Hays Travel Owner Dies At Work

[anonymous-user]

Hays Travel part owner John Hays died today at the company HQ.
They'd only recently saved part of Thomas Cook but had started to experience trouble of their own because of the virus.

Seemed a decent fella.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-5493341...

[rjfp1962]

That's very sad.. I saw him and his wife being interviewed a few times on The News Channel - Just seemed to be kind, honest and nice people, but the travel industry is in such a state with Covid-19.. Must have been a stressful time, but he was always dignified. Sympathies to his wife Irene and family.. RIP.

[Chicken Chaser]

Just saw this, seemed a great guy who believed in his workforce and they believed in him. Difficult time for travel agents but hope they can recover and continue building a legacy of success for him, his wife and family.

[BlackLabel]

That’s sad. I recall his wife and him being interviewed just after they took over the Thomas Cook stores and they both came across as really nice and genuine people.

[Esceptico]

Chicken Chaser said:

Just saw this, seemed a great guy who believed in his workforce and they believed in him. Difficult time for travel agents but hope they can recover and continue building a legacy of success for him, his wife and family.

Surely travel agents are a dying business model? Why go through agents when you can easily research places to go and book flights and hotels over the net? I suspect some older people still use them but the tech savvy younger generation much less likely so I would be worried about business growth going forward.

[wiggy001]

Esceptico said:

Chicken Chaser said:

Just saw this, seemed a great guy who believed in his workforce and they believed in him. Difficult time for travel agents but hope they can recover and continue building a legacy of success for him, his wife and family.

Surely travel agents are a dying business model? Why go through agents when you can easily research places to go and book flights and hotels over the net? I suspect some older people still use them but the tech savvy younger generation much less likely so I would be worried about business growth going forward.

It used to be that when you asked for advice about a destination the agent would either have been there themselves or attended a seminar from the travel company explaining the facilities, local area etc.

Now all the my do is open tripadvisor and read the reviews with you so there is no need to use one of you are computer literate.

[voyds9]

Esceptico said:

Surely travel agents are a dying business model? Why go through agents when you can easily research places to go and book flights and hotels over the net? I suspect some older people still use them but the tech savvy younger generation much less likely so I would be worried about business growth going forward.

I still use them for ease/convenience. Type my criteria in to their search engine, gives me a list of hotels quick look through pictures and book it

It anything goes wrong they are there to guide me through. When things fail like this year one port of call to get my money back or make a complaint.

My idea of hell is booking flights, transfers and hotel separately and hoping it all goes smoothly

[PRTVR]

A sad loss, it must have been very stressful keeping a business going through a extremely difficult time.

I used Hays last time I booked a holiday, mainly due to their attitude to their employees a rarity in this day and age,

I haven’t used a travel agent for years booking everything on line, when covid hit they were great, keeping me informed about my refund, it took longer than I'd hoped but it did come through, unlike some people we have talked to that booked on line, who appear to have lost everything.

When and if we get back to normal I will be using Hays again, it may cost a little bit more, but sometimes life is more than just money.

[CzechItOut]

Esceptico said:

Surely travel agents are a dying business model? Why go through agents when you can easily research places to go and book flights and hotels over the net? I suspect some older people still use them but the tech savvy younger generation much less likely so I would be worried about business growth going forward.

You'd think, wouldn't you? I don't think there is even a market for older people. My Mum is 70 and books her holidays online. The number of people incapable of using the Internet must be getting smaller by the day.

[KingNothing]

I've booked a holiday to Japan in 2022 but it is using an online travel agent, not a high street travel agent. Have only ever used another online travel agent to go to the Maldives last year. All the other times just booked it ourselves, including 3 weeks travelling across Canada, and 2 weeks in the US.

[sparkythecat]

CzechItOut said:

Esceptico said:

Surely travel agents are a dying business model? Why go through agents when you can easily research places to go and book flights and hotels over the net? I suspect some older people still use them but the tech savvy younger generation much less likely so I would be worried about business growth going forward.

You'd think, wouldn't you? I don't think there is even a market for older people. My Mum is 70 and books her holidays online. The number of people incapable of using the Internet must be getting smaller by the day.

I dont think the people that use travel agents are incapable of using the internet, rather they are happy inatead to pay a premium to let someone sort it out for them. And (ignoring covid) when things go wrong, they have the comfort of someone they know to help them, rather than an anonymous call centre or interminable on line chat with a bot.

[Smurfsarepeopletoo]

I would say its more to do with the security of it, and the whole covid situation reinforces that, how many people havelost out because they werent covered by ABTA or ATOL because they booked everything seperately.

And then the ones that their flights werent cancelled, but the hotel was, so then couldnt get a refund on the flights.

Also, you kind of know what to expect with a package holiday, as the hotels usually have to meet a certain criteria to be part of the holiday companies holidays.

[Escort3500]

He and his wife were on the local TV news (BBC Look North) when they re-employed staff from other travel agents’ that had been made redundant. They came across as a really genuine couple who were passionate about their business and cared for their staff. Very sad news.

[anonymous-user]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-5507149...