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Will Waggott is described as ‘really understanding what makes [tour operators] tick’


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Cook marketing team undergoes restructure


Thomas Cook has announced a restructure of its marketing team, with group marketing director Jamie Queen set to leave at the end of April. Sales and e-commerce


director Phil Gardner (below) will add UK marketing to his existing commercial remit. In the operator’s growing


own-brand hotels and resorts business, current head of communications David Child will become head of communications and marketing, hotels and resorts, with a focus on the flagship Casa Cook and Cook’s Club brands, as well as 20 hotel openings scheduled for this summer. Enric Noguer, chief of hotels


Cook recruits Waggott for ‘cold, hard look’ at the UK


Lucy Huxley lucy.huxley@travelweekly.co.uk


Former Tui Travel chief financial officer and Travelopia chief executive Will Waggott is to join Thomas Cook next week “to address the significant challenges of the UK business”.


Waggott has been named chief


of tour operating, overseeing divisions in the UK, continental and northern Europe. His immediate focus will be on the UK. He starts on March 11, having


previously worked for Airtours, Thomson and Tui, where he was commercial director and chief financial officer before overseeing the Travelopia brands in 2017. In a statement Cook said:


“[Waggott’s] immediate focus will


be to address the performance in the UK tour operator where the challenges of transformation in a competitive environment remain significant.” A senior Thomas Cook source


told Travel Weekly: “We need to accelerate growing our own- brand hotels and digitalising and streamlining our tour operator. “To do that and grow faster we


need to free up some capital and pay off debt. So Will is coming in to take a cold, hard look at our tour operating business.” City analyst Andrew Monk,


chief executive of VSA Capital, and a regular commentator on Cook, said the appointment was shrewd. He said: “It’s very important.


Waggott is a real tour operator… so is [chief executive] Peter Fankhauser, so I am pleased he is


4 travelweekly.co.uk 7 March 2019


“I am pleased he is bringing in people who know what makes these businesses tick”


now bringing in people who really understand what makes these businesses tick.” Monk said it was significant that


Waggott had started his career at Airtours, adding: “One area Cook has really suffered is losing all of its ‘Airtours’ passengers to Jet2holidays.” Cook “hasn’t had enough real,


hardcore tour operators on the board and in the business”, Monk continued, adding: “Even today it has an absurdly high number of non-executives [eight] and virtually none has real tour


and resorts, said: “We aim to accelerate our ambition to make Thomas Cook famous for its own-brand hotels across all our markets.”


operating experience. I’m sure they are all exceptionally talented, but tour operating is a unique industry that needs real understanding of the coal face. Let’s hope we see more change like this from Cook.” Waggott’s arrival will see Chris


Mottershead, who had been interim UK managing director following Ingo Burmester’s departure in December 2018, return full-time to his group-wide role of chief of product and operations, where he will focus on the group’s own-brand hotel strategy. When asked if Waggott would


appoint a separate MD for the UK, the Cook source said: “That will be up to Will when he arrives.” Fankhauser said: “Will’s expanded


role will deliver a more streamlined and consistent approach across our tour operating business.”

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