Comment: Jet2holidays rise ‘can’t be ignored’

They are employing all manner of customer relationship management tactics to learn more about the desire and shopping habits of people buying their products. It’s often pretty high-tech stuff, peppered with buzzwords like machine learning, artificial intelligence, personalisation and big data.

However, one company featured in today’s Travel Weekly has been succeeding by doing precisely this for the last 15 years by keeping it simple. Jet2.com and Jet2holidays have focused on traditional, quality package holidays, targeting markets in the north, and now farther afield, that never tired of their staple holiday in the sun.

It’s a remarkable growth story. Indeed, the company was likened this week to Airtours in the 1990s, which challenged the established operators by offering cheap and cheerful deals.

While Jet2holidays is rattling cages in a similar way, its focus on quality has won it many followers in an industry sadly lacking in customer loyalty. Latest figures from the Institute of Customer Service reveal Jet2holidays as having the highest ratings of all travel companies surveyed.

Feedback from independent agents selling the operator also underscores high levels of customer satisfaction. And agents clearly like selling the company as they voted it best short-haul airline, best short-haul operator and best trade-friendly brand at last month’s Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards.

Dismiss the new kid on the block at your peril, was the warning from a former Thomson boss this week. If Jet2 continues on the growth trajectory we’ve seen over the past decade-and-a-half, it may already be too late.