It’s difficult to miss all the ads by the big two Tour Operators at the moment. Both TUI (Thomson and First Choice) and Thomas Cook  are trying to convince everyone to part with their cash - which is not that unusual for this time of year. What is interesting, however, is the focus of the ads is squarely on the fact that when booking a holiday with them, the customers’ money is completely protected by their ABTA bond (just like all Short Breaks clients). I assume that this is in response to the demise of XL and the need for unified customer protection - which the big two have already benefitted from in numerous ways, including an increase in prices and a lack of real competition. The message of the ads are also trying to deter customers from dynamically packaging breaks either themselves or using OTAs where there are grey areas as to which parts, if any, of a booking are covered.

What is even more interesting is that price isn’t mentioned at all… could this be because that’s not going to encourage anyone to book given the above. The Big Two Operators have definitely done well in bringing themselves back into line with the rest of the travel industry in terms of the use of the internet and have seen the benefit in increased sales.

It will be interesting to see if this continues or whether the smaller operators will be able to stay ahead.

The fire in the Channel Tunnel and the demise of XL - the UK’s third largest travel group, made last Friday a pretty grim day for the travelling public. Eurostar services were cancelled for Friday and services were limited throughout the weekend. At least we are able to offer definitely a refund on the Eurostar element of anyone’s travel and in 95% of cases offer a complete refund or rebook clients on different dates.

With XL though, it’s a completely different ball game. The group consisted of a number of travel brands and dependant on how/who you booked with depends on whether you are likely to get a refund or not. I am pretty sure that when customers booked they were not necessarily explicitly advised whether they were covered or not. There is a strong case for any form of travel booked to have a levy which would mean that everyone would know where they stood…

As well as the customers who’s holidays have been ruined when companies do go bust, whenever I do spare a thought for the everyday staff at these companies, in general, they are normal people like you and me….wish them luck too.