The Interview Brett Tollman,


The Travel Corporation The chief executive of the parent company of Insight


Vacations, Luxury Gold, Trafalgar, Costsaver, Uniworld and Contiki believes consumers will emerge from the


T


he Travel Corporation should have been celebrating 100 years in business this year


coronavirus crisis with a greater appreciation for travel Tollman has steered the business,


with a huge party for 600 staff and special guests at London’s Natural History Museum. Instead, like everyone else in travel,


the family-owned global business is charting its way through the biggest crisis the sector has seen. The firm has shut 95% of all the


businesses it operates around the world, but a few hotels remain open as “bastions of hospitality”, according to chief executive Brett Tollman. “A hotel is a place to get a meal,


to be served and to be looked after, so that will remain as long as people want that and we can,” he says, while acknowledging occupancy is down to as low as 10% in some. Where properties have closed, staff have been providing meals for the elderly or volunteering in local hospitals. Tollman adds: “We are doing


all we can not to lay off staff. But as time goes on, everyone is going to have to look at how this affects their balance sheets.”


12 9 APRIL 2020


which was founded in 1920 by his grandfather, through many difficult periods, but says coronavirus is unquestionably the worst. “The world wasn’t built for this


kind of disaster. It totally non- discriminates,” he says. “It’s the unknown crisis. You don’t know if you’re sick or if you’re going to get it. And this invisible fear is driving behaviour like never before. It is the most extreme disaster and no one knows when it is going to end.” The Travel Corporation employs


10,000 people across a range of brands, which in the UK include Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold, Trafalgar and Costsaver, Uniworld Luxury River Cruises, Contiki and Red Carnation Hotels. Tollman says about a third of


customers with forward bookings have cancelled and asked for a refund; a third have postponed their holiday to a later date; and a third are waiting to see what happens. “We are trying to issue as many


credit notes as possible,” he says. “We still want people to travel – just later in the year or next year.”


Avoiding debt “Travel businesses need cash to keep going. We have a very clean, strong balance sheet with no debt, so we think we can weather this storm, but it does depend how long it goes on for – 12 or 18 months is a very different proposition to three months. “But thanks to our father’s


phenomenal statesman-like leadership, we have lived by one of his philosophies: to have no debt or third-party loans in our business. “And in times like these, the


stronger companies do survive and prosper. If you have debt, someone else owns your business.” Tollman recognises, though, that


some customers will be reluctant to take a credit note. “Off the back of Thomas Cook


failing last year, and with more failures inevitably to come, people are


skittish,” he says. “Why should they leave their money with anybody? But we are working with our agents and trying to be as supportive as we can, because if the money gets refunded to the customer, then no one gets paid.” Abta is advising members to delay


giving refunds and instead issue refund credit notes, both on bookings it protects and Atol-protected bookings up until July 31, but Tollman warns: “Abta doesn’t have the wherewithal to stand behind everyone. If half the industry fails, there is not enough money to back that up.”


Protecting staff At The Travel Corporation, Tollman and his co-directors – parents Stanley and Bea, sisters Vicki and Toni and cousins Gavin and Michael – are striving to protect their teams. “Marriot, Hyatt, InterContinental


In times like these, the stronger companies do survive and prosper. If you have debt, someone else owns your business


travelweekly.co.uk


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