EasyJet holidays is to create more city break packages to make inroads into the DIY sector where flights and accommodation are put together independently.
The new boss of budget airline parent easyJet indicated that the plan is part of a broader strategy to be outlined in the coming weeks.
Former chief financial officer Kenton Jarvis, who succeeded Johan Lundgren as chief executive in December, plans to offer tens of thousands more rooms with its flights in the form of city break packages.
The move is being interpreted as representing a challenge to rivals such as Ryanair, Tui and OTA’s such as Booking.com which provides most accommodation to easyJet’s flight-only travellers.
The strategy will extend the reach of easyJet holidays beyond its focus on beach packages.
Jarvis told the Sunday Telegraph that routes to Amsterdam will make the Dutch city one of the airline’s busiest this winter.
“Yet at the moment almost everyone travels independently and books their own room,” he said.
“What we need to do is persuade people coming to us for flights that we can also offer quality accommodation at a cheaper price, which is true seven times out of 10.”
He described the rebound in city traffic from the pandemic as an opportunity to target a vast, largely untapped market.
“The opportunities are huge, but the challenge is that you’ve got to think about it differently,” Jarvis added.
“If you’re going to Rhodes you want a hotel that’s on the beach, has three or four restaurants, tennis courts and so on, but you’re not that bothered about where it is. But if you’re going to Paris you may want to be in Montmartre, or near the Louvre or the Musee d’Orsay, and the location becomes the most important thing.”
The airline has offered the ability to book rooms with all of its fights for more than a decade but for much of that time did so by diverting customers to online travel agents in exchange for a “small kick-back” should they go on to book a room, according to Jarvis.
However, easyJet holidays is taking steps to offer thousands more city hotels and to connect with major chains in what the in-house operator’s chief executive Garry Wilson described as “a step change in focus and approach”, including an overhaul of its website.
Jarvis told the newspaper: “It’s one thing to offer a package holiday is someone is looking for Majorca, but not if they’re going to Paris, because they don’t think of it as a holiday. It’s very definitely a city break. And if that’s how people think of it, that’s how you’ve got to present it.”