The Uk鈥檚 biggest independent holiday firm Hays Travel has announced it will start reopening its shops in England this week.
The Sunderland business, which took over Thomas Cook when it went bust last year, will start opening its shops once more from Thursday, having put a raft of safety measures in place to protect staff and customers.
The firm will limit entry to the shops but allow customers to call ahead to book appointments if they want, and services will continue to be available online, by phone, video conferencing and email.
John Hays first launched Hays Travel in his mother鈥檚 childrenswear shop in Seaham, County Durham, 41 years ago.
Last October, he and his wife Irene Hays acquired the former Thomas Cook retail portfolio of 555 shops and it now has a nationwide estate of around 650 shops, employing more than 4,500 people.
Around 3,000 retail staff have been working from home during lockdown and, with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office restrictions on all immediate non-essential travel still in place, Hays Travel is working hard to contact people who were due to travel within the next four weeks and rebook or process refunds for them.
Mr Hays, managing director of Hays Travel, said: 鈥淲e are really looking forward to being back serving our customers in our shops, but we will only do it in the safest possible way for all of us.
鈥淢ore than 3,000 retail staff have been working from home to keep services going virtually since the lockdown began and we will continue to provide a number of different ways to contact us, including Zoom and Facetime email or a phone call.
鈥淢ore customers are now booking holidays for later this year or 2021.
鈥淭hey are choosing a variety of destinations such as Greece, the Balearics and the Canaries, and on selected new bookings we are offering our Peace of Mind Guarantee, meaning that if our customers need to cancel or change for any reason within six weeks of departure, they can have a full no quibble refund with no cancellation charges.鈥
Irene Hays, who is chair of the company, added: 鈥淲e are very proud of the way our staff have pulled out all the stops to help people wanting to rebook or needing refunds and as long as the Foreign Office restriction is in place we will continue to do all we can to get refunds quickly from our tour operators.
鈥淚t鈥檚 encouraging to hear that there may soon be reciprocal arrangements with some countries to allow holidays in parts of Europe later in the summer.
鈥淟ike everyone else we will wait and see but in the meantime we are here and available in different ways to help our customers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 good to be getting back to normal gradually 鈥 even if it鈥檚 a little bit different to what we鈥檙e used to. We really appreciate everyone鈥檚 patience and support in these extraordinary times.鈥
Customers can check which shops are open on the Hays Travel website. Shops in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will reopen in accordance with guidance from the devolved authorities.
