Thomas Cook is to introduce ‘book boxes’ and table cloths designed to encourage family fun and conversations at one of its own-brand hotels.
The operator, which recently teamed up with Channel 4 show The Secret Life of 4 and 5 Year Olds to show their behaviour on holiday, is now hoping to take its own lessons from the partnership.
To start with, it is making the minor changes to its Sunwing Fanabe resort in Tenerife in a trial which could be extended further if successful.
Newly-released Thomas Cook research shows that 74% of parents feel they lack quality time with their children and 72% wish they had more time to talk to their children about their day. Holidays, it showed, helped families reconnect, with 78% of respondents agreeing with that statement.
The research suggests 68% of parents feel they have chance to see their children growing up while on holiday while 63% said holidays allow them to ask, not tell, their children what to do.
Analysis showed that parents get a lot more time with their children on holiday compared to a normal working week.
Data collated by Cook showed that 34 minutes on average of reading with children in a typical week became two hours and seven minutes while on holiday, 38 minutes together at the dinner table became five hours and 21 minutes and child-led play increases from 34 minutes to five hours and six minutes.
Parent’s play time with their kids typically increases from 44 minutes to seven hours 13 minutes while on holiday, the research found. Time spent watching children make friends increased from 22 minutes to three hours and talking about daily activities went up from 34 minutes to four hours four minutes.
Psychologist Dr Sam Wass, who is the on-screen expert for The Secret Life of 4 and 5 Year Olds, said: “This research from Thomas Cook highlights a growing modern trend – that, increasingly, families don’t get to spend enough ‘together time’. Parents often have to work hard and, of the time we do spend together, parents and children spend much of it in their own private worlds, staring at screens. But in fact, there’s a huge amount of research suggesting that it’s the time spent together – talking, and doing shared activities as a family – that is most beneficial both for children and their parents.
“Many of the conversations that we do have with children are focused on giving them orders, and telling them what to do – things like chores and homework. This is important, of course, but it’s also important to engage in shared family activities where your child takes the lead. This happens much more often on holiday. It’s for this reason, I think, that many peoples’ warmest and most cherished memories, later in life, are of holidays they went on as children.”
Chris Mottershead, managing director, Thomas Cook UK, said: “Most of us have a precious memory of our childhood family holidays. We know from decades of experience that the benefits of time to relax and having fun together as a family go much deeper than a sun tan.
“We’ve been talking to parents and our customers to find simple new ways we can help them spend more quality time together and personalise their holiday to best suit their family’s needs. In 2018, we’ll be trialling new initiatives at our Sunwing Fanabe resort in Tenerife developed with the help of Dr. Sam Wass. These include book boxes in communal areas so families can read more together and specially designed table cloths in our restaurants to encourage family fun and conversations at meal times.”
The new family features Cook is trialling were released as it announced plans to give customers the option to pay to book sunbeds during their stays.