COLLAPSE
THOMAS COOK
NEWS ROUND-UP
Agents work overtime to rebook weddings and dream holidays
Travel Weekly reporters
Weddings, last-minute getaways and holidays that had already been cancelled once were among the bookings salvaged by third-party agencies aſter Tomas Cook failed. Agents across the country have
been hammering the phones and finding replacement breaks using different operators and airlines to keep customers’ dreams alive.
Wedding saviour Bernadette Trueman, a Hays
Travel Independence Group franchisee with Explorer Travel, rebooked a Cyprus wedding and holiday for a couple who had booked with Cook for themselves and their three-year-old adopted child. She put it together using Perfect
Weddings Abroad combined with a Jet2holidays package as the family – still awaiting their refund from Cook – scrambled to put the cash together. By the time they got the money,
the first flights had gone, so Trueman had to find alternatives and managed to save the trip, which included a stay at the Coral Bay hotel near Paphos for the October 17 wedding. “It felt good to help them and
save their wedding and holiday,” said Trueman, who is based in Rossendale, Lancashire, and was recommended by one of her customers. “It has doubled my workload
rebooking customers and booking for other people who have come to me as their holidays have been cancelled. “It has been stressful, but good to see the industry come together.”
10 3 OCTOBER 2019
Marriage counsellor Premier Travel in Dereham, Norfolk, saved Darren Clark and Eleanor Marsden’s wedding, which was also in Cyprus. Senior sales consultant
Laura Toll said: “A colleague and I started about 7am on Monday (September 23) when Cook collapsed and started rebooking and ringing customers. “Te stepmother of the bride
was here at 9am, she was frantic. She looked like she had not slept.” Te agents made lots of phone
calls and had problems with many supplier websites crashing, but aſter six hours they managed to rebook the wedding, flights and accommodation for the group of five, at a different hotel in Cyprus. Te customers flew out on Monday (September 30) and their wedding is planned four days later than scheduled on October 4. “We booked with Planet Holidays
and Mathilde Robert [managing director] was brilliant, the way she liaised with us,” said Toll, whose branch rebooked about 20 Tomas Cook customers.
Dynamic solution Emma Westwood, director of
Westwood Travel, also rebooked about 20 Cook customers with the help of Te Travel Network Group’s dynamic- packaging tools. Te Independent Travel Expert
member shut her shop in Alton, Hampshire, for two days as her four-strong team focused on urgent rebookings. “I’ve been geting up early and
working late,” she said. “We had to prioritise rebooking.
One client messaged me at 5am as she had a holiday for her and her daughter departing on the Tuesday (September 24). “Friends and family gave her
Agents scrambled to save imminent weddings in Cyprus, one of which took six hours to rebook
the money and she had £2,000 by Wednesday (September 25), and they flew out to Marrakech on the Tursday. “It’s been a juggling act with all the people coming to us for help.”
Double whammy Te Travel Village, in Blackpool, salvaged the booking of a couple who had already had to rebook their cancelled holiday in the summer. Agent Tracey Wilkinson, who
joined from Cook in the last week, rebooked with Gold Medal aſter the couple’s £3,500 package holiday to Mexico with Tomas Cook had been cancelled. Colleague Alison Swallow, also
recruited from Cook, said: “Tis couple suffered a double whammy because they had originally been booked on a cancelled [P&O Cruises] sailing on Oceana in the Gulf this winter. Tey were just happy to get something in the end.”
travelweekly.co.uk
PICTURE: Shutterstock
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 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
