Former Thomas Cook shops will start to reopen as Hays Travel stores straight away, the new owners have revealed.
John and Irene Hays, owners of Sunderland’s Hays Travel, plan to save up to 2,500 jobs after snapping up the entire estate of the historic holiday travel firm’s 555 shops.
Now, after signing a deal with the Official Receiver and special managers from KPMG, as well as gaining approval from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Mr and Mrs Hays are getting keys to the shops all over the 海角视频 and will reopen them as quickly as possible.
All the acquired stores will eventually be rebranded to the Hays Travel name – and more than 600 former Thomas Cook have already joined the company, many of whom have already gone through new training.
The firm’s directors were at the Hays Travel headquarters to announce the deal to staff, telling how the acquisition had been completed at seven minutes to midnight the night before.
Mrs Hays, the firm’s chair, revealed the firm had been involved from the very moment Thomas Cook had collapsed.
The pair’s involvement has been two-fold – initially being invited by the CAA to immediately support the thousands of customers on holiday or with holidays booked as Thomas Cook’s largest third party agent. They then started to consider how they might otherwise be able to help.
Mrs Hays said: “We took a call in the middle of the night asking if we could support either in fulfilment or rebooking of Thomas Cook Holidays, so we were partially mobilised when the news broke.
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“At the same time, every time there is a challenge there is an opportunity and we started focusing on what the opportunity would be for Hays Travel, to have a look at the Thomas Cook estate. So we had those two strands of work – absolute focus on making sure customers were rebooked and then exploring, in quite forensic detai, whether or not the Thomas Cook acquisition would work for us.”
Before the deal to acquire the shops was completed, Hays Travel was already reaching out to former Thomas Cook staff, offering them the chance to join the Sunderland headquartered group, even jetting around the country to conduct interviews and training sessions.
Thomas Cook
Mrs Hays said: “We wanted to make sure that even if the shops were not ready, they were, so we started training. Firstly we employed their regional sales managers – they’ve been with us a week and a half – and they came in and did training on the new technology platform. On Monday morning it was rolled out around the country so they could sell holidays on laptops with a proper ABTA number in the comfort of their own homes.
“We weren’t waiting for the shops. We ordered 1,000 laptops and shipped them all over - to Northern Ireland, we’ve been training in Glasgow, Cardiff, Belfast.”
Hays Travel is hoping to take on 2,500 former Thomas Cook staff, 100 of whom will be based in the Sunderland HQ while the rest will be in the shops.
As of today, 597 former Thomas Cook workers have joined Hays Travel – many of which are already at work in shops – and 120 offer letters are in the post. The figure is rising all the time, putting Hays Travel in reach of its target.
With keys now in their possession, Mr Hays said teams are going into the shops to look at their technology, to see if Hays Travel software can be used and to check fixture and fittings.
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Longer term, a big rebranding exercise will unfold but, in the short term, TV screens in the shops will display Hays Travel logos and information.
In terms of opening, Mr Hays said: “Maybe later today in certain areas and certainly tomorrow - whether we can get all of them open tomorrow is highly unlikely, because we need staff as well as premises, but as fast as we can.”
The couple said that Hays Travel can succeed where Thomas Cook failed thanks to its staff and through its digital strategy, which results in high levels of engagement on its social media channels.
Around two-thirds of all people who book with Hays Travel will have already engaged with the firm through its Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts – and the firm also makes sure there are no extra incentives for online holiday shoppers, to entice sun seekers into their travel shops.
Mr Hays said: “Happy staff are really important. That on its own won’t be enough. Our differentiation is our digital engagement linked to our shops.
“People who book in a shop, approximately two-thirds have engaged with us online or on our Facebook pages. I think our social media and digital teams are brilliant.”
Mrs Hays added that the firm’s independent status also gives it an edge over competitors, with staff focusing on providing the best holiday for the customer, regardless of the operator.
“We do not directionally sell. We sell Tui, we sell Kuoni, P&O, Royal Caribbean. All we do is focus on what the customer wants,” she said.
Thomas Cook
Mr Hays added: “Our staff were devastated to hear about Thomas Cook and we all immediately felt we wanted to help.
“In the last two weeks we have already employed or offered jobs to around 600 former Thomas Cook colleagues, and it has been a very emotional experience for them. Now that we are able to re-open the shops, we are looking forward to welcoming many more people who share our passion for the travel industry, into our family business.
“We feel huge sympathy. The travel industry is a family, It’s been a joy, it’s been emotional offering people jobs. A significant number of people have actually cried when we offered them a job, which is very moving.
“I’m very proud of the fantastic team who have helped me build Hays Travel over almost 40 years and they have worked tirelessly over the last couple of weeks to bring this about. It is a game-changer for us, almost trebling the number of shops we have and doubling our workforce - and for the industry, which will get to keep some of its most talented people.”
The team supporting Hays Travel throughout included Newcastle lawyers Muckle LLP, financial advisers White Hart Associates and property consultants Identity Consult.