TravelMole
Hotel

Jobs to go at lowcosttravelgroup

Thursday, 17 September 20153 min read

The lowcosttravelgroup is to reduce its workforce at Gatwick and in Palma as it opens a new office in Krakow.

The group has entered into a 30-day consultation with staff at its group headquarters in Spectrum House, where 250 people are based, and in Palma, where it has 170 staff.

It said certain departments would be affected but it did not disclose which ones, nor how many jobs would go.

Roles based at Gatwick include group finance, HR, IT, marketing and supplier management for aviation, hotels, car hire, and transfers.

A spokeswoman said there were no plans to pull out of the UK altogether, but the company was looking to expand in other countries where it could improve efficiency and profit.

She said staff were being given the opportunity to relocate to Krakow, where it currently has 200 staff and is looking to recruit more.

CEO Paul Evans said the move ‘reflects a changing business model as a result of business growth from international sales and channels’.

"This new focus recognises that we have built serious scale over the last 10 years, which we now plan to reengineer into enhanced profits and greater efficiencies," he said.

Alongside the new centralised operations in Krakow, lowcostholidays will retain its base in Palma, Majorca, and lowcostbeds its Swiss headquarters.

The new Krakow office will operate 24/7 and will be home to a number of depaerments, including marketing, IT, sales, customer services, aviation and finance.

"As the group expands away from its UK origins, with increased international markets and the launch of new complementary brands, we felt we needed to reflect these changes in our business model," said Evans.

"If we look back at the last four years and evaluate and recognise the entrance of global OTA’S, the growth of mobile, online marketing costs, changes to hotel connectivity and the growth of meta search, anyone who think the business model they had back then is perfect today is very much mistaken."