NEWS — HOT STORIES 4
The Cruise Village cites lack of funding at Freedom as it defects to join Midcounties
could have been a good distribution arm for Thomas Cook. But there was no sign of any investment. “There comes a point when you have to make a decision,” he said. “We were having major administrative issues with tour operators’ payments. “It seemed it wasn’t being treated seriously, which is a crying shame with such good members and some truly great entrepreneurs. “This was a difficult decision for me and one not
taken lightly. I’ve had such a great time at Freedom.” Nuttall said he had chosen Midcounties because he was familiar with the Co-operative structure, and would not have to change his back-office systems. He handed in his notice to Freedom prior to
Hollie-Rae Merrick
Blackpool agent The Cruise Village has quit Freedom Travel Group for Midcounties Co-operative, citing concerns about a lack of investment by Thomas Cook. Phil Nuttall, managing director of the cruise specialist, said administration issues with tour operator payments were also behind his decision. He said there had been months of uncertainty about the future of Freedom amid speculation that Thomas Cook was attempting to sell the business – something it has refused to comment on. “The vibes led me to believe there was no future to Freedom within Thomas Cook,” said Nuttall. “Freedom was a profitable business and it
HOT SHOTS: REASONS FOR READING THIS WEEK
1 2 3
Win flights to TAIPEI, BOGOTA or ATHENS with Star Alliance, page 36
Win a place on the BRAND USA 2015 MEGAFAM, page 30
Win an all-inclusive break to ANTIGUA via TravelUni, page 44
5
former head Alison Holmes’s decision to leave the consortium to join Midcounties. “The people at Midcounties know my business. We run a tight ship and we’re not high-maintenance.” Freedom head Kelly Cookes said: “While it is sad that The Cruise Village chose to give notice
“There were major administrative issues with operators’ payments”
of its intention to leave at a time when there was speculation regarding the future of the business, we find it regrettable that the decision was made before our plans to grow Freedom were announced.”
Anti-fraud Visa fee could hit travel firms Lee Hayhurst
Barry Gooch, chairman of the travel industry
Visa is poised to impose a €12 (£10) charge on credit card acquirers for transactions it considers at heightened risk of fraud, with the costs almost certain to be passed on to retailers. The card-payment processing firm plans to bring in the charge on October 1 for certain transactions in Europe, including a range of ‘cardholder not present’ (CNP) transactions. These make up a significant
proportion of card transactions in the travel sector, where fraud is rising. Financial Fraud Action UK, the financial services industry’s anti-fraud group, has forecast the level of fraud in the travel sector could treble over the next 12 months to €3 million a month.
travelweekly.co.uk — 24 July 2014
anti-fraud group Profit, said the move by Visa Europe would see merchant acquirers – who act as intermediaries between Visa, the card issuers and retailers – “toughening up” on travel firms to reduce their exposure to fraud. Gooch said: “That is a concern because it’s a really tough year.” Visa has informed acquirers that
“a fee of €12 per unsecure keyed fraud chargeback will be levied on Visa Europe acquirers for unsecured CNP transactions” which meet a list of criteria. These include “where a merchant is operating within a non- secure key-entry environment”.
❯ Profit is running a seminar on chargeback
fraud, in partnership with Travel Weekly and Barclaycard, on September 11 in London. To apply to attend, email
contactus@profit.co.uk
MORE HOT STORIES
Phil Nuttall: hard decision
Fraud in travel is
predicted to rise to €3m in the next year
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72