ALL ABOUT YOU — LETTERS
Kathryn joins Cook Story: Ex-Tui retail chief Kathryn Darbandi to join Thomas Cook This is a good move by Thomas Cook. To replace Joanna [Wild, outgoing head of retail], a strong, experienced leader from the industry is needed and Kathryn fits that bill. Good luck to her and good luck to Joanna. l Proud Freedom Member
I knew Kathryn as a regional sales manager many years ago and she was exceptional. I expect Cook’s competitors will be sitting up now as I’m sure she can turn its retail around and input some much- needed customer experience and service. These, I feel, may have been put on the back burner due to Cook’s constant sell-profit attitude at the expense of the most crucial thing – the customer. l Romanza
Really, Gatwick? Story: Gatwick unveils ‘low-risk’ two-runway plan Interesting idea, but how realistic? If it’s so simple, why aren’t some of these efficiencies being implemented already? Gatwick, in my experience, is the most cumbersome UK airport to get around and through. l Tom Buncle
LETTERS OF THE WEEK
Kuoni for sale
Kuoni’s plan to exit UK tour operating prompted more than 50 comments on
travelweekly.co.uk
This is not a shock. I worked for the company for six years. It had far too many extremely expensive shops that were not profitable. And it didn’t appreciate the great homeworking team who were the top sellers and produced huge revenue. It’s not the company it used to be, unfortunately. l In It For The Longhaul
Kuoni has announced this decision at a very bad time. This is the peak booking period and this news will probably impact
Joyeux Noel Story: Abta chairman honoured at Globe Travel Awards Delighted for Noel. All Outstanding Achievement winners are hugely deserving, but I can’t think of another who is known more for the work they have done for the industry at large, as opposed to being a leader of their own firm. l Jonathan Wall
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their business. I’d like to add that I have worked with Kuoni UK staff from retail stores to the sales office and they are simply the best in the whole Kuoni world. l Kuoni Employee From Middle East
I worked for Kuoni as a manager within a John Lewis concession. My experience of working under Derek Jones’s (pictured) leadership is that he has commercial vision and understands that people are central to success. But yes, I think the brand has evolved, and the internal booking systems for some specialist areas, such as South America, need to be more user-friendly. l Jason Carter
I much prefer to use smaller but more specialist and expert tour operators. I hope the sale of Kuoni UK will now encourage agents to move away from putting all their business in to one big Kuoni basket. Kuoni can only offer the cheapest prices (sometimes) because their margins are clearly paper-thin and volume driven. Take away the volume and
it’s unsustainable. Those of you commenting how well Kuoni have done in not pushing clients to book online need to wake up and take off your blinkers! l Nuttn12 Travel Weekly would welcome a response from Kuoni
LETTERS PAGE Email:
editorial@travelweekly.co.uk Please write “For Letters Page” in the subject line. All correspondence must be accompanied by a name, job title and company address; these will be withheld on request. Please limit letters to 150 words. We reserve the right to edit letters for brevity and clarity. Other comments are taken from
Travelweekly.co.uk. The deadline is midday Monday.
Will Kuoni UK benefit from new ownership? No
Yes 52%
Poll conducted January 16 •
gazetteers.com 48%
GROUP
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