Pricing Traditional Travel Agency Services: A Theatre-Based Experimental Study

Giuseppe Catenazzo, Emmanuel Fragnière

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DOI: 10.4236/jssm.2010.32034                

Abstract

Airline commissions’ cuts and the use of Internet for bookings have severely affected traditional (physical) travel agencies. To survive, travel agents are redesigning their job as to become travel consultants. However, customers seem not to be willing to pay for the service provided and current fees are not representative of its perceived value. We have designed a theatre-based experiment to discover the Willingness-To-Pay for a travel agency service experience. Results show that individuals are not willing to pay anything for an unpleasant experience. By contrast, only 1/3 of the sample would pay enough for an outstanding service experience to make such a business sustainable.

Keywords

Experimental Study, Theatre, Service Design, Travel Agent, Human Simulation, Service Pricing

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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