Why did Thomas Cook tour operations managing director Simon Vincent put the fear of God into the travel industry by saying:”The potential for overbooking in the peak season is significant”?
You might have expected he would want to sort out any problems behind closed doors rather than alert the world’s press. Does he know something we don’t? Is Thomas Cook covering itself in preparation for the inevitable? One thing is certain – tour operators need to do some very hard talking with Spanish hoteliers to make sure they don’t overbook clients.
The travel industry has changed massively in recent years – the image of cowboy operators has largely been replaced by one of responsible, publicly quoted companies. The companies are rightly under the microscope and cannot afford the public relations disaster of overbooked hotels.
If there’s chaos in Spain this summer the problem will be highlighted by Travel Weekly, national newspapers and consumer television programmes. And tour operators won’t have a leg to stand on.
Blaming the problems on a mass exodus from the Eastern Mediterranean and greedy hoteliers simply won’t wash. These days people expect to get what they pay for and rightly so. For the credibility of the industry, operators must ensure Spain is full, not overfull.
Jeremy Skidmore – editor