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Tui-owned SHG unveils trade-only brand for third-party agents

Tui-owned Specialist Holidays Group is launching a dedicated trade-only long-haul brand following feedback from agents.

The brand, Travelmood, will work solely with third party agents and will not be bookable by Thomson agents.

Tui first bought the Travelmood brand back in 2008 but stopped using the name soon after because sister brand Austravel grew to become the stronger company of the two.

Lesley Rollo, managing director of Travelmood, admitted that some agents had been fearful of booking with sister brands such as Hayes and Jarvis because it could sell directly to customers.

“We will have a website for agents and the technology we are using is fantastic,” Rollo said. “It will be easy for agents to work with us because service will be extremely important.

“This has all been developed following feedback from the trade, agents told us they wanted a brand which only sold through them.

“Hayes & Jarvis is a fabulous brand but some agents told us they were a bit hesitant of making bookings for them because there was always a fear customers would book direct.”

She said Travelmood would offer competitive commission to independent agents.

Travelmood will have a webpage which can be viewed by the public, however it will not have a booking function and customers will be directed to book through an agent.

Speaking about the decision to only sell through third-party agents, Rollo said: “It won’t be a product that customers will find in a Thomson store. We have fantastic relationships with Thomson and we have our own way of working with them on our in-house brands.

“We don’t envisage that this will be something sold through Thomson agents, this is something for third-party agents because they’ve been asking for it.”

Currently the brand will focus on long-haul destinations but Rollo isn’t ruling out looking at short-haul in the future.

The brand will share the existing Specialist Holidays Group sales team which has eight people out on the road. The team was recently expanded with the addition of a new business development manager, who will look after independent agents.

Travelmood officially launches on October 29 and the sales team is preparing to hit the road to meet agents.

During November and December the trade team plans to visit up to 40 independent agents every day to showcase the benefits of the new brand.

Rollo added: “The trade is an extremely important part of our business and for some time we have been considering how we might strengthen the service we offer to our trade partners.

“We have more than 60 years of experience in selling long haul holidays and over the last couple of years we have seen great success in the technology we are now using. Both of these attributes are continuously recognised by the trade and it has been the positive comments from agents which have been a key driving factor to take it one step further in launching Travelmood.”

Travelmood will also be incentivising agents and has become the first tour operator to partner with My Bookings Rewards. The incentive programme will be up and running by the end of the year.

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