It’s no surprise to Travel Weekly readers that Ian Smith is relinquishing responsibility for Lunn Poly (see page 1). We predicted this over six months ago.
Love him or hate him, Smith has done a brilliant job at Lunn Poly. But the climate has changed rapidly and I think you’ll see a very different retailer in the newmillennium.
Tour operating is clearly calling the tune at Thomson Travel Group with Thomson managing director Richard Bowden-Doyle being given overall control of UK operating and retailing – a similar role to his old sparring partner Peter Rothwell at Airtours.
Thomson is very focused on pushing itself as a quality operator, so expect an image change for Lunn Poly to fall in line with that. Lunn Poly is actually an excellent retailer which puts enormous resources behind training, but to the public its cheap and cheerful.
It’s no coincidence that the new Lunn Poly managing director Nigel David has previously been focusing on service at Thomson. His appointment will put some noses out of joint on the Lunn Poly board, but he’ll help reinforce the Thomson image at the retailer.
The days of seeing an ad telling you to spend more on Thomson, followed by a Lunn Poly ad saying it is the cheapest are surely over.
Meanwhile, Sean Powell is also promoted at the operator. It seems those curry ads worked after all.
Jeremy Skidmore – editor