p5 news Feb12 10/2/10 20:07 Page 5
ttglive.com
news
In brief
■ Robin Shaw to run Saga cruise brands
Robin Shaw is joining Saga’s parent company Agent axes Virgin
as chief executive of its cruise division. Shaw,
who is now vice-president and managing
director, UK & Ireland, for Royal Caribbean
Cruise Line, will join Acromas Holdings, which
also owns the AA and Titan Travel. He will take
responsibility for development of the group’s
over misquote
Saga and Spirit of Adventure cruise brands.
Rupert Murray.
The agency has paid the £180 out of the
■ Your Car Hire switches to trade-only AN AGENCY has de-racked Virgin Holidays and commission earned on the booking and Machin
Your Car Hire has ditched its consumer sales vowed not to sell its holidays after the operator has taken the matter up with her consortium,
and is now selling exclusively through the trade refused to bear the cost of a misquote. Advantage.
on its website
your-carhire.com. Managing Lisa Machin of Sheffield Travel Centre fell out Business development manager David
director Ruth Bligh said the car rental broker with the operator after a colleague booked a ski Whitaker said: “We have asked Virgin to take
had always had a strong trade focus since it holiday with Virgin Snow, another look at this and
started in 2003 and support from agents had collected payment and her hope an amicable outcome
prompted it to go trade-only. client left the office. can be reached.
“One hour later Virgin “Technically the quote is
■ Tui releases winter 2010-11 brochures rang saying they had not binding until the agent
Thomson and First Choice released their winter misquoted by £180 and gets confirmation but I
2010-11 brochures yesterday with new destina- asked us to collect this understand the agent’s
tions and all-inclusive resorts. Highlights include from our client,” she said. point of view.
First Choice kids academies being extended “We refused because “Decisions about de-
across Holiday Village resorts in Rhodes, Turkey, the price had been agreed. Sheffield Travel Centre has de-racked Virgin racking are for our mem-
Lanzarote, the Algarve and Majorca. Thomson My colleague contacted Holidays brochures after Lisa Machin’s run-in bers to take but all I would
Airways is also expanding its regional routes them on numerous occa- say is that if every whole-
and weekend operations to provide more 10 sions over a two-week period to resolve this, to no saler who irritated agents in some way, whether
and 11-night holiday options, and year-round avail. No one returned any calls during this time.” it be with incorrect quotes or undercutting was
flights to the Mediterranean. Senior sales consultant Machin said Virgin did de-racked, none would be left.”
■ Tui results, p12 eventually admit the mistake but refused to A Virgin spokesman said: “We welcome all
absorb the cost of the error. feedback from the trade and as such have
■ Japan Airlines pledges alliance to oneworld “Not only do they encourage clients to book looked further into Lisa Machin’s concerns in her
Japan Airlines will keep its partnership with directly, they now want us to pay for their letter and are dealing with her directly on the
American Airlines in the oneworld alliance, mistakes,” she said. matter.”
despite an attempt by Delta Air Lines to entice
the bankrupt carrier to its rival SkyTeam group.
■ ‘Agents are outselling other channels’
Agents have adapted to changing consumer
demand better than other booking channels and
as a result are outselling them, according to data
from market intelligence company GfK Ascent-MI.
The company, which covers 82% of the package
holiday market, said that for the season to date,
68% of bookings had been made through agents.
■ Villa Parade makes record booking
Villa Parade said it had its highest-value villa
holiday booking ever in January as confidence
returned following the official end of recession.
The villa specialist said longer duration holidays
of 10-14 nights were up 30% on the same period
last year. PUB QUIZ: Billy Bear and Rory the Tiger practise with agents for the world record attempt
to hold the biggest pub quiz. The FHA will run quizzes across the UK, including 35 in
ttglive.com
For the latest news, reviews and comment
Haven parks, on March 25. From left are: Rebecca Few, First Choice; Sanjay Thanki, Kelly
from the travel industry, visit
ttglive.com Chalk, and Julie Dickin, all Haven; and Tara Brown, Thomson. More at
bigpubquiz.org
12.02.2010 05
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