Thomas Cook collapsed just last month leaving 9,000 of its UK-based staff without jobs. However, there is now hope for its former employees. Hays Travel company has now re-hired hundreds of ex-staff after reopening dozens of Thomas Cook stores across Britain.
Former staff are now back to work after Hays Travel, the UK’s largest independent travel agency, reopened 168 Thomas Cook shops, bringing back jobs to thousands of employees who were made redundant after its collapse.
Over 1954 former Thomas Cook employees have been re-hired, with plans to recruit thousands more staff across stores around the UK. Last Wednesday, Hays Travel announced plans to buy all 555 Thomas Cook stores in Britain, saving 2,500 thousands of jobs in the process.
Over 100 new jobs will be based at the company’s Sunderland headquarters.
More stores are set to open throughout the week since the whirlwind announcement, which was met with celebration from ex-Thomas Cook employees as well Hays Travel’s sister companies Not Just Travel and The Travel Franchise.
“We are very proud of our strong alignment with market leader Hays Travel,” Paul Harrison, co-founder of Not Just Travel and The Travel Franchise said. “The news that Hays is buying Thomas Cook’s stores is fantastic and makes Hays the stand-out player in the retail sector.
“Not Just Travel won the Hays Outstanding Achievement Award in 2017. If last week was a sad event in the travel industry, then today makes up for part of that as hundreds of families will benefit from this fantastic news.”
Steve Witt, also co-founder of Not Just Travel and The Travel Franchise said: “This investment by Hays shows commitment to personal service, and proves yet again that the Internet hasn’t taken over.
Founder of Hays Travel John Hays said in a statement: “Irene and I have been taken aback by the good will and well wishes from the public over the past few days. It really has been humbling. We’re so proud of our wonderful teams, both old and new, who have come together working around the clock to get as many new branches up and running as quickly as possible.
“Not Just Travel uses the Hays booking platform, and now that Hays is an even larger buying group, Not Just Travel customers benefit from having a greater choice of holidays. This is great news for our Travel Consultants as well as independent Travel Consultants across the country.”
Less than a month ago, around 150,000 Thomas Cook customers were left stranded abroad after the travel operator went bankrupt.
The UK carried out its biggest repatriation efforts, sending emergency planes to relocate tourists back to Britain.
Now, heartbroken former staff can plaster a smile on their faces knowing they have the chance to return back to their offices – but more so under a different organisation.
John Hays, Founder of Hays Travel said: “Not Just Travel and The Travel Franchise are a delight to work with. Steve and Paul have something good going on. We’ve built a dream team to take things forward and to continue this journey, to grow this business is really exciting.”
Hays Travel is planning to recruit more staff and is open all week. Interested applicants can contact 0800 215 5995 for more information.
