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Thomas Cook to close Medhotels
Thomas Cook is to close its in-house bed bank Medhotels as part of an on-going transformation of its hotel business.
The announcement follows the operator’s agreements with Expedia and Webjet to take over the contracting of its complementary (non-differentiated) hotels, which has made it less reliant on Medhotels to supply beds.
A company spokesman said fewer than 10 employees would be affected as Thomas Cook has been reducing the size of the team working on Medhotels for a number of years.
He said the company was looking for other job opportunities for the remainder within other parts of Thomas Cook.
In a statement, the company added "The strategic consolidation of its bedbank partners will allow Thomas Cook to focus on its core offering of holidays to its own-brand and selected partner hotels in sun and beach destinations where it can make the biggest difference to customers."
It said its partnership with Webjet had led to a 51% increase in overall bed bank bookings.
City and Domestic hotel bookings have started to transition to Expedia in the Nordic region and will switch over next month in Belgium and UK.
Thomas Hohn, Chief of Complementary at Thomas Cook, added: "The closure of the Medhotels business is a natural evolution of our strategy.
"The transformation of our complementary hotel partnerships will simplify our processes and give customers a better online experience with more choice.
"With our new partnership with Webjet showing strong promise and our alliance with Expedia on track, we are well placed to grow this part of the business in an efficient, sustainable way."
Medhotels will cease trading on December 31 and will continue to accept and honour bookings departing up to this time.
Thomas Cook bought the bed bank from Lastminute.com in 2009 for an undisclosed sum.
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Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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