Goodbye Thomson: TUI to phase out brand

In 1965, Canadian media baron Roy Thomson created the package holiday company that bore his name. However, after nearly sixty years in business and a variety of takeovers and mergers, this famous UK name will shortly be retired as the German TUI Group migrates to a single brand.

Humberside to benefit as Thomson flies to Mallorca again

Good news for UK holidaymakers in and around Humberside as Thomson will be resuming direct flights once a week to Palma, Mallorca, for the 2015 season.

Thomas Cook and Thomson sometimes charge more for kids

In a report in today's Daily Mail, both Thomson and Thomas Cook have been revealed as charging more for holidays involving a family group of two adults and two children as opposed to four adults travelling together. Both companies detail the reasons why in the full story linked here.

Happy Hola-days!

Thomson and First Choice’s 24/7 Holidayline, has launched a new translation service to offer round the clock language services for all customers travelling abroad. Translators will be on hand to offer assistance for customers whether they are attending a doctor’s appointment, haggling for a deal whilst shopping in a local market, or dealing with an emergency such as a lost passport or wallet. 

All customers need to do is call their local 24/7 Holidayline, a dedicated telephone line for Thomson and First Choice customers abroad, and ask to speak to a translator. The service will be available in 157 languages and aims to help customers overcome any issues caused by language barriers.

Thomson win industry awards

Thomson recently announced that they have won the following British Travel Awards:

• Best National Travel Retailer

• Best Travel Agency Website

Keep Taking The Tablets

Thomson is using Google+ and Twitter to modernise the holiday experience for its customers. (Oh dear - Ed.)

The holiday company will welcome holidaymakers pre-departure using live Google+ hangouts and invite customers to use a dedicated Twitter

hashtag in-resort to communicate with their iAdvisor.

Thomson is trialling this new way of welcoming customers after research found that holidaymakers are using social networks ahead of their trip to meet other travellers and share information. (What's new there? - Ed.)

Customers travelling to Thomson’s exclusive Sensatori Resort Crete in August will have the opportunity to participate in a Holiday Hangout before they depart. The live video hangouts will give customers the chance to ask their resort based iAdvisor questions about the hotel and local area and get an update on the weather.

They will also be able to tweet questions to their iAdvisor from their sun lounger. All Thomson iAdvisors will be equipped with a tablet to ensure they’re easy to reach wherever they are in the resort. (Unless it's turned off - Ed.)

New Thomson Gold Promo Video Based On Playa Camp de Mar

A new video promoting Thomson Gold holidays has been uploaded to YouTube and features on the Thomson website. Filmed in and around the Hotel Playa Camp de Mar, you get an idea of what the resort is like and see some of the real hotel staff involved.

TUI UK to spend £8 million rebranding high street holiday shops

TUI UK will re-brand its retail branding by introducing “Thomson….. featuring First Choice”, to increase brand presence and further develop its position as market leaders on the high street. Over the course of the next two years, TUI will be investing £8 million in changing the look of all its high street retail stores, starting this month in the Exeter region.

If you can smell french fries, then you're on Thomson Airways

Thomson Airways are conducting the first commercial UK flight of a plane today fuelled by a used cooking oil and jet fuel mix. The trip to Lanzarote by a Boeing 757 from Birmingham is a one-off until regular supplies of chip fat can be sourced for a full service powered by such a mix next year.

A new review has been uploaded to the Camp de Mar Info website.

A review of our travels to Camp de Mar and Mallorca in July this year has been uploaded to the website.

Grupotel back on Thomson website

The Thomson website is once again accepting bookings for 2012 at the Grupotel Playa Camp de Mar.

Playa Camp de Mar hotel unavailable for 2012 on Thomson website

Earlier this month Thomson were showing availability of the Playa Camp de Mar hotel for next year via a new style of webpage. The room descriptions had changed to reflect the recent upgrade, and so had the prices!

We then heard from sources close to Grupotel that the contract with Thomson had not yet been renewed for the 2012 season.

Now the Thomson website shows the hotel is unavailable through them for next year. This may change, so keep watching this space.

Thomson Couples Brochure Launched

Thomson Holidays has officially launched Thomson Couples, an all-new adults-only holiday experience aimed at couples who want to spend time abroad in a child-free environment. With the first Couples customers flying out in June, Thomson is the first mainstream travel company to offer 100% child-free holiday resorts worldwide.

All hotels in the Thomson Couples range are part of Thomson's Premier Collection, which include the company's very best 4T and 5T hotels. Couples customers will also enjoy complimentary benefits including increased luggage allowance, priority transfers, day-before check-in and dedicated holiday advisors when overseas.

More information on Thomson's adults-only holidays here.