NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW 4


Counsellors trials digital training with 40 agents


Ben Ireland ben.ireland@travelweekly.co.uk


Forty Travel Counsellors agents are piloting an advanced digital skills training programme that could help them double the size of their businesses.


The training and mentoring


scheme is headed by new global sales director Jim Eastwood – a former finalist on The Apprentice – who joined from Groupon six months ago. The Manchester-based


agency, which has 1,000 UK homeworkers, hopes the 13-week initiative, which it describes as an ‘accelerator programme’, will help agents drive up new and repeat customer numbers. The 40 travel counsellors


involved in the trial are taught how to use the latest technology to enhance their digital channels, with the aim of extending their business reach. They are also offered advanced training both on Travel Counsellors’ Phenix booking tool and the most up-to- date payment methods.


Jim Eastwood


5 STORIES HOT


Each agent has a business


development mentor from the agency’s head office and takes specially created extra modules on the group’s e-learning portal Coach. Eastwood said: “It’s about sharing best practice and reinforcing good habits in a structured environment. I hope it will help us scale, but at the same time keep the intimacy that makes Travel Counsellors successful.” Northumberland-based travel counsellor Lizzie Adamson-Brown


said she had used skills from the programme to contact clients who could potentially double the size of her business. “It has shown me what I’m doing


well on social media and taught me where I’m wasting time,” she said. “We’ve been sharing what works and what doesn’t.” Within 48 hours of the pilot scheme’s launch, about 20% of the firm’s 1,700 travel counsellors worldwide had applied. The programme is likely to be extended.


5


Thomas Cook reined back on volume growth to Spain this summer as competition in Britons’ favourite destination hit prices and margins.


Cook reports growth outside Spain 8%


Lee Hayhurst lee.hayhurst@travelweekly.co.uk


limited growth, Turkey and Egypt performed well, along with Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus. Peter Fankhauser, group chief


In a pre-close trading update to


the City this week, Cook revealed UK booking numbers were up 8%, while pricing was in line with last year, reflecting good seat-only sales for Thomas Cook Airlines. While Spain bookings remained level with last year as Cook


executive, said: “Thomas Cook has had a good summer. Customers across our markets have shown a strong appetite for our holidays, picking a range of destinations in their search for the sun.” Overall the group saw an 11%


increase in bookings and average selling prices were up 1%. Its summer programme was


91% sold, two percentage points higher than last year. Fankhauser highlighted the


6 travelweekly.co.uk 28 September 2017


Increase in Cook’s UK bookings in past year


“strategic progress” Cook had made, including its recent alliance with Expedia for city break and domestic holidays hotel supply. This, he said, “will allow us to cut the complexity in our business and focus on our core holiday offering”. In Tuesday’s update, Cook also


revealed a strategic partnership with LMEY Investments, a Swiss- based property developer. This will see it grow its portfolio of own- branded hotels. The partnership means Cook acquired a 42% stake in Aldiana, a German premium operator and hotel management firm. Aldiana currently has eight club resorts, in Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Tunisia and Austria, and plans to open another four resorts over the next two years. Cook also announced the


retirement of group chief financial officer Michael Healy, who will officially leave on March 31, 2018.


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