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NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Polka Dot Travel targets 20-plus stores by 2019


Ben Ireland ben.ireland@travelweekly.co.uk


Polka Dot Travel is to open three more branches by the end of June and double its number of shops by the end of 2019.


The 11-branch agency is to open


shops in Staffordshire for the first time next month in Hanley and Newcastle-under-Lyme, as well as in Mold, north Wales. Operations director Mark Johnson said the agency had sights on another “two or three” openings by the end of the year


and wants to bring the number of shops “into the twenties” in 2019. The agency, which opened its


first shop in 2014 and employs 50 staff, is looking for both new sites and acquisitions. It said sales were up 32% year on year. It currently has branches in


Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Welshpool and Wrexham. A new training facility which


can host suppliers and up to 14 members of staff has also been built above the Wrexham branch. Johnson, who runs the business


with his wife Helen and her joint managing director Philippa Wilcox,


Polka Dot’s Helen Johnson (left), Philippa Wilcox and Mark Johnson


said opening in clusters was beneficial for brand awareness. “The brand is modern and


dynamic,” he said. “That, and our recruitment


policy, have been the key to growing the business.” Polka Dot Travel started


advertising on Heart Radio two weeks ago in a year-long campaign to boost its brand awareness with the tag line ‘Our holidays hit the spot at Polka Dot’.


Johnson said incentivising


staff was the key to recruiting the right agents to grow the company and praised the joint managing directors for “living and breathing” the business. The agency, an Advantage member, has also taken steps to increase its social media presence by hiring a digital expert to oversee the channel across the business, which has a Facebook page for each shop.


5 STORIES HOT


5 Kuoni ruling sets liability precedent


Lee Hayhurst lee.hayhurst@travelweekly.co.uk


A High Court ruling which found Kuoni not liable to pay damages to a customer who was raped by a hotel worker could set a precedent for other package tour operators.


An appeal hearing concluded


Kuoni could not be responsible for circumstances that could not have been anticipated or avoided, in the case of a woman who was raped by an electrician working at the Club


Bentota hotel in Sri Lanka in 2011. The woman, who was on holiday


with her husband, claimed Kuoni was responsible for the actions of the employee under Package Travel Regulations and sued the operator for damages of £29,000. She lost the case and a subsequent appeal at the High Court in April. Stephen Mason, senior director


of Travlaw, said “conventional wisdom” held that operators were responsible for all services a hotel provides. But he said the Kuoni case


appeared to suggest negligence by 6 travelweekly.co.uk 24 May 2018


“Kuoni has every sympathy for the claimant and what she has been through”


the hotel had to be proved for the operator to be liable. Mason said: “What is significant


is the finding that only the hotel is a ‘supplier’, as defined within the PTRs, and not its employees. “It will be interesting to see


what impact this has on more conventional cases, like the


cleaner who leaves a marble floor wet without any signs, or the chef who ignores hygiene rules and causes illness.” Kuoni said “the case has implications for the travel industry” and felt on principle it was important to defend its position as it did not believe it could be held responsible for “unforeseen behaviour of one individual” who had been vetted at a contracted hotel. The operator added: “Kuoni has


every sympathy for the claimant and what she has been through.”


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