Thomas Cook Group PLC Thomas Cook & Expedia announce strategic alliance (6857Q)
14 September 2017 - 4:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMTCG
RNS Number : 6857Q
Thomas Cook Group PLC
14 September 2017
Thomas Cook announces strategic alliance with Expedia, Inc.
14 September, 2017: Thomas Cook, one of Europe's leading holiday
companies, today announces it has entered into a strategic alliance
with Expedia, Inc., one of the world's leading travel companies.
Under the terms of the agreement, Expedia will become the preferred
provider of hotels for Thomas Cook's complementary(1) city and
domestic holiday business and will provide its booking platform to
support all city break and hotel-only sales across Thomas Cook
distribution channels in Europe.
The multi-year agreement will provide Thomas Cook customers with
over 60,000 more hotels in global city and European domestic
locations than currently on offer, all of which will meet Thomas
Cook's standards for quality and value, as well as health and
safety. The agreement will also enable Thomas Cook to significantly
reduce the cost and complexity of its city breaks and hotel-only
business.
Expedia will use its market-leading technology to deliver
bookings for city and domestic hotels, either on their own or as
part of a city break dynamic package, through Thomas Cook's primary
websites, contact centres, stores and distribution to affiliated
travel agents.
Additionally, the agreement gives Thomas Cook the option to
offer its core sun and beach package holidays on Expedia sites
globally, broadening its distribution reach.
Thomas Cook Chief Executive, Peter Fankhauser, said: "The
combination of Expedia's portfolio of hotels and best-in-class
online technology will transform Thomas Cook's city breaks and
hotel-only offer for customers while helping the business take an
important step forward in delivering our strategy for profitable
growth. Joining forces with a company that has the global reach and
expertise of Expedia will allow Thomas Cook to further simplify our
systems and processes. At the same time, this will free us up to
focus on holidays to our own-brand and selected partner hotels in
sun & beach locations where we know we can really make a
difference to customers. I am confident this marks the first step
in a long-term and mutually beneficial relationship with
Expedia."
Expedia Brand President, Aman Bhutani, said: "We've always had
profound respect for the Thomas Cook brand and we believe that our
coming together will enhance our abilities to help more people to
get out and see the world, while enhancing each of our competitive
positions in the European market. Expedia's Global Partner
Solutions business brings to life the ability to leverage the
strength of our technology and operations for our partners,
powering leading brands with private label booking engines, agent
tools, web services and operations for all travel products,
including lodging, flight, package, and car rental."
This new deal with Expedia is a major step forward in Thomas
Cook's Group-wide transformation programme and follows the
announcement in August 2016 of a hotel sourcing deal with Webjet
Limited, covering the bulk of Thomas Cook's complementary sun &
beach hotel offering.
By completing this second stage in the reorganisation of its
complementary hotels business, Thomas Cook will be able to focus on
strengthening its core sun & beach holiday offering, while at
the same time providing customers with a wider selection of hotels
as well as an improved booking experience. The agreement with
Expedia will also help to reduce the complexity of Thomas Cook's
business, acting as a catalyst to significantly simplify and
streamline operations across its 16 source markets.
This announcement contains inside information.
The person responsible for arranging the release of this
announcement is Alice Marsden, Group General Counsel and Company
Secretary
_______________ (1) Thomas Cook's holiday offering is focused on
its own-brand hotels, and a closely-managed portfolio of selected
partner hotels, chosen on the basis of quality and high standards
of service. This differentiated offering is supplemented with a
wide range of complementary hotels that give customers greater
choice and flexibility when choosing their holiday.
Analyst & Investor Conference Call
A conference call for investors and analysts will be held today
at 08.30 (BST). The access details are as follows:
United Kingdom: 0808 109 0700
All other locations: +44 (0) 20 3003 2666
Call Password: Thomas Cook Investor Call
Enquiries
Analysts & James Sandford, Thomas +44 (0) 20 7557
Investors Cook Group 6433
Tej Randhawa, Thomas +44 (0) 20 7557
Cook Group 6487
Matthew Magee, Thomas +44 (0) 20 7294
Media Cook Group 7059
- ENDS -
About Thomas Cook Group Plc.
Thomas Cook Group plc. is one of the world's leading
leisure travel groups with sales of GBP7.8 billion.
Thomas Cook is supported by 22,000 employees and
operates from 16 source markets, serving over 19
million customers annually. Thomas Cook Group plc's
shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange
(TCG).
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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