Dick Smith on the warpath

[Strawb]

I don't usually send these on but this one is worth a look

https://player.vimeo.com/video/288285200

[atalas]

Wow...his looked weathered these day....you recon he goes to the Mudgee star party.

[atalas]

Bugger me....just more of our governments lack of regulations selling us out.

[ngcles]

Hi All,

On this occasion, I agree 100% with what Dick has to say. Worth watching.
Personally I use web-sites like this to shop around and then book the accommodation directly with the owner -- usually over the phone.

Best,

L.

[bojan]

Trivago was on notice for misleading public some time ago... (Gabrielle was not indicted for this... )

[xelasnave]

It's the tip of the iceberg.

For example...remember when Rudd announced they were sending sixty million dollars worth of vaccine to some poor African kids..whatever..what a wonderful thing to do...who could complain...but...follow the money folks...does one have to even look to know that was just about sending sixty million to some drug company who I bet was in the USA...And as to the kids getting their stuff a cynical me suspects that the local war lord probably charged to distribute the stuff..or sold it on the black market.

But it's all good that just how it all works.

One will get a surprise to look at just how big Trivargo is..I did a ruff capitalisation and came up with a figure of company value of one billion... it is I think German owned...nevertheless I get so sick of their add with that same old same old girl..just think of what she must pull out off the adds..I would love to know..anyone know her name as I would love to do a net worth search.

But look on the bright side..if you go back just a little way back in history the strong just invaded, plundered and killed everyone that they could not sell as slaves...And just be thankful we are friend of USA and not on their hit list.

And we must remember the world runs as a market economy it must maintain in effect a destruction of money so all these billionaires really do us a favour by taking money out of circulation to a large degree meaning that activity must continue.
Sadly we are unable to develop a better system.

Alex

[bojan]

Som we just need our own DT, who will start to yell "Ausse first", and introduce 50% tax on US products ;)

[atalas]

Yes but in order to start doing that you have stop kissing certain butts ...not mentioning any names (coughciacough cough)

[Merlin66]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabrielle_Miller_(Australian_actres s)

She was said to be studying at Uni when we were in the UK ten years ago.

[spiezzy]

It does not surprise me about the ACCC taking money under the table as with anything else in this country Councils ,government , government watch dogs , big business ripping off the small guy ect ect .
I guess if we got a good Prime minister in he wouldn't last long due to these knuckle heads with the power he would get booted as they will lose there money .
I may self will never use any of these booking companies wonder what lame excuse our government and ACCC would come up with if confronted about the issue and yes we all know it will be BS because that is all they dribble
ahhh that feels better

[multiweb]

This guy has no bloody shame. He's been peddling cheap chinese sh!t in Oz for years and was rooting local businesses. When they went bust and they knew they were they still flogged gifts cards in December that they didn't honour in January. And now he's "bloody angry". What a tool. :lol:

[atalas]

Can't be a tool....tools are useful.

[billdan]

She was in a jazz band called the Zap Show around 2014 -2016, quite a few YouTube videos of the band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn1YpbVZyG8

[billdan]

He actually sold all his electronic shops to Woolworths in 1982, so don't blame Dick for cheap Chinese goods.

[gts055]

I think that Uber Eats and similar ordering systems are removing profits from participating restaurants along similar lines to accomodation businesses tied to Trivago et al. Mark

[billdan]

What about about the poor mugs who paid $150,000 for a taxi license only to see Uber take away all their business.

[bojan]

Yep, that was really ugly.
Government should reimburse that money to taxi drivers.. or charge the Uber drivers equally, because this is the same business, same service (lawyers may and did argue there is a difference..), so same fees should apply.

Or none.

[astroron]

I know a lot of business's are ropeable about these onselling companies.
I thought I was dealing with a youth hostel in Hawaii personally only to find as I got to the end of my transaction,I was dealing with Bookings .Com.
Cancelled the booking and went to the hostels website and booked with them.
When I got to the hostel,they said the same as Dick Smith said,they lose money if the don't register with these companies.
I find it better to just go to the company I want to do business with and stuff the intermediaries.
Shared this video on my FB page.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[ausastronomer]

I ran a 53 room country resort / motel for a couple of years.

What Dick says is 95% true. 50% of bookings come through the online booking agencies. You're screwed without them, because if you're not with them people just don't find you and will book with another accommodation provider.

What Dick doesn't tell you is that they provide the consumer (guest) with a hidden level of protection, in that they guarantee your booking and the rate. While its extremely rare that bookings get missed, or rooms get double booked, it does sometimes happen due to a clerk accidentally deleting a booking from the system, or moving it to the wrong day. You wonder how that can happen ? Well it's easier than you think. Some PITA guests change the day of their booking and room type multiple times. They usually want to make changes when the girl is on the desk on her own, has 2 people on hold on the phone and has guests queued up 15 deep trying to pay the previous nights bill and they all need to be out of the place in 3 minutes !! In addition you sometimes get a person will book multiple rooms on behalf of a large group of friends, then 1/2 the group change their mind multiple times whether they are coming or not and you end up modifying the booking adding and deleting rooms up to 20 times. In the 2 years I ran the resort this happened 3 times, none of which was my doing, but being the boss you have to be accountable for the actions of your staff. On the very rare occasions that it does happen and the people have booked through a booking agency, the booking agency will find them accommodation at the closest venue of a similar or higher standard and the price is fixed at the price of the original booking. It usually works out that the guest gets an upgrade to better accommodation.

The other thing Dick talks about is the commission rates? 15% to 30? That's a crock of dogs doo doo. We paid between 12.5% and 15% with 15% being the highest rate. I haven't worked in that industry for over 4 years, but I couldn't see the maximum rate we paid doubling in that time.

I use the online agencies to find what's available and what facilities they provide, but I always phone the accommodation venue direct to make my booking and negotiate the rate and usually get a discount of 10% to 12% which is what I expect knowing what commission they are paying to the online agencies.

Cheers
John B

[xelasnave]

It is quiet probable that the ease of booking could cause more people to book perhaps.
I wonder if that could be the case.
Alex

[lazjen]

I can't be bothered watching another Dick Smith rant video as he's way off beam about a number of things.

One of his videos (maybe this one) mentioned all the money goes offshore. Yeah, nah - what he fails to tell you is that a number of these Online Travel Agent (OTA) sites have Australian employees in Australian offices working on all aspects of the business and systems involved. These employees then spend their earnings buying stuff in Australia just like other Australian employees (food, water, electricity, mortgages, etc).

Source: I'm one of those employees - if you want to know where, you can ask via PM. (Side note: the employment benefits I'm getting make me pleased with my employer and are better than anything I've ever had with an Australian company - besides the obvious travel discounts, we get almost all private health insurance cost covered as an example.)

Regarding why people use these OTAs and book through them - besides the points raised earlier, there's also usually a loyalty program available to get free nights. This can be really helpful if you doing a trip and need to stay at a number of different places. Run it through the same OTA, rack up the loyalty reward and possibly get a night free. Of course there's restrictions, as tanstaafl applies, but it's still better than messing around trying to deal direct with each and every hotel.

Now, if you going to one place only, and perhaps go back there every year, then sure, go ahead and deal direct if you want. You will probably get a better deal than at the OTA (just make sure it's more than about 10% saving otherwise the loyalty program benefits will probably match that and you would miss out on the other OTA benefits).