HOLIDAY Autos has enlisted the help of former First
Choice holidays division managing director Paul Evans to spearhead an assault
on the accommodation-only market.
The car-hire broker is contracting hotel rooms in
Spain and the Balearics for the new venture, expected to be branded Holiday
Hotels. Stock will be sold via agents and a dedicated website.
Holiday Autos group marketing communications director
Sara Zimmerman said: “We are in the early stages and are working through all
the issues.
“We are taking this seriously otherwise we wouldn’t
have got someone as experienced as Paul Evans involved.”
Holiday Autos’ decision to offer accommodation-only
has been prompted by the rise of no-frills services to the popular summer
destinations this year.
It also has the advantage of being able to mop up
hotel rooms formerly contracted by the major operators which have been unsold.
In the past hoteliers have been able to fill these through Scandinavian or
European operators, but this year there is a glut of stock in those markets due
to September 11.
“We are contracting and will be in all the places
you’d expect, especially in Spain. The operation will have a European focus,”
said Zimmerman.
The rental giant already owns a hotel broker – Hotel
Discount Services – which operates through French agents. It was acquired as
part of a deal three years ago. Zimmerman said company discussions about what
to do with it had been behind the decision to expand the concept in the UK.
Evans said he was offering
“strategic advice” to Holiday Autos chairman Clive Jacobs on the new venture.
“I’m helping Clive out and I’ve been talking to hotels, as there are clearly
beds available. But my sights are on other things. I’d like to go back to
running one of the major operators,” he said.