Oooh, sourcy: Thomas Cook gets into bed with Webjet
It looks like Thomas Cook is getting off the source: the travel giant said today it has signed a strategic sourcing partnership with Sunhotels, the online accommodation arm of Webjet.
Under the deal, Sunhotels will take responsibility for sourcing and contracting hotels that make up what Thomas Cook calls its complementary business.
While the company focuses on its own-brand hotels and a "closely-managed portfolio of selected partner hotels", it also has a "wide range of complementary hotels that give customers greater choice and flexibility when choosing their holiday". So now you know.
The deal means Thomas Cook will transfer the contracts of 3,000 hotels to Sunhotels. In return, the 75,000 resorts that make up Sunhotels' existing inventory will be offered to Thomas Cook.
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Crucially, Sunhotels will also take responsibility for managing "an improved" health and safety audit process.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 250-listed travel company, whose earnings have been hit by terrorism in recent months, said today the partnership will allow it to focus on growing its "core differentiated holiday offering", as well as simplifying its IT platforms and business processes.
"[The deal] provides us with a low-cost production platform for our complementary offer across all our source markets, enabling us to streamline our systems and processes while at the same time ensuring greater certainty over the quality of hotels that we offer our customers," said Thomas Cook chief exec Peter Fankhauser.
"This frees us up to focus on growing our differentiated holiday offering, the area where we know Thomas Cook can really make a difference." Er, quite.