INSIDE THIS
WEEK Contents
NEWS Hot Stories
Threat of virtual agents; Barrhead eyes expansion; boost for ski sales; Royal loyal to UK; Black Friday downplayed
Round-up Older traveller holidays; Premier’s HQ WIN!
One of 10 luxury chocolate hampers from Elite Island Resorts page 42
Special Reports Conference previews: Cook, Aito, Jet2 Clia River Cruise Conference 2016 Barrhead hosts supplier conference Royal christens Harmony of the Seas
Face to Face
Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook Talk Back
BA; Virgin Atlantic; training; McCluskey
NEWS YOU CAN USE Product Park Plaza, Pettitts, easyJet
10 12 16 18
20 23 08 04 25
Cruise Oceania, Avalon, Silversea, Crystal 27 Aviation Aer Lingus, SIA, Meridiana
Hotel Iberostar, Atlantis Paradise Island 34
FRONTLINE Comment Debbie Marshall: driverless cars 36 A Day With... Hays Travel, Castleford
Mystery Shopper Havant, Dorset DESTINATIONS
FRONT COVER Back: Amy Wright, Select Travel Holidays; Dennis Anderson,
Iglu.com; Paige Forsyth, The Cruise Specialists; Jess Nuttall, The Cruise Village; Front: Steven Spivak, Tauck
Caribbean Nassau Paradise Island: Bahamian delight 48 Puerto Rico: Your guide to US territory 55
Accessible Tourism Myth-busting: Adapt a can-do attitude 60
BUSINESS NEWS
Round-up APD,
Youtravel.com, Loganair 70 Back page Hotelbeds eyes expansion
72 WHAT
LUCY DID THISWEEK
24 Nov 1
2 3
40 44
Lucy Huxley Editor-in-chief @Lucy_Huxley
Spent a great evening with agents and partners in London to hear about Princess Cruises’ record UK deployment plans for 2018.
Honoured to co-moderate the sixth annual Clia River Cruise Conference in Amsterdam and see so many different river cruise ships.
Watched with pride as my son was officially enrolled into the 14th Tonbridge Sea Scouts, a Royal Navy-recognised group.
24 November 2016
travelweekly.co.uk 3 32
my suitcase had been badly smashed in transit. Later at a reception onboard Tauck’s Grace, where I was
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Never lose the wow factor L
All joking aside, I was genuinely worried whether my
battered case would make it home and I had no time, given the packed schedule, to sort it out. The Tauck team rushed to my aid and solved my immediate problem by promising to deliver some tape to my cabin to patch it up for the return journey. And 24 hours later, my emotions escalated from relieved to overwhelmed when I opened my cabin to find a new suitcase waiting for me. It might not have been Tauck’s problem, but the team
went above and beyond to surprise and delight me. Without question, it was the best customer service I’ve experienced – and they stressed they would have done the same for any guest. It’s this ‘above and beyond’ ethos that underpins the
new Hotel Satisfaction Promise from Thomas Cook which chief executive Peter Fankhauser discusses in our exclusive interview this week (page 20). And retaining that ethos will surely be one of
the toughest jobs facing Tui as it develops its Virtual Travel Agents (page 4). Technological advances may be able to generate virtual interactions with “more personalisation and personality”, but will they ever be able to over- deliver in a way that truly wows the customer?
staying, I briefly mentioned the incident and how relieved I was that my knickers hadn’t ended up all over the baggage carousel!
ast weekend I flew to Amsterdam to moderate the Clia River Cruise Conference. On arrival at Schiphol airport,
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