Great Little Breaks reassures trade after ‘sloppy’ online journalism

Great Little Breaks managing director Diana Evans is reassuring the trade that the specialist operator is still in business, after news articles wrongly associated the company with failed Atol holder Great Little Escapes.

A national newspaper’s website and an online publication used Great Little Breaks’ branding to illustrate the news that Great Little Escapes ceased trading as an Atol holder on June 13.

Evans said: “I’m not going to mislead anyone and say we saw a spike in cancellations or anything like that, but we had a huge amount of calls and enquiries into our office and it’s caused widespread confusion and panic.”

Trade sales represent about 40%-45% of business, said Evans, with agents described as making a “really important” contribution.

“We have really good relationships with our trade partners so we’re able to talk to the trade and they understand [that Great Little Breaks is still operating],” she added.

When the publications were told about their errors, they quickly corrected their articles and offered apologies. Evans said she would not be seeking legal action over the “sloppy journalism”.

Great Little Breaks’ trade sales in the year to date have been healthy and are ahead of last year, Evans added.

The operator, which mainly sells trips of one or two nights, recently introduced longer breaks to its collection, with the response proving “really strong”.

The company started working with the trade after Super Break parent Malvern Group went into administration in 2019.