Leading Florida Package Holiday Operator Thomas Cook is facing a mass customer exodus after it’s financial plight was featured in the press worldwide.
Yesterday, Thomas Cook Group shares lost over 50% of their value after announcing crisis talks with their bankers. Today the story has been featured in newspapers, online news feeds and many Florida travel blogs and forums.
Holidaymakers currently on holiday in Florida have little to fear as it seems Thomas Cook’s negotiations with their banks may go on for a couple of weeks yet.
However the high level of publicity may not bode well for future bookings of Thomas Cook Florida holidays.
These are just a few quotes taken from press reports reflecting current public opinion …
“I wouldn’t book with them now”
“If they keep going like this, they might go out.”
“Why book with Thomas Cook when there’s plenty of alternatives out there”
The team here at Florida-Traveller echo these concerns. Even if only a small percentage of Thomas Cook customers now choose to play-it-safe and book their Florida holiday elsewhere it could plunge the company into deeper trouble.
A leading broker said they couldn’t see Thomas Cook surviving in it’s current form.
Of course, this is all good news for Thomas Cook’s competitors in the Florida holiday market. They are all likely to pick up extra Florida bookings as Florida holidaymakers choose to book with, what they perceive to be, a safer Florida package holiday company.
The companies most likely to benefit are Thomson Holidays and First Choice Holidays who are both part of the stronger TUI Group and offer a comprehensive range of Florida Holidays.
There’s also the smaller operators like Jet2 Holidays , Cosmos Holidays , Olympic Holidays and Balkan Holidays who all have fanatastic reputations in the package holiday market.
It’s important to remember that Thomas Cook Holidays are still trading normally and it’s most likely that they will continue to do so. Their Florida package holidays are all ATOL protected so if something did happen to them your money would be safe. There’s certainly no need to panic yet.
The team here at Florida-Traveller know no more than anybody else at the moment but if we were looking to book our Florida Holiday soon we’d certainly feel it may be better to look at booking with a different Florida operator until the future of Thomas Cook is clearer.
For the sake of it’s 30,000 employees worldwide and the fantastic Thomas Cook team supporting the Florida operation, all of us at Florida-Traveller sincerely hope that Thomas Cook Holidays can resolve it’s current problems quickly and secure it’s long-term future. Thomas Cook are a valued and well-respected player in the Florida Holiday Market.
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