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Saga to tap into family holidays
Amie Keeley and Harry Kemble
Over-50s specialist Saga is looking to test demand for multigenerational holidays.
The operator is planning to
launch a small range of family holidays next year including private tours in a small number of long-haul destinations, as well as farm and cottage stays in the UK during the school holidays. Maria Whiteman, Saga Holidays managing director, said there was a “definite opportunity” to tap into the growing multigenerational family holiday market. “We get a lot of requests from
customers who want to go away for big events with their families,” Whiteman said. “It’s a definite opportunity for
Saga. Older people love being with their grandchildren so in my mind it’s something we should be doing. “There is nothing stopping us booking multigenerational groups on our private tours in places like Asia because they will be
travelling in their own group so not disrupting other customers. “We’re still working on our core
product offering but I want to start testing the theory and open it up in a couple of areas.” If the multigenerational holidays
are successful, Saga will consider producing a dedicated family holidays brochure, but Whiteman said this would not detract from its core over-50s holidays and cruises markets. The news follows plans to make
100 Saga staff redundant across the wider group – which includes insurance, money, healthcare and retirement villages, as well as travel – after it suffered a £2 million hit following the collapse of Monarch Airlines. Saga employs 6,000 people
across its travel, financial services and publishing divisions. In a trading update, the
Saga group said it was making £10 million in cost savings next year by completing a £4 million
review of its operating structure. › Executive Lunch, page 20 › Comment, page 36
Three agencies failed to pay staff the minimum wage
Agencies fined for underpaying
Harry Kemble
harry.kemble@
travelweekly.co.uk
Three Scottish travel agencies have been fined for failing to pay staff members the minimum wage as part of a nationwide government crackdown.
The Holiday & Flight Centre, of South Lanarkshire, the Kelty branch of Moorelands Travel (a Barrhead Travel franchisee), and B&E Travel trading as Barrhead Travel, both of Fife, were among 260 employers identified. The Holiday & Flight Centre
failed to pay £2,242.08 to one person. Two staff members from Moorelands Travel were underpaid £2,110.80. B&E Travel did not pay £994.56 to one worker. The Department for Business,
Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said investigators identified £1.7 million in back pay due to the UK’s lowest-paid workers. Business minister Margot James
Saga is to offer
multigenerational family hoidays
said: “There is no excuse for not paying staff the wages they’re entitled to and the government will come down hard on businesses that break the rules. “That’s why we are naming
“We had a genuine error, which was rectified immediately with a full apology”
hundreds of employers who have been short-changing their workers, and ensuring there are consequences for their wallets as well as their reputations.” Barrhead Travel said the B&E
Travel employee was paid once the error had been discovered by an independent audit. A Barrhead spokeswoman
said: “We work very hard to ensure we meet all our employer responsibilities, which is why we addressed the issue as quickly as possible.” A Holiday & Flight Centre
spokesperson said: “We had a genuine error due to unusual circumstances, which was rectified immediately with a full apology.” In total, employers have
been fined £1.3 million for underpayment. BEIS refused to reveal individual details of the fines, but did reveal the maximum fine is up to 200% of the arrears.
14 December 2017
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