Miles Morgan Travel has bought two Harvey World Travel agencies while talks are continuing with at least two other potential buyers to save the chain from further redundancies.
Already 25 branches have been sold to Vacation World after the chain fell into administration. Vacation World is now trading as part of Hays Travel’s Independence Group and using its ABTA and ATOL licences.
But administrators have admitted further job losses are likely at the high-street chain if the remaining 14 trading HWT branches are not sold this week. So far 80 staff have been made redundant.
Morgan has acquired two branches, in Taunton and Yeovil, to add to his existing eight-strong chain. Both will now become part of Hays Travel’s Independence Group and will have new shop fascias fitted.
Morgan, who plans to meet the ten staff tomorrow, said: “These shops plug in nicely geographically with my shops and I know both towns well from when I was at Bakers Dolphin. Both are in affluent areas and will focus on longhaul, tailormade, and cruising. I am confident it’s the right time to expand; trading through a credit crunch is all about common sense and keeping a tight control on costs.”
Morgan claimed his other shops in and around the Cotswolds were trading successfully. “The focus is on local promotions and making it happen at grass roots level,” he added.
Talks are continuing over the sale of the 14 remaining HWT shops, with both Global Travel Lounge managing director Peter Buckell and former Galaxy Travel boss Geoff Blagg interested in acquiring some of the branches.
But administrators Tenon Recovery admitted a shop closure programme remained a possibility. Some shops are making a loss or have high rents and are struggling to attract buyers, said director Chris Ratten.
He said: “If we can sell the shops, we can preserve the jobs. If we cannot sell the stores we will have to look at a store closure programme.”
Meanwhile, Vacation World has taken on several redundant HWT staff on a temporary basis to run a call centre in Ottery St Mary to help with holidaymakers’ enquiries.
The call centre has been set up in a former training room and is taking calls from customers who booked through any HWT shop, including those that have now shut. The numbers to call are 01404-0815763/659/842.
Simon Maunder, who is running Vacation World on an interim basis, said holidaymakers would be able to take their trips as normal but it would be up to ABTA, credit card companies and tour operators to sort out issues with any pipeline monies for shops no longer trading. “We have done this to reassure any customers with worries about their holiday,” he said.
Vacation World branding is now being rolled out across previous HWT stores. Maunder added: “I think staff are happy there is an end to the uncertainty. There was no doubt there was a bit of anxiety.”