel Systems within the editorial pages dedicated to "travel agency consortia" and First Travel Management International within the "travel agency franchisors" section. The absence of Hickory's listing is confusing to the reader, inasmuch as Hickory is the fastest growing "supernetwork" within the travel industry and deserves to be recognized as such.
<i>L. William Chiles
President & CEO
Hickory Travel Systems</i>
<hr><a name="2"><B>Airfares Never Rose</B>
I read your material regularly, and it's the best trade paper coverage of the airline sector. But ...
The reason for this note is your "Biz Fares Gone Flat" piece (<I>BTN,</I> July 20).
The real story here is not that business airfares have fallen, but rather that they never did increase, as has been reported by the business press. The only significant fare changes occurred when the federal ticket tax was restored after removal earlier. ATA yield data gives very clear evidence that the so-called "airfare indices" have been and still are grossly inaccurate.
The various self-serving proponents of T&E cost control systems have found a way to use misleading figures to promote their own ends. Unfortunately, many sectors of the press have been duped by these groups.
The ATA shares my point of view, and as you may know, it plans to publish its own index using actual yield data from the airlines.
Your readers, the corporate travel managers and their service organizations, deserve impartial and accurate information.
<i>James V. Cammisa Jr.