Thomas Cook launches ‘choose your room’ service
Thomas Cook has launched a new service that allows customers to choose their specific hotel room before they leave home.
For a €30 fee, per booking, customers can see the floor plan of the hotel and then select a specific room from those available in their room category.
They will receive an invite to use the service six days before departure.
The new initiative is initially available in 50 hotels, across all six of Thomas Cook’s own-brands, in destinations including Gran Canaria, Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Majorca and Tenerife.
Thomas Cook says it will be available in 300 hotels by summer 2018.
Its research showed 87% of customers said they would likely use the service and a trial in a small number of hotels resulted in a 20% conversion rate.
Thomas Cook claims it is the first UK package holiday company to offer the option.
UK managing director Chris Mottershead said: "We have always prided ourselves a pioneer in the travel industry and this innovation is receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from the customers who’ve taken advantage of it."
Agents are being informed of the new service via a video, so they can explain how it works to their customers.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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