W H Smith begins fightback in airport travel book row

W H Smith has begun a fightback after a week of increasing criticsm over its decision to stock only Penguin published travel guides at its airport and station shops.

The move means that travellers will only find DK, Rough Guide and Sawday foreign travel guides at the W H Smith outlets.

And it means that travellers have no choice at BAA airports, as W H Smith has signed an exclusivity deal which means they are the only bookseller in the terminals.

The decision has provoked a storm of protest from other guidebook publishers and authors, including Margaret Drabble on behalf of The Society of Authors. The latest to give vent to his rage is Arthur Frommer, veteran founder of the eponymous chain.

But W H Smith this morning acted to clarify the welter of opposition and defend its decision. Catriona McDermott, a director of its PR company, Brunswick, told Timesonline that W H Smith Travel has only 5.6 per cent of the market so accusations of a "carve-up" were overblown.

She also challenged some figures from The Bookseller, which broke the story and which said the Penguin-only stance affected 420 airport, train station and motorway outlets.

McDermott said the deal only applied to 265 airport and railway stations, out of a total of 825 W H Smith shops.

And she went on: "Our High Street shops, our Online offer and our Travel stores aim to tailor ranges to the needs of their own specific customers.

"Our High Street stores, of which there are over 560, and our Online offer will continue to stock the existing ranges of overseas guides.

"Over the past few months we have trialled a number of solutions for our travel guide range at around 265 Travel stores that carry overseas guides.

"These stores have limited space available and were not effectively meeting the needs of their customers, who are often pressed for time and want to have a straightforward range of travel guides to choose from.

"After extremely positive customer feedback, we have made changes to our range and display to make selecting a suitable guide easier. For example, we used to stock up to 20 guides to Paris and now we will offer 8 with many more displayed face out."