NEWS ROUND-UP
COMMENT: “Remaining innovative is the key not just to success but to survival” Steve Dunne, page 18
Agents go extra mile as Sunderland reach final
Juliet Dennis
When news broke that Sunderland FC could make the play-offs and possible promotion to the Championship, agents in the northeast knew they faced a busy few days. Westoe Travel in South Shields and
Hays Travel branches in Fulwell and Sunderland were among those to pull out the stops to get fans to Sunday’s crunch tie with Charlton at Wembley. With just 10 days to secure travel
and hotels on a bank holiday weekend at the start of half-term, agents faced a struggle to book train seats to London. Even before last Tursday’s
semi-final, Westoe Travel began planning to get fans to London, contacting 70 customers to make provisional bookings. Staff worked from 9pm until 3am
last Tursday to process bookings and were back at their desks at 6am on Friday until 10pm – booking hotels, trains and coach travel for about 1,400 fans with suppliers including Super Break and National Holidays. “It’s the first time we’ve had
to deal with this in such a short space of time,” said owner Graeme
We got about 40
private messages and fans were queueing at the door. We made hundreds of bookings
Bret, whose agency is laying on six coaches to the game. “Te whole team has been fantastic. Everyone gave their spare time to help. Hopefully a lot will come to us again; 75% of customers had not booked with us before.”
Chris Gardner takes over from Conlon at helm of
Cruise.co.uk
Cruise.co.uk’s Chris Gardner has been appointed chief executive of the online travel agency as Seamus Conlon steps down to become a non- executive director. Gardner joined
Cruise.co.uk last year from consumer advice specialist Which?, where he spent 12 years as managing director. As part of the management reshuffle, UK product and commercial manager Tony Andrews will replace Gardner as managing director. Conlon said he was keen to “pursue other interests”.
8 23 MAY 2019 Sunderland beat
Portsmouth to reach the play-off final at Wembley
Hays Travel branches prepared
Facebook posts saying “we’ve only gone and done it again” to go live aſter the semi-final against Portsmouth. All five staff at the Fulwell branch
came in at 8am Friday. Manager Kirsty Walton said: “We got about 40 private messages and fans were queueing at the door. We made hundreds of bookings; it was manic.” She added: “By 10am, you couldn’t
pre-book a train seat.” Super Break’s call centre stayed
open until past midnight on Tursday to handle agents’ bookings.
Ra of travel agency openings in Manchester and Cheshire
Travelbag has opened its seventh branch, in Chester, Cheshire, with an eighth due to follow in London in early summer. It comes as Global Travel Group member Footprint Travel opened its first store, in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, after three years as a homeworking agency. And Hays North West is due to open new stores in Oldham (Greater Manchester) and Northwich (Cheshire) next month.
Hotelplan and Royal join mental health initiatives
Hotelplan and Royal Caribbean International are the latest travel firms to pledge support to mental health initiatives in the workplace. Employees at Hotelplan, parent
of operators Inghams, Total Ski, Esprit and Santa’s Lapland, marked Mental Health Awareness Week with a pub quiz, barbecue and ‘Wear what makes you happy’ day. Hotelplan also has 12 mental health first-aiders. HR manager Sara Bravery said:
“Working is such a big part of your life. It’s really important you can be happy and content there and if you’re not, or if anything’s troubling you, it’s important you know there is someone you can speak to.” Staff at Royal Caribbean shared
their personal stories surrounding mental health issues last week, which were shared in a video circulated across the company. Kelly Ashby, wellbeing and
ability employee resource group lead, said the move “encouraged new conversations around mental health between colleagues” and drew atention to support that is available. Te initiatives come aſter Travel
Weekly launched its Mental Health Maters campaign, which will focus on promoting positive mental health in the workplace.
Travel Weekly writer wins Lata award for Patagonia article
Travel Weekly deputy features and supplements editor Laura French (pictured) won the trade publication feature of the year award at the Latin America Travel Association media awards last week. French’s feature on Patagonia was written following a Latin Routes trip to Bariloche and El Calafate. She said: “It’s an incredible region. I’d encourage anyone to visit.”
travelweekly.co.uk
PICTURE: Andrew Couldridge/Reuters
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