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Irene Hays gives sales update
Hays Travel is reporting that sales are now at 50% the levels they were this time last year.
Speaking to TravelMole, joint owner Irene Hays said this was a vast improvement on the early days of the lockdown when agents were ‘cracking open a bottle’ if they made one sale.
She said bookings were now picking up again despite continued confusion among customers.
"There is still a lot of confusion and what requirements are in place for different destinations with regards to quarantine and testing, different measures with different airlines and airports, and not only that, you have different terms and conditions for more than 100 suppliers," she said.
"It’s not surprising customers are confused."
She said younger travellers want to get away but older travellers, and those with underlying health conditions, were still nervous.
The company has launched a Peace of Mind Guarantee on certain holidays giving customers the chance to cancel or change free of charge, for any reason, up to six weeks before they travel.
It has also just introduced a comprehensive travel insurance policy to cover cancellations due to Covid-19 or other pandemics.
During the lockdown, Hays Travel retained the majority of its 3,000 retail staff to handle cancellation refunds.
It has now re-opened all but 10 of its 650 UK branches around the UK.
"The 10 shops not yet opened are only still closed because the teams are on holiday. We encouraged people to take holiday in July and August because we weren’t expecting the bounceback to come until the autumn," said Hayes, who owns the business with her husband John.
Hays Travel froze recruitment in March but is now starting to recruit experienced travel agents and apprentices across the UK.
It is opening an office in Glasgow and hopes to take on around 100 staff at Travel 2 whose jobs are at risk after Dnata Travel Group announced plans to merge Travel 2 and Gold Medal.
Hays Travel has instructed Savills Estate Agents to look at two sites in the city, one of which is on the same business park as Travel 2’s offices.
It is hoped the office will open by the end of this month or early August.
Last October, Hays Travel acquired 550 former Thomas Cook shops.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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