TUI Travel: Thomson Focus on Customer Service

Having recently returned from a two week family club extra holiday in Sa Coma, Majorca with Thomson who are a part of the Tui Travel Plc (LON:TT.) family of brands, I can quite confidently state that the level of professional, caring and friendly service provided by the company pre, during and post transaction is quite exceptional and certainly likely to generate repeat business and positive word of mouth.

When booking an annual holiday with a young family you want a safe and hassle free experience with a caring operator who is not likely to go into administration whilst you are on foreign soil.  Cue, Tui Travel Plc (LON:TT.) an international leisure travel group operating in around 180 countries serving more than 30 million customers, who for the financial year ending 30 September 2009 reported a total revenue of £13.9bn and underlying profit before tax of £366m. [ref] TUI Travel 2009 Annual Report, http://ara2009.tuitravelplc.com/tui-ar2009/en/home [/ref]

Usually when making a purchase decision I shop around analysing the different offerings, however having had such a hassle free and enjoyable experience through Thomson last year, uncharacteristically I had the confidence to look no further this time to accommodate my wife and two young children on our annual holiday.  In terms of custom and marketing, this is exactly what TUI Travel strive to achieve, repeat business, relationship creation and earlier booking.  

The booking and deposit was done via the website, which was easy to navigate and contained the required information needed in the decision making progress.  Subsequent payments were made via a call centre, staffed by competent personnel, who even managed to sell complimentary products using an acceptable sales techniques in the process.   The use of e-mail communications and SMS were both used to good effect to share information, even a resort weather update 48 hours before setting off.  What was clearly evident to observe from the check-in, flight, airport and resort staff was that to a person they were happy and focused on making the customers feel welcome and satisfied at all times.  The Coma Gran Hotel was staffed by 20 full time Thomson personnel, who were in all sense of the word exceptional and a credit to the company.  On a family club holiday the key to customer satisfaction is how well the kids are looked after, and the programme of activities for their enjoyment, to this extent the staff worked tirelessly and, led by a team of entertainers, aptly named, Nutty Nat, Raving Rachel and King Louie, who certainly ensured the kids were well catered for.  The entertainment team also professionally entertained the adults in the evening through their own performances and booked acts such as the fantastic George Pena.

Whilst on holiday on the island of Majorca news broke of Goldtrail’s demise which left an estimated 16,000 worried customers abroad and as many as 50,000 worried customers in the UK with forward plans.  The Goldtrail news follows the failure in the past two years of XL Leisure, Zoom, Allbury Travel and Globespan.  Whilst feeling extremely disappointed for the Goldtrail customers, it did reiterate my decision not to shop around when buying the annual holiday and to stick to a company you trust and are happy with.   The demise of travel operators will surely strengthen the order book of industry leaders such as Tui Travel Plc (LON:TT.) and Thomas Cook Group Plc (LON:TCG) .    

Having a level of service delivered in this manner for the second year running certainly makes me want to look at the TUI Travel fundamentals in greater detail, as based on what I have experienced they clearly have their product and service at an extremely high level and embedded within their culture.

 

Note:

This is a thread I have created based on the service we as a family recently experienced as Thomson customers, I would be interested to hear other customer feedback regarding the service provided by Thomson and some of the other 200 brands under the TUI Travel banner, which include First Choice and LateRooms.com.