NEWS ROUND-UP NEWS IN BRIEF
Eurocamp to go direct-sell due to ‘consumer shifts’
Eurocamp is withdrawing sales via agents and making two people in its trade sales team redundant. The decision to go direct-sell-only follows a review of its distribution channels. The operator will honour existing bookings, but said investment in online platforms and “natural consumer shifts” were reasons behind the move.
Cook to expand portfolio with 11 new properties
Thomas Cook will open a further 11 own-brand hotels: four Sentido properties, three adult- only Sunprime hotels, a family- friendly SunConnect and three Smartline hotels. Including those previously announced, Cook will open 20 own-brand hotels between now and winter 2018-19, taking its portfolio to 191.
Ryanair settles in dispute with eDreams and Google
Ryanair, Google and eDreams have reached an out-of-court agreement on legal proceedings brought by the airline. The agreement marks the end of a dispute that started in 2015. Ryanair argued that eDreams was using the Google AdWords platform to convince customers they were dealing with the airline direct.
Former dnata bosses’ move to If Only is delayed until April
Dnata has confirmed a legal agreement has been reached that will block five former executives from starting work at rival operator If Only until April 1, 2018. Legal proceedings were initiated
by dnata Travel after Andy Freeth, Gordon McCreadie, Matt Appleby, Tracy Docherty and David Irving resigned on the same day in June. All but Freeth, who was due to
COMMENT: “An award is proof the advertising slogans are more than just words – it shows the brand really does walk the talk” Steve Dunne, page 26
Hoseasons: Brochure is no longer best sales tool
Juliet Dennis
juliet.dennis@
travelweekly.co.uk
Hoseasons is to stop bulk deliveries of brochures to agents.
The landmark decision comes as the operator reports that 75% of third-party bookings are now made online and 90% of customers go online to research breaks. The domestic specialist will
deliver file copies of its three 2018 brochures covering its lodge, holiday parks and boating breaks to agents, but no brochure packs. Agents can request a new mini
brochure with key selling points for the group’s main specialist lodge brands: Autograph Lodge Holidays, Evermore, Go Active Breaks, Wanderwood, Bouja, Daisy Door and boating brand Starboard. There are no Hoseasons contact details in the brochure, so clients are encouraged to speak to their agent instead. The radical move follows a
recent shift away from brochures by the big two. Tui has pledged to scrap brochures by 2020, while Thomas Cook is moving towards more magazine-style publications.
take up his new job in December, had been due to start at If Only last month, until dnata initiated legal proceedings. Since the resignations, dnata
Travel Europe has rebuilt its management team, including a new role for former Gold Medal managing director Steve Barrass. It has also appointed former
lastminute.com managing director John Bevan, Silversea Cruises managing director Lisa McAuley and Attraction World sales and marketing director Nick Hughes in key roles in its B2B division.
8
travelweekly.co.uk 26 October 2017 MINI BROCHURE: Highlights brands’ key selling points, says Sally Henry Hoseasons sales director Sally
Henry said the change would safeguard against customers taking brochures from agencies and booking direct. Real-time information and prices helped close a sale, she added. “Agents said people would come in and pick up brochures, and they would lose the booking,” Henry said. “We have developed an e-tool for agents to show customers the brochure and download the parts they want to give them a better chance of converting sales. “Brochure requests have declined from agents because the
brochure is genuinely not the best [sales] tool any more. We are not expecting agents to be upset.” Henry denied the move was to
cut costs and said money saved had been reinvested. The website is now mobile-friendly “at considerable cost” and offers downloadable offers, posters, videos, testimonials and concessions for agents. An online training section is due
to go live by the end of the year. Hoseasons has developed
technology for agents to link 30,000 properties into their own websites and secure real-time bookings.
Cook defends £4k fake sickness claim from ‘dishonest’ party-loving customers
A model and her husband were labelled “dishonest” by a judge who was shown Facebook photos of them enjoying a holiday in Cyprus when they had claimed to be suffering from gastric illness. Rachelle Noon, 28, and her husband Karl, 31, were seeking £4,000 in compensation from Thomas Cook, but were instead ordered to pay the operator’s
costs of £2,278 at Liverpool County Court. Cook’s lawyers found
Facebook photographs of the couple laughing and smiling on a ‘party bus’ at the time they had claimed to be ill from food poisoning at the Anastasia Beach Hotel in Protaras in 2015. Thomas Cook has now
successfully defended five sickness claims in court.
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