TUI UK blacklists 500 customers it says have made false or exaggerated claims of holiday sickness. The company sent its blacklist letter to more than 500 customers last week. The announcement comes in the wake of a court decision that results in the jailing of a couple who were trying to claim nearly £20,000 ($26,400) from Thomas Cook. Previously, TUI had reported a 1,400 percent increase in the number of holiday sickness claims made against it as the trade publication Travel Weekly (UK) launched a Fight Fake Claims campaign.

Dnata and If Only reach agreement on suit involving poaching of managers: Dnata has confirmed that a legal agreement has been reached that will prevent five former executives from starting their new jobs with competitor operator if Only until April 1, 2018. The action brings to a close nasty fight between the two companies that became public last month (See https://www.inboundreport.com/2017/09/26/nasty-fight-erupts-after-former-travel-2-and-gold-medal-execs-defect/). Last June, managing director Andy Freeth, sales and marketing director, Gordon McCreadie, product and commercial director Matt Appleby, head of sales Tracy Docherty and business manager for dnata’s Travel 2 David Irving resigned on the same day. All but Freeth, who was due to start in December, had been expected to begin their jobs at If Only last month, but dnata took legal action to prevent the team from starting work. Since the resignations, dnata Travel Europe has rebuilt its management team.

Thomson says rebranding as part of TUI costing “tens of millions”: Fifty-two years after its creation as a brand that became one of the most recognizable in the UK, Thomson revealed last week that is rebranding as part of TUI has is costing the company “tens of millions” of pounds. At the same time, TUI, which began a campaign to globalize its brand following the merger with parent company TUI AG in December 2014, will be retaining its First Choice and Crystal Ski brands after market research suggested that it would lose the majority of its customers if it went ahead with plans to adopt the TUI brand.  : “Many of those customers wouldn’t have come to TUI with us, they just wouldn’t. We know this from lots and lots of market research we have carried out over the past three years,” said marketing director Jeremy Ellis. “”First Choice is a very different brand to Thomson and we couldn’t have named them both TUI. Crystal is also a strong brand on its own and TUI Ski couldn’t offer what Crystal offers.”

Thomas Cook China now Fully Operational: Launched a year ago, Thomas Cook China—the company that is 51 percent-owned by Fosun and 49 percent by Thomas Cook—is now a fully operational business with around a hundred employees across two offices, in Shanghai and Beijing. For inbound operation, the company takes tourists from European source markets to China, and provides both leisure and MICE services in China. On the outbound sector, Thomas Cook China concentrates on the leisure market, organizing short- and long-haul travel for Chinese holidaymakers.

Thomas Cook China managing director Alessandro Dassi said in an interview that the company will have servedd 20,000 customers since its launch by the end of September and that, “Over the next 12 months, we plan to grow this number by more than ten times.”

“We have now a strong infrastructure platform on which we can build and scale up the business,” he added. Our focus at the moment is to increase the volume and customer base for the company.”

Thomas Cook China offers mainly three types of outbound packages: hotel packages to short-haul destinations in Southeast Asia countries such as Thailand, long-haul worldwide itineraries, and sports packages with tickets to football games and other sports activities.

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Tui Swallows Thomson: Tui began in earnest last week its campaign to fold the tour operator Thomson into the Tui brand. It began with a TV advertisement during ITV’s X Factor program, showing a man diving into water with the message: “Thomson is changing to TUI.” Other variations of this ad will be shown on long-haul flights, national television, the sides of buses and online.

The move is the latest in a “single brand” strategy that was adopted after Tui Travel, Europe’s largest travel company, merged with parent company Tui AG in December 2014. Since then, Tui has sold off or re-named some national brands, its bedbank Hotelbeds and, earlier this year, its collection of 50 specialist travel brands that make up Travelopia.

Following the integration of Thomson into the Tui brand, the only business left to be merged into the Tui brand, is First Choice. Based on what Tui’s leadership has said in the past, that should take place sometime next year. Thomson was founded in 1965 by Roy Thomson, a Canadian newspaper and media entrepreneur whose holdings included the Times of London.

 

Travel Network Group Tests Idea of “Concierge” Fee for Customers: The Travel Network Group says it has found a way of countering the effect of new laws relating to card fees by introducing a “paid-for” concierge service for its customers. The group reports that it has been conducting a trial run for the new Concierge Service at its owned Worldchoice stores and says, if it is successful, it will be rolled out to members before the end of the year. The company’s research found that although customers reacted negatively to the idea of a “booking fee,” the vast majority were open to the idea of a small charge for extra help with their booking. The latter would include the printing of boarding passes, an online cruise personalizer, help with visa applications, no in-house amendment fees on any bookings, and a 24-hour customer support service pre- and post-holiday and in resort. The Travel Network Group says the concept would help agents mitigate the costs of not being able to pass on credit and debit card fees from January 2018. If formally launched, the new service, and fee, would be added to the total cost of a holiday purchase.

Thomas Cook’s Website to be powered by Expedia Hotel Inventory. The agreement, made possible by Expedia Global Partner Solutions, the partnership arm of Brand Expedia, will over time provide Thomas Cook consumers with access to thousands more hotels for the company’s city and domestic holiday businesses. Also as part of the new alliance, Thomas Cook’s primary websites, contact centers, stores and distribution to affiliated travel agents will eventually be powered by Expedia’s market-leading platform for various types of travel bookings. “The combination of Expedia’s portfolio of hotels and best-in-class online technology will transform Thomas Cook’s city breaks and hotel-only offer for customers while helping the business take an important step forward in delivering our strategy for profitable growth,” said Peter Fankhauser, Thomas Cook’s CEO.

Will Forest Holidays Sale have an Impact on Center Parcs Plan for USA? Center Parcs, which operates five outdoor resorts across the UK, was reported by Sky News to be among a number of suitors for Forest Holidays, which has been put up for sale by its private equity owner. Forest Holidays is jointly owned by the Forestry Commission and LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, and trades from nine sites across the UK. Two years ago, when U.S. private equity firm Blackstone sold Center Parcs UK to Brookfield Property Partners, a Canadian property group, it was widely reported that the move signaled that an expansion into the USA was likely. The company pointed out at the time, however, that its first agenda item was a new facility in Ireland. Center Parcs is already pursuing an expansion plan that includes the opening of a resort in Ireland, while the wider domestic holidays sector has seen significant corporate activity with the £1 billion ($1.36 billion) merger of Park Resorts and Parkdean Holidays. According to published reports, Parkdean Resorts, is also expected to submit a bid for Forest Holidays. Center Parcs was founded in 1967, under the original name of Sporthuis Centrum Recreatie, by Piet Derksen, a Dutch leisure entrepreneur. It opened its first British village, in Sherwood Forest in 1987, but the UK and continental businesses became separate companies in 2001.