Just walked past Thomas Cook shop - no customers but 5 staff (that I could see!!) -mind you,there were 4 staff behind desks in the Thomson shop -and no customers either!!

While accepting that Thomas Cook is responsible for the horrible mess it has got itself into, I noticed today my local First Choice shop has a large notice in the window pretty much crowing about the fact that THEY don't have any financial problems, THEY are part of TUI, and THEY haven't had to go borrow any extra money.

That really is sticking the knife in!
Not really nice business practice.

ukbill, I think it's to avoid any confusion ... It's fair enough I think ... Thomson and Thomas Cook sounds similar enough to create the confusion ...

it's to avoid any confusion

I don't agree julmops, I feel First Choice are trying to capitalise on the bad situation Thomas Cook is in.
These are "First Choice" not "Thomson" shops, so confusion shouldn't arise.
"Book with us - WE are NOT Thomas Cook" it is saying, in effect.

I don't want FC/Thomson/TUI to eliminate the competition of Thomas Cook/MyTravel.
But, I personally think TC are doomed, I really hope I am wrong.

Thomas Cook has gone way too far in cutting prices. They should not be competing hard at the very bottom end of the cut-throat travel market for their primary core business. It will end badly.
They should have done major restructuring of their duplicated shops a year ago, and now a 200 shop reduction in 1300 is only going to be the start of a long, painful, and inevitable road.
Major reductions to their long haul product range means that they will not have the "padding" of some expensive profitable holidays to top up their coffers.
By contrast, TUI has aggressively gone after the "all-inclusive" market, and is also chasing the silvertops (like me) with adult-only hotels for folk who don't want to be surrounded by other folks children. We pay more, sometimes a lot more, but we feel it's worth it.

Everyone can already see what the present reduction in competition is doing to the travel business.
If the German company TUI becomes completely dominant, we can expect to see some horrific price rises.

AND, we can ALL wave goodbye to those nice seatback IFE, 34in seat pitch features on long haul.
If TUI do not need to do it to compete, then they will not do it.
We will be back to the bad old days of 10 hours of 29 inches of knee crushing hell in longhaul.

On Itv news Wales they said that a number of branches in Cardiff will be closing.

I hope Thomas Cook don't Go Bust or under:(

Thomas Cook staff delivered 'devastating' news

Union chiefs representing Thomas Cook staff have described the news, less than two weeks before Christmas, that up to 661 staff could lose their jobs as part of plans to close 115 shops early next year as "devastating".

However, officials said they were working with Thomas Cook to try to keep the level of redundancies to a minimum.

Usdaw confirmed that 60 of the shops to close are from the Thomas Cook/Going Places estate, affecting 388 jobs, 47 are from the Co-operative Group estate, affecting 223 staff, and eight are Midlands Co-op stores, hitting 50 staff.

Thomas Cook said the shops earmarked for closure had been selected on the basis of lease expiry dates, financial performance, proximity to other stores and the profile of their customer catchment area.

Usdaw national officer Sharon Ainsworth said the union was always aware the Thomas Cook/Co-op merger would lead to job losses, but it had no choice but to go along with it to secure the long-term future of the Co-op's travel business.

She added: "Thomas Cook is fully consulting with Usdaw and our key priority will be to keep the number of compulsory redundancies to an absolute minimum. Hopefully there will be opportunities for redeployment and we'll be trying to maximise these and do everything else we can to support and represent our members through this very difficult time.

"There is never a good time to be told your job is at risk but to hear just before Christmas is particularly devastating for everyone affected."

The closures are subject to a statutory 90-day consultation period and no redundancies are expected before March 17 next year, said Usdaw, which represents 1,000 staff formerly employed by the Co-operative Group and Midlands Co-operative.

With permission from Travelmole

Not really nice business practice

nice companies don't survive! The best you can hope for is that they wil be nicer to customers.

Thomson and Thomas Cook sounds similar enough to create the confusion

if that confuses people I'd take their passports off them, they'll only end up being a burden on the Consular Service.

You'd be surprised how many people think TC and Thomsons are part of the same group!

I said a couple of weeks ago.

I think we shall see a big drop in the number of shops we have two TC shops within a hundred yards of each other. so would expect them to close one - that is if they are really serious about cutting costs.

In tonight's paper that one is to close.

fwh

In town there is two Shops in the same street but there in Cardiff town the main shopping place I know of 3 with in ten mins of each other.

Not to what i said but to Thomascook, do you think it will go under?

I will be booking 2 holidays with Thomas Cook in January as Thomson dont go to the hotels I want.
I prefer Thomson planes but Thomas Cook prices are far better value.

Jay Trip wrote:

I will be booking 2 holidays with Thomas Cook in January as Thomson dont go to the hotels I want.
I prefer Thomson planes but Thomas Cook prices are far better value. :tup

By better value I presume you mean cheaper. We were here a couple of pages back, the cheap prices are part of their problem.

By better value I mean they use better hotels than Thomson in certain resorts.
Yes they are cheaper than Thomson ,sometimes by as much as £200 for the same hotel on the same dates but why should I book with Thomson if I can book with Thomas Cook

I'm not blaming the customer for booking with TC. TC is at fault through undercutting to get bookings at any price, and there is too much competition from companies with less overheads, in the cheap and cheerful market.
I know some shops have stopped price matching internet prices and hopefully they will start selling on the internet at more realistic prices with a better quality product. Maybe then, coupled with their restructuring, they will start to recover.

Lets hope so sunnadict or they will be out of business in a couple of years time and there will be no competition at all in the package holiday buisness and then we will all be worse off and just left with DIY for a cheap option with the sometime downsides that can involved. They can't keep expecting their bank to rescue them if they don't change anything.

Suspect that long haul holidays are going to get VERY expensive from 2013 assuming Thos. Cook concentrate on popular European destinations - also looking at what Thomson are doing, the choice of holiday is going to get very limited unless you are prepared to pay scheduled air fares.
Earlier post re legroom if Thomson get a virtual monopoly on long haul - here's one person who will NOT be travelling to the Carib or Kenya if they go back to 29" standard.

I can't imagine they would start to reconfigure the new aircraft.

Sunaddict wrote:

I can't imagine they would start to reconfigure the new aircraft.

The 787s ?? When they are delivered!!
I wouldn't put it past them to change them if they thought they would get away with it - reduce destinations,consolidate departure airports etc etc. Certainly can see them testing the waters by doing away with Premium and then slipping short haul 767s into long haul routes on a planned basis.

I obviously have more faith in them than you do! I don't know whether the 787's are having a premium cabin or not. They did state that if something wasn't done in November 2010 about the APD, they might not, but I haven't heard anything about it since. I couldn't see them lasting very long if they started offering the inferior longhaul product that TC do! They'd end up having to go down the same cheap and cheerful route, and that doesn't appear to have worked well for some.