I'm not surprised Thomas Cook have gone under

[Burningcheeks]

Their service was shambolic. I actually got up & walked out mid-booking because they gave me no confidence at all. The staff didn't know their arse from their elbow. I was trying to book one of their packages to the Monaco Grand Prix & it was costing thousands. They were making a complete balls of it. If that was happening on the shop floor I wonder what else was happening higher up? I feel very sorry for all those let down & the enormous number of ensuing job losses.

FTR, I don't know how to tag MNHQ but agree with PP who said that a vote on this topic is very insensitive given the number of people who have lost jobs. Many of them will come across this thread and essentially voting on whether they deserved it seems spectacularly spiteful.

Voting on it is ridiculous. The company went under due to bad management, not a handful of bad customer service operators, like the one in my store. People losing their livelihoods is nothing to have a vote on mn on.

I really feel for the thousands that are out of a job, but really I'm not surprised that they have gone under.
A few weeks ago I was looking at holidays in the October half term, they had little choice (but not surprising for a last minute holiday!) but their prices were easily 3x or more expensive than all their competitors. Not even for comparable holidays. Their 3 star self catering was more expensive than others 4 star all inclusive. And most of the flights were with Easyjet.

They had become too expensive, and with less choice than their competitors. It was as if it was purposely run into the ground.

I think it's incredibly sad.
I think any company will have a range of feedback from customers about staff and satisfaction, that in no way means they deserve to go to the wall.

Lots of things to 'blame
More and more people buying on line ( hitting all high street retailers )
Agressive cost cutting by competitors, ( less competitors means those who survive can increase their charges )
Fear of terroism hitting their sales in certain countries .Turkey / Tunisia / Egypt ?
Rising costs v customer's demands for 5 holidays for 2 prices
Negative reporting no doubt leading to lack of sales ? And resulting in demands for TC to have £ 200 million 'contingency ' funds

I havent looked into this but the above implies that it wasnt lack of immediate funds that caused this

We recently planned a trip and realised that by avoiding a travel agent and booking the very same trip on our own we have saved around £700 for a family of three for a week's trip.
The flights, the hotel were exactly the same, only we were flexible with the date, unlike the travel agent and also got a better room including breakfast which wasn't offered by the travel agent. Our previous long weekend in Rome was booked through Expedia and we booked Vatican and Colosseum online.
You are very BU if you blame staff for the failure of the company and at the same time talk about how sorry you are about their loss of employment. The failure is with those who still relied on the old style packaged holidays and didn't realise that times are changing.

I fly long haul at least once a year. Used TC for the first time last year and it was absolutely awful. Not sure why anybody who finds this subject to be sensitive would click on this thread, knowing it will upset them.

Just to balance the anecdotology...my package cost about £800 cheaper than doing it by booking flights plus hotel would have.

I had to stop using Thomas Cook due to their legroom in planes being less than Ryanair's (yest really) and me not having enough room. I didn't miss them but I am of course sorry for the people out of work due to top management's incompetence.

Sadly Brexit and the resulting fall in the pound was the final nail in the coffin for TC as it will be for other U.K. companies that are struggling to survive.

Yes - this was a predictable failure, unfortunately. TC has been in the doldrums for quite a few years, financially. The uncertainty earlier in the year about the date of Brexit depressing bookings, and the exchange rate were almost bound to cause severe problems to travel companies. In preceding years, issues such as the Greek crisis, the Arab Spring, terrorism in Turkey etc have all been causing problems for the operators. Plus the rise in Expedia, AirBnB etc.

Kazzyhoward - no, you really do still have to be a self-centred arsehole to think that because you received bad customer service once, that everyone is and that this is the sole cause of a large company going bust. A less up their own capacious arse sort of a person would do some research into the multiple reasons why a large, long established business had gone into the decline it had done before concluding it was all down to customer service. After all, on the back of my experience, Eurotunnel should have gone bust 20 years ago. And Ryan Air should not still be in existence...

To those saying they are surprised anyone uses travel agents, I have actually noticed an increase in my friends using specialist travel agents. These are people who have enough money to go decent holidays and often want to tour around. They are perfectly capable of doing it themselves, but work long hours and are happy to pay someone to organise it all.
There is still a role for travel agents. There is not enough demand for a travel agent just to book a flight and hotel in a routine holiday destination, which is pretty much what Thomas Cook did.

It is very sad that another company that was so well established has gone about of business. I think that the internet was responsible because there is no need to use package companies anymore. Many well established shops and other businesses have gone under for the same reason. Very sad for the staff.

Just to balance the anecdotology...my package cost about £800 cheaper than doing it by booking flights plus hotel would have

Ours was quite similar in pricing but they secured us an amazing hotel for a bargain price. Plus when we decided to extend our holiday and change our flights they dealt with the airline on our behalf saving us the hassle and it didn't cost us a penny contrary to our booking conditions where we fully expected a charge.

After all, on the back of my experience, Eurotunnel should have gone bust 20 years ago. And Ryan Air should not still be in existence...

Add BA to that list on my behalf.

I agree jennymanara. A lot of our friends are retired and have been doing long haul holidays to China, the South Pacific, Peru etc, using specialist travel agents.

I’d rather direct my ire at the chief executive and senior executive at Thomas Cook

One man who earns a bonus in the millions for a company that has failed and left thousands stranded?

And they'll waltz into similar jobs quickly enough, as well. "Failing upwards" is what happens at this level. No repercussions for them.

After all, on the back of my experience, Eurotunnel should have gone bust 20 years ago

It very nearly did -

www.theguardian.com/business/2006/jul/14/transportintheuk

And they'll waltz into similar jobs quickly enough, as well. "Failing upwards" is what happens at this level. No repercussions for them.
Or retire young with a fat pension for life.

I guess the model is outdated now-doesnt helpwhen the ceo is paying himself millions in bonuses though

Feel for everyone waking up to losing their job today

I think there is still a place for package travel agents - I usually book everything separately myself, but sometimes you just don't have the inclination or time - for example our honeymoon. We'd done so much organisation and planning for the wedding, I just wanted to walk into a travel agent, describe what we wanted and have someone do it all for us. Also I once got a week all-inclusive in Marrakech for £400 in a resort that had a flying trapeze - sometimes you can get dirt-cheap deals.

Niche companies like STA Travel & Kuoni seem to be doing well. We booked with a local independent travel agent.

itis there’s definitely scope but I don’t understand why TC didn’t move into (eg) sports tourism ages ago as that is now super popular and margins are good as if people have it on their bucket list to do (eg) NY marathon, they just pony up.

We booked with Tui last year, our first package holiday for many years.
This went like clockwork, and the representatives were where they said they would be each day, etc.
While away, we booked one excursion out through Tui, which worked well. I thought their service excellent.
I should add here, that we first went into a Tui ‘shop’, and discussed our requirements with a representative. She suggested several different resorts, and hotels, which we then booked up with Tui, via their website.
Sure, we could have booked them up separately, but it actually worked out cheaper as a package.
This year, we booked a trip elsewhere, and could not do a package, as the dates/location/flights were not on offer as a package. (2 centre holiday, involving extra flights)
Apart from booking the flights, and hotels, we also had to book the transfers, as well, often overlooked.
So, I admit I have seen lots of Tui adverts on TV this year, but I would like to know why TC have failed exactly, and others continue.
I realise that customers can now more easily use the internet to research, but I still think there is a place for buying a holiday as a complete package.

Sorry but you only have to look at the rates of internet usage to know that most older people do not book everything online.

LiveInAHidingPlace. What exactly do you mean by "rates of internet usage"? Do you have evidence to show what different age groups are doing when they're on line? (Browsing, social media, booking things, shopping etc).

But whether or not you do, it's still incredibly insulting to say Even people in their 60s. We're not some dinosaur race you know

I don’t understand why TC didn’t move into (eg) sports tourism ages ago

Not exactly what you mean, but TC used to own Neilson until 2013. We were glad when we heard it was no longer owned by TC as we were worried about their financial stability back then.