How Thomas Cook Group started

Mister Thomas Cook (1808-1892), was travelling by foot and thought about organising his first trip. He organised this trip by train for an anti alcohol convention. The first trip he made was an overseas trip to Egypt and it was a success. Thomas Cook Group has some endorsed brands like: Neckermann, Vrij uit, Air marin and Airtours. Those brands are still kind of related to the name of Thomas Cook. But the company designed standalone brands as well, one of these is called Hotel4.com

Neckermann

One of the brands mentioned above is Neckermann this is by far the biggest brand of the Thomas Cook Group. Josef Neckermann started this tour operator in Germany. It was one of the first tour operator who started after the second world war. In 1975 was “Neckermann Reizen” The Netherlands founded.

During the lecture we had to write down a positive and a negative feeling about this brand. I think one of the positive feelings is that the company has a varied range. A negative feeling will be the feeling about the target group. I think their target group is older people. Rob Segaar said that the problem of Neckermann is that their image is different than their product. Their product is new, but their image is old. Therefore, they changed the logo of this brand. But when you have a new logo you have to implement it in all your brochures, own offices and e.g. on airplanes.

Thomas Cook

The advantage is that the company Thomas Cook has a lot of experience. But in past were they very product focused. The product was leading and not the customer. Nowadays, are they more customer focused.

The vision is : “To make Thomas Cook the most beloved travel company in the world; to make our clients, employees and stockholders happy”.

It is important that they focus on uniqueness. Because people nowadays book their trips themselves, they almost do not need a tour operator anymore. This subject was also discussed in guest lecture one. 

The tour operator landscape
A few years ago it was: Oad reizen, Arke, Sawadee, etcetera that were the most important tour operators. Most of these companies were standing alone. Because of the low cost carries, online travel agencies, etcetera. It reduced to four big tour operators in The Netherlands: Neckermann, Tui, Corendon and Sunweb.

There is a process going on in this business, the travel industry is  becoming more and more an online business. Where do we have the balance? How much will be retailed and how much will be purchased online. Some people still go to an travel agency, because they are offering extra help and knowledge, but it is changing.

Process of the product management department

This department decides which product and destinations will be on the market. They decide for the next season the product portfolio list (shopping list). But also send this to the contractors and they approach the partners and negotiate with the partners.

Why should you book with a tour operator?

1.Price: they are so big that they can obtain good prices.

2.Own hotels: Thomas Cook Hotels & Resorts. E.g. in Greece, Turkey and Spain. They have different kinds of hotels.

3.They are always checking. They are checking their prices everyday and see what their competitors are doing. See how many seats they have left. Should they put the prices up or down?

4. Ensure seventy. E.g. how does a company like Thomas cook deals with Tunisia, Egypt? Safety comes first. If it’s save, they try to restart the destination on a really sharp price. But always safety first!

I think Thomas Cook Group is a huge organisation with a lot of great brands which are doing good on the market. I agree with the fact that Neckermann has a false image in the Netherlands, because I would not book there before this guest lecture. Now I checked the website and saw that they changed their logo and website, I would consider to book here maybe ones. Furthermore, is the tour operating business changing and are a lot of people booking online nowadays and I think they should adapt to this new trend and innovate the way of offering products.