NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4
Counsellors eyes non-agent staff with £5k training
Ben Ireland
ben.ireland@
travelweekly.co.uk
Travel Counsellors is targeting members of the travel industry such as hotel and airline staff to become home-based agents.
The company has devised Travel
Trade, a training programme designed specifically for those with customer-facing experience in travel to run their own franchise. The move has been prompted by
a rise in enquiries from non-agent travel staff and the closure of industry contact centres, such as
that planned by Virgin Atlantic in Crawley which put 150 jobs at risk. Travel Trade will be Travel Counsellors’ fifth training programme. It currently runs Leisure Travel Counsellor and Business Travel Counsellor courses for those moving from existing agency roles. Its Travel Counsellors Academy is for those from outside travel, while a Return to Travel programme is for agents who have spent more than a year away from the role. The new course costs £5,000,
which is half that of the academy, with training tailor-made based on
Kirsten Hughes:
‘Nothing else like
this in the industry’
5 STORIES HOT
the applicant’s career history. Trainees will learn how to use
the in-house booking system, have 20 weeks’ business development support and gain access to the firm’s Learning Management System. Kirsten Hughes, Travel Counsellors’ chief commercial officer and managing director, said more than 10% of recruitment enquiries in the past year had been from non-agent industry staff. “We are seeing a distinct
increase in demand from these professionals,” she said. “With
recent closure announcements, it is important to offer these individuals the opportunity to stay in an industry they love and open up new career paths. There is nothing in the industry like this [course].” Warrington-based Helen Parker
worked as a cabin quality manager for Thomas Cook Airlines before retraining with Travel Counsellors. She said: “It’s great that even
more industry professionals now have this opportunity. I thrive on building relationships with customers and seeing the results.”
5 EasyJet to boost holidays division
Ian Taylor
ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk
EasyJet has confirmed plans to ramp up its operator arm easyJet Holidays “across source markets” for next summer. However, the carrier won’t reveal full details until November. Travel Weekly understands
easyJet aims to contract direct with selected hotels, on the lines of a tour operator and in part emulation of Tui’s strategy, while maintaining third-party room supply.
Chief executive Johan Lundgren,
former Tui deputy chief executive, confirmed: “We’re going to invest a lot more in easyJet Holidays.” Lundgren announced the appointment of Garry Wilson, Tui managing director for group product and purchasing, to head easyJet Holidays in May when he declared easyJet’s intent to “capture a significant share of the market”. Wilson won’t join until later
this year. Lundgren said: “We hope Garry can be on board by the end of the year. We’ll come back with
6
travelweekly.co.uk 26 August 2018
“We’ll set up a separate unit – I don’t want it distracting from the airline”
answers to all questions [about easyJet Holidays] in November.” EasyJet Holidays’ current
contracting is done through accommodation supplier Hotelopia. Lundgren said: “We will maintain third-party suppliers. I know those guys [at Hotelopia] well. We used to be colleagues [at Tui].”
However, he said: “Garry not
only knows hoteliers across Europe, but contractors.” Lundgren told Travel Weekly:
“We’ll set up easyJet Holidays as a separate business unit – I don’t want it distracting from the airline. We’ll set up one model across [our] source markets.” Hotelopia currently provides
easyJet Holidays’ Atol cover. EasyJet acquired its own Atol at the start of July to comply with new regulations, which require package protection for flight-plus- car-hire bookings.
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