NEWS — HOT STORIES 4
Hays Travel Independence Group marks 20th anniversary with a 29% rise in sales Rebekah Commane
Hays Travel Independence Group has posted a 29% year-on-year rise in sales for the 12 months to March 31, as it celebrates its 20th year of operations. Speaking ahead of the consortium’s conference in Birmingham, managing director John Hays said the increase was being maintained and was in line with the overall performance of Hays Travel. “When it was established in 1995, Hays IG
was the first managed agency consortium to be established and was unique,” said Hays. “The idea was to give agents the benefits of being part of a large travel industry organisation while maintaining their independent status, which seemed like a funny prospect at the time. “We now have the largest independent
travel retail network in the UK and are still nimble on our feet. I consider ourselves to be more of a speedboat than a tugboat – we are always moving forward.” Hays hinted at expansion,
saying there were “one or two things on the go”, but was reluctant to expound before details were finalised.
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Win one of three INDIA-THEMED CLIENT EVENINGS with Cox & Kings, page 7
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“We’re more of a speedboat than a tugboat – always moving forward”
Hays IG has more than 100 members, including
Travel Designers, whose managing director, Amanda Matthews, was set to speak at the conference about growing her business from scratch. “I take huge pride in seeing our members come up with ideas and them becoming a reality. Amanda went from having a big job [she was managing director of Travelcare at The Co-operative Group] to building her own successful product with homeworkers,” said Hays. He said members of the consortium reflected the diversity of their customers. “We’ve got a diverse membership – online, in retail and with our homeworkers – who can all relate to our clients,” said Hays. He added that cruise was
“trading well” and that new cruise-booking software would be demonstrated at the conference.
John Hays
Cosmos moves to resolve website issues Rebekah Commane
Cosmos Holidays said it had addressed issues experienced by travel agents using its trade website. The operator acknowledged there had been user-experience issues with the site and uploaded a guide on the homepage to help resolve them. A local-rate phone number has also been set up, along with a dedicated email for agents to contact the operator, which it urges them to use. In a statement, Cosmos Holidays said: “We launched our new trade website in June 2014 and, to date, more than 50,000 passenger bookings have already been made through it. “In early 2015, we experienced some technical issues, which were resolved quickly. These
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travelweekly.co.uk — 23 April 2015
unfortunately recurred over the past two weeks, but we are confident that actions taken at the end of last week will resolve this. “We have taken extensive feedback from our trade partners on the user experience of the website, and this is being built into its next upgrade. “We have provided support to all agents who’ve contacted us, and would ask any agents that need assistance to contact us directly by emailing
agentweb@cosmos.co.uk.” Cosmos, part of Monarch Travel
Group, acknowledged there had also been a problem with search functionality. It said it was writing to
agents to explain this was being addressed. Contact-centre hours have been extended to
9am-9pm in the week, and 9am-6pm at weekends. Agents can call Cosmos on a local rate number at 0333 400 8214.
MORE HOT STORIES
“Actions taken at the
end of last week will resolve the issues”
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