THE BUSINESS ADVICE WEBCAST


Jeannette Linfoot


Travel Weekly moderator Lee Hayhurst


Ian Brooks


Travel Weekly webcasts: Industry experts voice their opinions on a range of virus- THE SKILLS WEBCAST


Bob Morrell


Lucy Huxley


Will Waggott


Chris Photi


Video calls tipped to be new way to sell holidays


S


elling holidays online via video call could emerge as one of the biggest trends from the Covid-19


pandemic crisis. Industry experts agreed the


current period of remote working will change the way consumers and businesses behave. Video-conferencing tools such as


Skype, Zoom and House Party have rocketed in popularity as people work from home and keep in touch with loved ones. Will Waggott, who has held senior


roles at Airtours, Tui, Thomas Cook and Travelopia since 1995, said companies might come to decide they do not need large office space. “Businesses will say ‘this has


worked for six months’ and get rid of half their office space,” he predicted. “The world will have changed at


the end of this.” And with customer trust in the


travel sector having been dented over the issue of credit notes instead of refunds, Waggott believes firms will need to communicate differently. “It’s going to be much more


10 9 APRIL 2020


difficult to get people to pay a lot of money for their holidays upfront,” he said. “I think you will find a lot more people making bookings over video calls because they will have got used to it. So, you will see a massive increase in people chatting to people about booking via video calls and less people going on the phones. “Everyone is interacting on video.


They are getting used to it.” Jeannette Linfoot, former Saga


head of tour operations, predicted changes to how companies operate. “Businesses are having to


restructure, streamline and take costs out,” she said. “If they then become used to operating in that way, that will become the base point and the new norm. So I think organisations’ structures will change as well as [the take-up of] remote working.” Linfoot also tipped social media


to play a big role in the industry’s hoped-for bounce-back. “The role of social media is really key,” she said. “Businesses that take the opportunity to have really engaging content and good comms will do really well when [demand] does come back.”


Matt Parker


‘Redundant staff could ask to be furloughed instead’


T


ravel industry staff made redundant before the announcement of government measures


to support businesses should contact their former employers to ask if they could be furloughed. The advice came from Ian


Brooks, partner and co-founder of Gail Kenny Executive Recruitment, who said: “If you’ve recently been made redundant (in March) but were still working in February then I would recommend contacting your employer and saying ‘please could you reconsider my redundancy and consider furloughing me instead’. “The employer is not really


going to be much worse off and I think some are unaware that you can furlough people after they’ve already been made redundant.” Brooks said he had also been


advising candidates who were unable to start in new roles due to the crisis to make contact with their former employers. He said: “We have had some


Some are unaware


that you can furlough people after they’ve been made redundant


sad cases where candidates were about to start new jobs and the employer has said they can’t take them on. If they’ve left their previous role on good terms, we’ve told them to go back to their previous employer and ask if they can continue in employment and be furloughed.” Brooks said staff who were


furloughed could use the break from work to “rest and recuperate” and could also investigate learning a new skill that could benefit them on their return to work. He was joined in a skills-based


webcast by Reality Training managing director Bob Morrell and Matt Parker chief executive of tech specialist Babble in a session hosted by Travel Weekly editor-in chief Lucy Huxley.


travelweekly.co.uk


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