Tomorrow Thomas Cook Group is set to reveal modest interim results which highlight progress after last year’s earnings were dented by rising costs. Credit Suisse has upgraded the FTSE 250-travel and leisure company to “Outperform” from “Neutral”, as its recovery is bolstered by competitor bankruptcies.^[1]

Thomas Cook Group is taking action to restore profitability by improving the quality of its own-brand hotel portfolio, customer service and online presence.^[2]

Thomas Cook is turning to technology to boost cost savings and help deliver to customers more effectively. The travel and leisure company has been able to significantly increase the level of customer conversions among its more than 20 million customers.^[3]

Bhupender Singh, CEO at Intelenet® Global Services, comments:“Travel providers are seeking out cost-effective and scalable solutions which can sustain the peaks and troughs across the year – without compromising on customer experience.

“Having said this, with summer around the corner and customers looking to book the perfect holiday, travel agents need to accommodate all the different ways customers will want to book. Booking a holiday is a big financial investment and if expectations are not met, customers will not hesitate to express their frustration on social media.”

Mr. Singh continues: “The last thing a customer needs is to be on the phone for hours waiting to get an update on the status of their booking. Travel agents manually inputting booking information can delay the process further, slowing down response rates and exposing travel agents to human errors.

“If a £400 hotel rate is mistakenly entered as £40, the travel service provider has two options – honour the advertised rate, which risks hurting profits, or not go with the advertised rate and risk customer dissatisfaction.”

“Travel agents need to see things through the eyes of the customer. Technology can better streamline the back-end office, reducing manual errors by 90 per cent. In turn, this will speed up engagement with customers and increase the chance of them returning.”