Restarting Travel – Hear from Rad, our Travel Chief Operating Officer

Hi everyone. My name is Rad Sofronijevic, I am the Chief Operating Officer for the Travel Group and today I would like to take this opportunity to update you on what we’ve been up to in our Travel Group over recent months and what lies ahead.

 

These have been truly extraordinary times for the whole travel sector; where we were normally selling holidays, we found ourselves cancelling or amending holidays instead. The sheer volume of administration has been challenging and continues to be even today with programme changes whilst airlines, hoteliers and tour operators work their way through getting their operations back up and running. For those holidays that have been cancelled, we are also continuing to work hard to obtain refunds for our customers as quickly as possible. We were therefore pleased that Co-operative Travel was highlighted in 12^th place (out of 70 travel companies) in the recent Money Saving Expert holiday refunds survey, as voted for by the general public. This is a testament to the team effort that we have seen across the whole Travel Group in working together to support our customers, colleagues and members.

 

 

Our Retail colleagues who have worked in the Virtual Call Centre (VCC), Personal Travel Agents and members of our buying Consortium have worked tirelessly over a very difficult four months to offer each and every one of their customers and members the very best service.

I want to personally thank each and every single one of our travel colleagues – whether they are directly supporting our customers or supporting our colleagues to deliver the best service - their hard work and dedication has been exemplary. Additionally, many colleagues have taken part in the Government furlough scheme with some now returning to support the Revive stage which includes the re-opening of our retail shops and increased sales and marketing activities.

 

What are the plans for our Retail shops?

We’re pleased to say that our travel branches are now open and taking appointments with social distancing maintained. As always, our colleague’s safety is a priority along with our customers of course. We have installed protective screens on desks and have all the appropriate PPE for a retail environment.

 

 

The technology that we utilised to ensure we were able to provide a seamless service when the shops closed for lockdown included a Virtual Call Centre (VCC) operation that was supported by a team of Retail colleagues working from home, a new online payments service on our website and we are also trialling video consultations with those customers who prefer to interact with our colleagues virtually. So, as well as many challenges, there have been lots of positive outcomes during the last few months which we will continue with in our ‘new normal.’

Colleagues will have heard the news announced by Phil here, that Central England Co-operative will transfer 16 of their retail branches into our estate, bringing the total number of retail travel branches under the Midcounties umbrella to over 70.  This is fantastic news for our expanded Travel operations within the current circumstances and aids our ‘Revive’ phase perfectly.

Our retail estate continues to be headed up by Natalie Turner, Head of Branches and we are delighted to have the support of Emma Pile from Healthcare and formerly Post Office to support with the integration. The new branches will complement the existing trading areas whilst providing further growth in the East of England. We hope to be trading our additional branches from the 8^th August and I am sure you will join me in welcoming our new colleagues to the travel group and to Midcounties.

 

What about our Personal Travel Agents and Consortium Members?

Our Personal Travel Agents (PTA’s) and Consortium members are self-employed, running their own successful businesses. Sheena Whittle and her PTA Team and Alison Holmes and all the colleagues who support our Consortium members have provided much support during this time to our agents and members, this has been in many ways including financial where we could apply flexibility and personal to keep up their motivation and passion for the industry. Our PTA’s also received lots of marketing support as they are already a homeworking business and were, therefore, able to capitalise on any opportunities particularly through their great use of social media.

 

What are the Waterfront plans to return?

Our support centre team at the Waterfront are the backbone of the travel group, supporting all our trading divisions with financial, administrative, operational, technical, commercial and marketing functions. All of our Waterfront team have been working from home since lockdown and have done a tremendous job – thank you. This month we are looking at how we can use the facilities at the Waterfront safely for those colleagues who need to work from the office at times, and we look forward to some colleagues working from the Waterfront once again from the end of this month.

 

Can we go on holiday again now?

Yes! Absolutely you can, to many destinations, but not all. On the 4th July 2020, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) updated its advice against ‘all but essential’ travel, meaning that some destinations have been assessed as no longer presenting an unacceptably high risk to British people travelling abroad. With lockdown measures easing, whether you wish to holiday abroad or in this country, holidays are now possible and indeed so needed by many of us. The Travel Group is reviving and well placed to go from strength to strength.

 

 

If you are planning to get away this summer, colleagues should continue to monitor the GOV.UK travel advice and check the UK FCO website for country-specific information regularly, as the information may change. We also have links on our website (cooptravel.co.uk) and a series of useful blogs to help you navigate the new normal for travel including what to expect at the airport. The holiday experience is being carefully adapted by airlines and accommodation providers to ensure that customer safety is paramount and the reports we are seeing so far are really encouraging.

Many of us have first-hand experience of what it is like now to travel abroad, so whether you can’t wait to get away this year or you are more comfortable waiting until next year, our experienced travel colleagues are ready to help. Remember your colleague discount too and save 10% (up to a max of £250). We will all need a break after the last few months so whether it’s here in the UK or further afield, we are ready and waiting to find you your next dream holiday.

 

That’s all for now but if you have any further Travel questions let me know by leaving a comment below.

Happy Holidays!