Lindblad promises price integrity

Lindblad promises price integrity
By admin


The new owner of Orion Expedition Cruises has become the latest overseas executive to attack the level of discounting in Australia, describing travel companies as “lemmings” for their failure to address the issue.

Sven Lindblad, founder and president of Lindblad Expeditions which acquired Orion in March, vowed to bring “integrity” to the market with transparent and consistent pricing.

Constant offers and discounts with consumers paying vastly different prices for the same product is “crazy”, he said.

“There is a tendency here for very flexible pricing with offers such as early booking discounts,” he told Travel Today on a visit to Sydney. “There are so many different prices for the same product.  It’s crazy. It doesn’t work commercially and it doesn’t work in terms of integrity. There are so many negative connotations.”

Asked whether it was too difficult for companies to hold their prices for risk of being undercut, Lindblad said: “They are a bunch of lemmings that have fallen off a cliff. I understand why people feel the need to do it but I think it’s a huge mistake.

“It’s just so enervating and demoralising for staff,” he added.

Lindblad, who admitted his company’s cruises “are the most expensive in the world”, said that while Lindblad Expeditions will occasionally offer tactical promotions, prices will be consistent.

“Our prices are transparent. There is a price and that is what it is,” he said. “You must have integrity”

Lindblad’s comments follows those of G Adventures founder Bruce Poon Tip who last year attacked Australia’s discounting “frenzy”.

More from Sven Lindblad in tomorrow’s Travel Today.

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