Continued from page 62
standards should be [after] brands came to us to say, ‘We need a starting point’. “Basics is designed to be
accessible to everyone and helpful to hotel chains which want basic standards they can implement with hotel owners.” He pointed out existing
certification schemes “are great, but complex with a huge number of complicated criteria. But we made sure the Basics programme leads to these schemes.” Imbsen added: “The
WSHA and GSTC came to us to ask we continue to develop the Basics pathway.” Take-up of the programme
has grown fast after a relatively slow beginning. Imbsen described the programme as growing “organically”, with hotel associations, destinations and hotel chains increasingly contacting the WTTC to participate. He said: “There was very
little uptake in the first months. It picked up to around 1,300 hotels at the end of last year. Now there are more than 5,000.” Imbsen estimates under 10%
of properties signed up to date are independent hotels, with the number of hotels joining being the main measure of success up to now. But he said: “Some key interactions now are coming from destinations saying, ‘This is what we’ve been looking for’. “A few destinations have
changed their systems to incorporate the Basics criteria as their national criteria. We’re talking to 10-15 destinations, and some are big.” He insisted: “We’re not out to
make a buck. We’re not here to compete. We’re here to support. “But we’re driving global alignment and that is huge.”
Hotelplan reports ‘various parties’ keen on purchase
Hotelplan has “various parties” interested in buying the group, chief executive Laura Meyer has revealed in the first official update since parent Migros put the group up for sale seven months ago. Speaking on a podcast last month,
Meyer said: “We are in the middle of the process. It’s going well [and] we have various interested parties.” However, she gave no details.
Parent Migros, a major retail and
financial services co-operative in Switzerland, announced Hotelplan was up for sale in early February, with US investment bank Houlihan Lokey hired to search for a buyer. Hotelplan UK comprises
Inghams, Explore Worldwide, Inntravel and Santa’s Lapland and reported £212 million in revenue last year, about 14% of the group total. The UK subsidiary announced the closure of ski operator Esprit this year. Migros aims to sell Hotelplan as
a whole but has not ruled out the sale of individual businesses.
Joe Ponte
Meyer insisted Hotelplan’s
business has not been affected by the search for a buyer, saying: “We are absolutely stable and we are growing.” Hotelplan UK chief executive Joe Ponte said: “The sale doesn’t change anything for us.”
FTI clients await refunds as insolvency case starts
Ian Taylor
A Munich court has opened insolvency proceedings for the FTI Touristik group which failed in June, with administrator Axel Bierbach suggesting he has realised significant funds. However, the DRSF German
travel security fund, equivalent of the Air Travel Trust fund, only began paying refunds for cancelled holidays to FTI customers last month. Many have been unable to rebook holidays this summer as a result. Tui Group chief executive
Sebastian Ebel hit out at the fund over the time it has taken to reimburse customers, saying: “It’s not really understandable. It took an enormous time for the DRSF to pay [FTI] customers.” He said the delay meant many
Germans planning holidays had been unable to travel this summer. Speaking on August 14, he said:
62 5 SEPTEMBER 2024
more than €400 million. Bierbach has identified 350,000 creditors in total, most of them consumers but including up to 3,000 suppliers. More than 700 employees
Sebastian Ebel
“Customers are still waiting for refunds. Many have not received the money so could not go on holiday. Probably there is pent-up demand from FTI customers for next year.” Ebel noted: “FTI was in a
different market segment to Tui. We are more four to five-star. FTI was in a more difficult segment. Very often these people were not able to book and pay a second time. People booked with FTI have hardly been able to travel this year.” Up to 250,000 FTI customers are owed refunds expected to total
now face redundancy despite the administrator securing the sales of several FTI brands, including Raiffeisen Touristik Group, travel agency chain TVG, service centre Erf24, luxury tour operator Windrose Finest Travel and last-minute holidays brand 5vorFlug. Former FTI-owned UK
accommodation provider Youtravel remains in limbo, having cancelled all bookings up to the end of October. Management continue to hope to
resume trading from November with bookings from then still “active”. However, there has been no
update since July 18 despite the court insolvency process in Germany now underway and Youtravel has not responded to further requests for comment.
travelweekly.co.uk
PICTURE: Rüdiger Nehmzow
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
