Classic Collection plans booking site Lucy Huxley


Classic Collection Holidays is planning an online bookable platform in response to agent requests. Trade-only sister brand


Classic Package Holidays already offers online booking because its products tend to be “simpler, one-centre options”. Oliver Garner, chief executive of


the brands, said the platform was due to go live by the end of this year and would enable agents to obtain quotes for straightforward single-centre holidays more quickly. “We really want to be able to


distribute our products in a more agile fashion,” he added. He said the platform won’t suit


the tailor-made luxury holidays that Classic Collection offers but “will give agents a much speedier service” for a “subset” of booking enquiries. “It keeps us in the game,” he said,


commenting on problems agents face generally with long call wait times. Garner said the new platform


would not result in Classic Collection pushing into Classic Package Holidays’ space, adding: “The brands will retain their distinct product set.” Si Morris-Green, agency sales and


marketing director, highlighted that the operator’s 14-strong agency sales team is one of the biggest in the trade and is taking more than 200 agents to resorts this year. The first fam trip for Classic


Package Holidays will be in October, while next week will see the first


Goord lauds trade support after fire at Mauritius hotel


Juliet Dennis


Travel agent Anthony Goord has praised the travel industry for its support after he was evacuated from a luxury hotel devastated by fire in Mauritius. Goord, a partner of Peter Goord


Travel in Plymouth, was among 400 hotel guests moved to sister hotels after the blaze took hold at the Lux Belle Mare hotel on Saturday. He received hundreds of messages


from tour operator and travel agency owners offering help after posting about his plight on Facebook.


6 7 JULY 2022 Speaking from the Lux Grand


Baie hotel in Mauritius, he said: “There were people I’d not spoken to for years getting in touch. They all said they’d help and they genuinely meant it. It makes you feel quite humble when you get that response.” Goord, who has been an agent


for 38 years, thanked hotel staff for ensuring guests were looked after and for reuniting him and wife Sue with their belongings, including passports, so they can fly home from their 12-night holiday as planned this week. Most of their clothes have been ruined, but he said: “We are safe and


We really want to


be able to distribute our products in a more agile fashion. It keeps us in the game


‘Come Along to Classic’ day at its Worthing head office. Agents will join staff for lunch and cocktails, and explore the refurbished offices. The company will also meet 250


agents in London next week, hosting them at lunches, brunches and Travel Weekly’s Agent Achievement Awards. The drive to widen the network


of agents comes after expansion into long-haul markets and a focus on three core segments: ultra-luxury,


Classic Collection’s luxury range, and Classic Package Holidays’ fly-and-flop products. Garner said the focus on service


and new products was part of a drive to be the leading trade-only operator in the ultra-luxury, luxury tailor-made and package sectors. Furthermore, a brand name for


the ultra-luxury arm of the business, serviced by concierge staff, is under consideration. The company has been recruiting


since last August and has about 40% of its 163-strong workforce working from home. It has sourced candidates from


other sectors to widen its pool of recruits and is on the lookout for more with a view to increasing its headcount to 180-185.


Anthony Goord and wife Sue are reunited with their passports


live to tell the tale. When I get back I will support Lux as much as I can as an agency. I came here to see what it was like and now I can say what they did for me. The staff have been brilliant.” The couple were alerted to the


fire when they were on the beach. Goord recalled: “It was surreal.


We saw flames on the reception roof, but then the wind changed and all of a sudden blew the fire across the thatched roof. “We had a top floor room and by


the time I realised I should be going to my room to get our passports, it was too late. It was only later on I


Blaze at Lux Belle Mare


thought, ‘That was close’.” It is understood hotel staff have


been relocated to sister properties. “The staff were watching the fire


and I was thinking, ‘This is their livelihood’,” added Goord. In a statement, Lux Hotels said


Lux Belle Mare would be closed until further notice to undergo renovations. A spokesman said: “Despite the extent of damages, no injury was recorded and all of the hotel’s guests and personnel were safely evacuated. The safety and wellbeing of our guests and team members remain our utmost priority.”


travelweekly.co.uk


PICTURES: Anthony Goord


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