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The marketing game
Summer holiday was a peak season for travelling. There was a high demand for air tickets, especially the discounted offers with limited supply.
William, a ticketing officer of a travel agent, was inundated with inquiries about discounted air tickets. Because of the high demand for discounted air tickets, William saw it as a good opportunity to make up for his recent credit card payment. William secretly contacted several regular customers, informing them about the upcoming special offers. He implied rewarding him would grant them priority access to these limited discounted tickets. Without much deliberation, several customers agreed to pay William $500 as a reward and successfully purchased the discounted tickets. For other customers, William recommended high-fare tickets so that he could reserve low-fare tickets to the regular customers.
Case Analysis
William, as a ticketing officer of a travel agent, without obtaining permission from his employer, solicited and accepted advantages from customers for prioritising the sale of discounted tickets to them. Both William and the clients who offered the advantages might contravene Section 9 of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance (POBO).
Employees of travel agents should always handle customer requests impartially. William disclosed the upcoming special offers of air tickets to several regular customers while intentionally recommending high-fare tickets to others. Such an act breached professional integrity and negatively impacted the reputation of the travel agent. If employees accept advantages to provide preferential treatment, it creates dissatisfaction or complaints from other customers and constitutes a violation of the POBO.
On the other hand, William should exercise prudent financial management and avoid risking his position due to debt, as this could lead to criminal offences. William’s illegal acts could be attributed to his poor financial management, which made him susceptible to financial temptations. Ultimately, he resorted to taking risks to alleviate his financial burdens. Employees should always exercise financial prudence to prevent falling into corruption traps.