Thomas Cook have been undercutting for a while now. This has been mentioned quite a few times this week on different boards by various travel agents.
One of the agencies I worked at closed earlier this year. I was talking to the girl that owned it and she said she was banging her head on a brick wall trying to compete with TC. They were undercutting so much they were selling cheaper than her nett. It might have helped TC cash flow, but you can't carry on taking bookings with nothing in them. Hopefully they will cease to do this now.

I understand what you're sayig but it's that age old dilemma isn't it- Do you keep your prices high and sell less or lower your prices hoping to attract more custom? If you compare two products and the quality is equal or very similar but one costs a lot more than the other, I know which one I'd go with. So if others view the choice like me, TC would outsell thomson and it would be Thomson on the rails

I'm not a financial expert so I have no idea as to why thomas Cook have got into this amount of difficulty but I doubt they'd have escaped it, had their prices been similar to Thomsons as they'd have had more competition

if you sell at less than cost not even 100% of the market will save you.

Not everyone buys on price shirley. I won't look at Thomas Cook. I know their prices are quite a bit lower than FC/Thomsons, but I still won't use them.

When you sell at less than cost, it keeps your cash flowing, but no one can afford to give holidays away. I think most agents/tour ops do this occasionally but not on a regular basis!

Not everyone buys on price shirley. I won't look at Thomas Cook. I

I understand that, which is why I compared products of similar quality too. Imo, Thomson don't offer better quality than TC but as I say that's my opinion. I know of others that only go with Thomson because of the brand but when budgets are tight I would have thought that as long as the quality's there, the price is paramount.

if you sell at less than cost not even 100% of the market will save you.

I agree, that's basic Maths but is that what TC have been doing- selling at less than cost? If so, then no wonder they're in trouble. Personally, if they do go under, I'll be taking more diy's or cutting back on my much loved holidays as no way will I be paying Thomson prices.

At least some have the option of Cosmos. They don't appear to fly from Scotland at all.

luci

Nor Wales

Yes thats true Ladies I had kind of fogotten that, I'm not sure where they fly out of now I suppose they have had to cut back their programmes to stay in business. I know down here they use cheap airports like Luton rather than dear ones like Stanstead.

I often wonder how they have managed to stay in business against the two giants that are Thomas Book and TUI.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of it all are I'm glad somebody somewhere has managed to find a solution for Thomas Cook even if it is only in the short to medium term. I really don't like the idea of the market in package holidays shrinking even further.

Looking at the way Europe is at the moment i fear the good old package holiday is on its last legs as for Thomas Cook v Thomsons i am a 28yr traveller with Thomsons but have to say since the takeover by TUI they are not a patch on the company they were, maybe we will see the return of Customer Service to get back on track.Thomas Cook need to shed the dross and get lean and mean.

If Thomas Cook went under, would the other airlines like ryanair, and easyjet jump in to grab some of the flight paths

Cook launches deep discount campaign

* £170 off summer 2012 bookings

* £150 off December holidays

* £75pp off ski holidays

Thomas Cook has launched a national advertising campaign and swiped up to £170 off holidays to try to recover from a 30% drop in bookings sparked its latest financial crisis.

The travel giant has placed adverts in every national daily newspaper today and tomorrow.

The adverts - 70% of which cover an entire page - attempt to reassure the customer that it's safe to book with Thomas Cook.

Running with the slogan: "We've delivered great value for 170 years. 2012 will be no different" the ads feature the ATOL logo in a prominent position.

Thomas Cook has been offering £170 off summer 2012 holidays costing at least £1,200 since Saturday. It is also offering £150 off December winter sun packages, based on a minimum spend, for bookings made online by December 5 and £75 per person off ski bookings made online.

Also included in the newspaper adverts is a letter from Thomas Cook Group chief executive Sam Weihagen thanking customers for their "extraordinary support" and attempting to reassure them the company is solid.

The letter, which is included on the Thomas Cook website, says: " Thomas Cook today is an even stronger and more confident company. You can be sure that your holiday really is in safe hands with us and so, we look forward to welcoming you to one of our stores, our websites, onboard our aircraft and into one of our many thousands of resorts worldwide very soon."

A spokesman today confirmed that the company would provide an update of its business review during the delayed announcement of its preliminary financial results during the week beginning December 12.

With permission from Travelmole

That will make their bankers who have just found the 200 million for them happy. They obviously haven't changed their approach to the market.

I've just done a quick serach of their website for December 27th for 1 week, any destination, any board. The cheapest I could find from Cardiff (my local airport- still over an hour away) was over £900pp but surprise, surprise, there are quite a few under £500 from London Gatwick

It seems, they're not interested in giving us down in the South west a bargain.

If I were booking for next year I would definitely book with Thomas Cook; we should not let Tui have full control of the market .

pargaluvva wrote:

If I were booking for next year I would definitely book with Thomas Cook; we should not let Tui have full control of the market .

Wonder if next year, if booking with thomas cook, you could haggle on the price of the holiday

Go into shop, and tell them you wish to book 2 weeks to xxxx, for 2 adults and 2 children, costing you £3000

Thompsons have the same holiday for £2700

Now you ask them if they can do the holiday for £2400

so maybe next yeat it could be worth try to haggle, no haggle no sale,

No point having a sale if you're not making any money out of it. If anything I would have thought they would need to charge a realistic price, and start making some money out of what they are booking, instead of carrying on their existing practice of undercutting other agents.

I have just received a Christmas card from the manager of my local branch thanking me for my continued support!
They have an offer for 21st December for Tunisia AI for £255 and if we were not going to our daughters this year we would certainly book this.
We are still hoping to go to Egypt with them in January or February.They are £200 each cheaper than Thomsons for the same date,same flight time and sometimes the same hotel.

Jay Trip.
Now you know why they are in the mire and at present TUI are not however nothing to say they wont be later.
Having flown with Thomas Cook to Sharm this year on a TUI holiday i have to say i was not impressed late leaving late coming back,even the flight crew on the return flight did not know it was delayed they were sat near us in Sharm Airport.In our company we have had to slim down to the bone TC need to do the same lean and mean??

Thomas Cook are an English/British company; let's support them . Can you imagine what prices would be like if Tui had a total hold on the travel market?