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Cook aims to ‘Price Match’ rivals
Post-Christmas holiday price cuts are being made as travel companies jostle with each other to persuade people to book their summer breaks early.
Thomas Cook claims to have broken the mould by copying non-travel retailers’ with a Price Watch pledge designed to ensure prices at it 620 branches are the most competitive.
Cook aims to check prices in 2,500 high street agencies nationwide, claiming that consumers are “unlikely” to find the same holiday for less.
The company is to compare basic holiday prices sold through First Choice, Going Places, Thomson, Co-op Travel and Travelcare shops.
Cook’s managing director of sales Steve Finlan said: “We’re investing heavily in watching millions of high street prices every day. We’ll price match holidays and if we find a price that’s lower than ours, we will lower our price immediately.”
With an estimated two million people expected to book for summer ’05 in the next four weeks, the big companies are maintaining their support for traditional high street travel agencies despite the growth in online holiday sales.
First Choice started advertising on Christmas Day with average price cuts of 20% available from Boxing Day at 11 First Choice travel shops in major shopping centres around the country, followed by the rest of its retail network today.
Thomson has cut prices by up to 25% as part of a £12 million campaign to encourage sales through its agency chain, recently re-branded from Lunn Poly.
The discounts apply to destinations such as Croatia, Egypt, Florida, Greece, Italy, Spain and Turkey, mainly in early and late summer.
Thomson sales and marketing director Miles Morgan said: “Despite lots of talk about later booking, the reality is hat January remains by far and away the most popular month of the year to buy a holiday. This is the first time that people will have seen the Thomson name on the high street so we have invested in our biggest ever promotional campaign to create excitement and buzz around holidays.”
Report by Phil Davies
Phil Davies
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