The TTG Interview
Staying true to travel
Mike Greenacre was key in the brokering of the Co-op and Cook merger. Following his retirement Lucy Siebert talks to him about the future of the joint venture and his next steps in the travel industry
J
ust as the biggest travel story of last year was breaking, Mike Greenacre was preparing to retire from The Co-operative
Travel, the company where he spent the past 25 years of his career. As former managing director of
The Co-operative Travel, Greenacre’s departure marked the start of a new phase for the company, as part of the Thomas Cook joint venture at a time when Cook was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. While his exit from the company has meant a holiday in South Africa and a break from the “stresses and strains of the past 12–18 months”, Greenacre says his mind has not been far away from the Co-op employees who have been impacted by the deal. The length of time that it took for the deal to complete was a particular problem, he says, describing it as “a horrendous situation for a large number of staff, who had to cope with the uncertainty of their own position”. “Those people who know me well know that I care about those individuals, but I had to act as the managing director of a business, as opposed to Mike Greenacre, a personal friend of many of those staff who I have worked with in some cases for 25 years,” he says.
Managing the merger While Cook’s financial woes have been well-documented, Greenacre is adamant that the deal was a positive
10 09.02.2012 Co-op,” he says. Of course, some employees,
however, will be departing from the company, which Greenacre describes as “inevitable” in a joint venture of this type. Looking back on the deal, Greenacre
“I had to act as the managing director of a business, as opposed to Mike Greenacre, a personal friend of many of those staff who I have worked with”
one for the Co-op.
“I think the fact is only time will tell, but by doing what we have done, we have done a financially acceptable deal for the Co-op business. It has allowed the brand to continue and to hopefully flourish in the years ahead. Most importantly, we have been able to protect the vast majority of the jobs we had at the
explains that he believed it made good business sense at the time of the sudden downturn in the global economy in 2009. “At that same time we had a very significant amount of our business with Cook. We had worked together as two companies for many, many years but particularly since 2006 when we both supported each other at the time that Tui was reducing commission significantly. It made a lot of sense for us to look at the possibility of forming a joint venture,” he says.
But would he do it again? “Yes, I would definitely do it again. I think if you ask me in 12 months time I would hope I would say yes again,” he remarks.
And what does he make of the future for Cook? “I hope – and think – it’s not too late
for Cook to get itself back to the strong position it’s had. It’s a fantastic brand, it’s the strongest one in the travel industry, certainly in comparison to the likes of Virgin and other well- known brands. And there is a lot of pent-up opportunity not just within the joint venture, but within Cook generally, to be successful again. The industry needs at least two strong
players to compete against each other,” he says. And Greenacre will still be around to see how Cook gets on, as he is hoping to remain involved in the travel trade in a consultant or non- executive role. “I have lots of ideas, for instance
around retail travel agencies and the high street. There are lots of opportunities, despite the strong
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