Baldwins hearing date rescheduled Ian Taylor
The High Court hearing of a petition to wind up Baldwins Travel, filed by director Nick Marks in May and due on Wednesday of last week, was postponed and is now scheduled for July. The reason is not clear and Marks
was not available for comment, but separate Companies House and High Court filings suggest significant recent developments. A Companies House document in
Baldwins’ name filed days before the scheduled hearing on June 25 noted termination of Marks’ appointment as director on June 19. This seems unlikely to have been filed by Marks as he sought to wind up the company as sole director, making the High
Court unlikely to hear the petition if no longer in the role. Separately, a High Court
application to have Baldwins placed in administration was filed on June 24 by a company registered in Delaware at the same address as Worldwide Travel Holdings (WTH), the registered owner of Baldwins. Travel Weekly has previously
reported that Abta terminated Baldwins’ membership on April 1, Iata suspended its accreditation on April 28 and the Advantage Travel Partnership confirmed Baldwins was no longer a member in May. Yet the Baldwins business
remains technically in existence despite investment firm Westwood Capital Finance sending in receivers on May 7 following the company’s
Advantage drops package brand to focus on AtolPlus
Andrew McQuarrie
Advantage Travel Partnership is seeking continued growth of its dynamic-packaging AtolPlus offering after dropping the Advantage Holidays & Cruise brand as it has supplier partners that can deliver the same service. Advantage Holidays & Cruise,
which was introduced in 2016, specialised in short-haul beach holidays and city breaks. About 84% of the consortium’s members were described as regularly booking through the platform last year. The brand was discontinued
4 3 JULY 2025
from June 28 in recognition of “market changes” in recent years, including a growth in dynamic- packaging providers, resulting in a “reduced membership requirement” for the service. Advantage strategy director
Lee Ainsworth said: “This is not us getting rid of our tour operating capability – it’s quite the opposite. We’re just not using the Advantage Holidays & Cruise brand anymore.” AtolPlus, which was introduced
in 2022, offers a more global range of options, Ainsworth added, enabling members to better “differentiate” themselves in the market.
The Baldwins
business remains technically in existence despite receivers being sent in on May 7
default on loans secured against the freehold of its head office in Tunbridge Wells and buildings in Tonbridge and Tenterden. The receivers have made clear their role is “to manage and sell” the properties. The High Court judge who, last
October, sentenced former Baldwins Travel director Jack Mason and associates David Antrobus and Scott Dylan to 22 months in prison for breaches of freezing orders obtained by
Lee Ainsworth
Barclays Bank against the sale or transfer of assets, including Baldwins, beyond UK law was satisfied that Dylan, Antrobus and Mason retained control of the business through WTH despite claiming to have sold their assets. Barclays had filed a High Court
claim for £13.7 million against Dylan, Antrobus, Mason and others in November 2021, and obtained the freezing orders in pursuit of this. These proceedings have yet to be heard, but Barclays has now filed petitions for bankruptcy against Mason, Antrobus and Dylan. Baldwins was owned by the
Marks family up to September 2021, when it was acquired by Inc Travel Group, part of a web of companies run by Mason, Dylan and Antrobus, with Nick Marks remaining a director.
He also pointed to the growing
take-up of the Advantage Managed Services model, which allows members to dynamically package trips using the franchise’s Atol. Ainsworth said the axing of
Advantage Holidays & Cruise was part of a “long-term plan”, not a cost-cutting exercise, adding that the three members of its team would shift to developing AtolPlus. He said a small but growing
percentage of members were using AtolPlus, adding: “We’ve seen sustained growth and I would like to see that continue.” The service is based on a cost-of-sale model, rather
than an out-of-pocket expense. Some Advantage members said they were surprised and disappointed to learn that Advantage Holidays & Cruise was being discontinued, while others said they rarely used the service. Oasis Travel managing director
Sandra Corkin said: “We particularly appreciated Advantage Holidays as they were able to offer package holidays using low-cost carriers such as Ryanair from Dublin.” Another agent, speaking
anonymously, said they were initially “shocked”, though they added they had only made three bookings through the platform this year.
travelweekly.co.uk
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
