thomas cook holidays

mullsy

Hi Mick Vandick,
I am new too the forum scene can you assist me further by point me in the right direction I had a look at holiday truth and in fairness could not make head nor tail of it
Thanks
Mullsy

flutterby_lil

I have booked with Thomas Cook for November - well through direct holidays. About £600 cheaper than with Thomsons. I booked on the credit card in case of anything going wrong........

Mr_Wang

flutterby_lil wrote: »

I have booked with Thomas Cook for November - well through direct holidays. About £600 cheaper than with Thomsons. I booked on the credit card in case of anything going wrong........

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/23/thomas-cook-bookings-fall-33-percent

Anyone with any sense would take a wide berth of Thmas Cook after reading the above article.

Diane60

I would imagine many people are not booking with them after all the bad publicity. However, I have just booked a week in April (Spain) and did consider them (thought I may get a bargain). They were, however, the most expensive and I ended up booking with Thomson.

stephb34

I'm also sorry about your wife. The problems quite often are caused by the hotelier and not actually Thomas cook the tour operators fault, ie the gym being locked and the beating of the dogs etc so the only thing that can be done is for people to keep complaining until TC get the message that there are problems.
Mr Wang i've read the guardians piece and i'm not sure that "reportedly" suffered a 33% drop in sales means it definitely has, i think its a bit ambiguous and misleading. I think its time the media started supporting businesses and Great Britain instead of doom and gloom all the time.
The Thomas cook shops in our region are performing extremely well so i don't know who's letting us down, if they are.

mick_vandick

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...all-33-percent

Anyone with any sense would take a wide berth of Thmas Cook after reading the above article.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2012/01/24/39380/thomas+cook+dismisses+reports+of+slump.html
I'm not getting into this again with someone who clearly does not like the company

mick_vandick

Hi Mick Vandick,
I am new too the forum scene can you assist me further by point me in the right direction I had a look at holiday truth and in fairness could not make head nor tail of it
Thanks
Mullsy

Hello Mullsy
Have a good look through the threads here to see where you stand with what you found.
http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/viewforum.php?f=47

This is also quite interesting...
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1992/3288/contents/made

Mr_Wang

mick_vandick wrote: »

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articles/2012/01/24/39380/thomas+cook+dismisses+reports+of+slump.html
I'm not getting into this again with someone who clearly does not like the company

I posted a link of an article that is recent, relevant and reputable.

Whether I like TC has absolutely nothing to do with facts about the companies performance and outlook.

mick_vandick

But the article was hear-say and was not factually correct.

Mr_Wang

mick_vandick wrote: »

But the article was hear-say and was not factually correct.

Look, there is a polar difference between scaremongering and stating facts I admit. But the fact is simple, TC are in the s**t. Hearsay in the Sun is one thing, but the Financial Times is arguably the most reputable source of daily, public financial news in the UK. Reproduced in another reputable source, the Guardian....seriously, would you believe TC over the FT and the Guardian????

Deny it, tout the stiff upper lip, whatever. But only a fool would write off or ignore the following:


Press Association
guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 January 2012 09.10 GMT
Article history

Thomas Cook’s share price has plunged 91% in the past year. Rui Vieira/PA
Struggling tour operator Thomas Cook has reportedly suffered a near 33% slump in summer bookings as its financial woes deter already cash-strapped holidaymakers.

According to a leisure industry monitor seen by the Financial Times, Thomas Cook saw bookings decline by as much as a third in the two weeks to 14 January – a key period for tour operators, when some 15% of summer bookings are taken.

The decline is more than double the industry average of a 15% drop and nearly three times the 11% fall at Thomson Holidays owner, Tui Travel.

Shares in Thomas Cook dropped by 3.3% on Monday morning following the report, to 14.5p.

The UK's second biggest travel company came close to collapse in November after dire trading forced it to turn to its banks for more financial help.

Some analysts have attributed the recent weak performance, which included a 45% drop in online sales, to the damage the cash crisis caused to the company's reputation, as well as ongoing problems of low consumer confidence.

Wyn Ellis, analyst at Numis, told the FT: "The hoteliers are concerned about the outlook for Thomas Cook and, if you're a hotelier, who would you want to be a major supplier of customers – Thomas Cook or Tui?"

Thomas Cook's share price has plunged 91% in the past year as it issued a number of profit warnings and saw the departure of its chief executive, Manny Fontenla-Novoa.

The group, which has 1,300 shops, has set out a turnaround plan for the UK business, including focusing on fewer and better quality hotels and a drive for more online bookings.

The company plans to sell £200m of its assets over the next 18 months as part of its plans to take a chunk out of its debt mountain, which rose by 11% to £891m in the year.

The group was plunged into crisis after it went back to its lenders to ask for an additional £100m lifeline, sparking fears of a collapse, but later secured £200m from its banks.

Thomas Cook reported in its delayed final results that underlying profits at its UK business fell 68% to £34.1m in the year after its margins slipped to just 1% and disruption from the Arab Spring cost it £15m.