Thomas Cook ecommerce head joins Alpharooms
Discount accommodation specialist Alpharooms has appointed Thomas Cook head of ecommerce Chris Thorpe as managing director to lead the expansion of the brand under its new owners, Truly Holdings.
Thorpe said he intended to focus on expanding the dynamic packaging side of the business, which until now has focused on hotel-only sales.
He replaces Jacky Bedlow who left the business in February.
"Having headed up online at Thomas Cook for three years, I was looking for a new challenge~and I felt that the opportunity presented to me by alpharooms.com was complementary to my skill set," he said.
"With advertising costs continuing to escalate, it has never been more important to maximise revenue by selling flights, transfers and other ancillaries as well as accommodation. We see the potential for a lot of growth by simply expanding operations in this way."
Alpharooms, which has been trading for more than 18 years, was acquired by Truly Travel Group in November last year. Truly Travel, which has a contract to provide Teletextholidays.co.uk with holidays on an exclusive basis, together with Alpharooms, is targeting nearly a million holidaymakers in 2016/17.
Truly director Kumar Edara said "The additional distribution via the~alpharooms.com~online platform is highly complementary to the phone-to-book distribution we have via our long-term partnership with~teletextholidays.co.uk.
"It has more than~doubled our hotel purchasing volumes, allowing us to deliver more customers to both our bed bank and direct hotel partners, which is crucial to securing the market-leading hotel rates that will drive our continued expansion."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025