NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Travel Weekly reporters


Thomas Cook is on the hunt for a new UK and Ireland managing director after recently appointed boss Andrew Flintham announced he was returning to rival Tui.


Flintham, former Tui UK commercial director, was due to start his new role as Cook managing director this week, succeeding Chris Mottershead, who has become Cook’s chief of UK source market and group differentiated product. But in a surprise move last


week, Tui named Flintham as its new UK and Ireland managing director, following the departure of Nick Longman after 20 years. Flintham starts at Tui this week


– the same week he had been due to start at Thomas Cook.


5


Cook claims first with £0 deposits


Juliet Dennis juliet.dennis@travelweekly.co.uk


Thomas Cook is offering a “risky” new zero deposit, ‘buy now pay later’ scheme.


The incentive goes live today


(March 1) and is available online and in Cook’s own stores for holidays between November 1, 2018, and October 31, 2019. A spokeswoman said Cook is considering making the scheme


available to third-party agents. The zero deposit offer is


available on selected Cook, Airtours and Manos packages booked 14 weeks before departure, enabling customers to book a holiday with no upfront cost and pay the balance off in monthly direct debit instalments. The total must be paid six weeks before departure. Cook claims the scheme is the


first of its kind by a tour operator. Alistair Rowland, group


general manager for Midcounties 6 travelweekly.co.uk 1 March 2018


“The notion of a supplier owning the customer payment will be a discussion point for the trade”


Co-operative Travel, welcomed the scheme but added: “I’m sure the notion of a supplier owning the customer payment will be a significant discussion for the trade. “If the upside is significant, such


as a ‘no deposit’ message, and the process can be seamless, I think the trade would support it.” Paul Carter, branch manager of


Carrick Travel’s Pershore branch, said: “Fair play to Thomas Cook for finding a way out [on credit card fees]; this could save them hundreds of millions of pounds.” Others flagged up the risk of


high cancellations, traditionally associated with low deposits,


and the difficulty of matching the offer if it is not rolled out to independents. South Elmsall Travel consultant


Paul Hope said: “How are independents going to compete on these payment terms?” Alan Bowen, legal adviser to the Association of Atol Companies, said zero deposits were in theory “a really good idea” but added: “In practice, there is a risk consumers will cancel.” The scheme is being promoted


as Cook launches its summer 2019 programme, out several weeks earlier than last year and about five weeks ahead of rival Tui.


“He spent the last five months getting ready to move, so his decision not to was quite a surprise”


A Cook spokeswoman said the company was looking for internal and external candidates. She added: “Chris Mottershead has been running the UK business for some time and will continue to do that. Even in his expanded role, he was always going to oversee the running of the UK, so nothing changes.” A source close to Cook said Flintham’s decision not to join had taken the company by surprise. “He had basically spent the


last five months getting ready to move over and was fewer than


two weeks away from starting. So his decision not to was quite a surprise and very last-minute,” the source said. In a statement, Flintham


indicated the top job at Tui was too good an opportunity to miss. He said: “I am delighted to


become the new managing director of Tui UK and Ireland, a role I couldn’t imagine would become available when I resigned as commercial director a few months ago.” Flintham resigned


in October having spent 13 years at Tui as commercial director, mainstream planning director, aviation planning director and planning and trading director, having previously worked at British Airways.


5 STORIES HOT Cook seeks MD after Flintham U-turn Andrew


Flintham was just


over a week away from becoming Thomas Cook’s new MD


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