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Post by kevb on Sept 23, 2019 7:40:41 GMT
Gone into liquidation. Sorry for employees and those needing to be repatriated.
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amy115
Full Member
Posts: 339
Visits to Skiathos: 5
Accommodation Stayed At: Thymis House Hotel
Dream House
Elizabeth Studios
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Post by amy115 on Sept 23, 2019 8:42:42 GMT
Not forgetting the ripple effect Kev ......
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Post by katet on Sept 23, 2019 9:28:53 GMT
It's very sad for those businesses tied to TC .... like the Oasis in town & Myrtia in Kouk. Hopefully they'll be snapped up by whoever steps into the breach.
As far as repatriation goes, it's all so well organised this time. There's a web page listing all destinations and then you follow the link to the date you're supposed to be leaving & they will be posting the new flight information in due course. People apparently won't have their holidays cut short. I was imagining frantic queues at the airport!!
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Post by kevb on Sept 23, 2019 10:10:53 GMT
Yes I think they have learned a lot from previous airline failures (eg Monarch) and it seems better organised. As Amy says there is a big knock on effect when its as big a company as this. They ran the only service from EMA to JSI so it will be interesting who steps in if anyone. The last return flight was awful though so I was already thinking of giving Skiathos a miss next year anyway. Looking like a first trip to Parga for me in 2020.
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Post by yorkshiremouth on Sept 23, 2019 10:26:56 GMT
Bizarre.
So now if you want to go to Skiathos it’s either with TUI or...erm...TUI.
I hope someone else steps in, as a lack of competition isn’t going to help anyone.
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Post by kevb on Sept 23, 2019 11:59:58 GMT
If we all thought flight only prices this year were high just wait until Tui realise they have a monopoly to Skiathos from the UK and start nudging their prices up in the winter when people start looking to next year.
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amy115
Full Member
Posts: 339
Visits to Skiathos: 5
Accommodation Stayed At: Thymis House Hotel
Dream House
Elizabeth Studios
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Post by amy115 on Sept 23, 2019 14:23:01 GMT
I think that Tui flights/holidays were just as expensive as TC, if not more so.
I think it would be doubtful that they will end up having a monopoly on Skiathos, as this year they were using TC f!ights for some of their holidays so they mustn't have the planes to cope with the demand. I don't see they can cope with the gap left by the TC collapse unless they take out a loan to buy up some of TC's planes at rock bottom prices.
Perhaps other European airlines will step into the breach and flight prices will become more competitive. Maybe also take over the TC contracts with accommodation providers too.
It's one of those waiting games.
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Post by kevb on Sept 23, 2019 14:28:51 GMT
The alternative is they just put up their prices even more and extract as much income as before but from fewer bums on seats, that's the real concern. Doesnt do the island a jot of good, people can only eat and drink so much and if there are fewer of them then the chain of events is accommodation closing, then the restaurants and so it goes. The island thought it was on to a winner when eastern bloc holidays started coming in. Then the local businesses realised they just stayed in their rooms every night, hardly spent anything. ATOL protected claimants might not see their money until nearly xmas and Tui will be just waiting until theres a mini surge in demand and put their prices up.
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Post by katet on Sept 25, 2019 6:50:59 GMT
Surely Tui will Just lease some more planes .... not buy them? At some point during the past few days, a tv report showed the impounded TC planes on the ground at Manchester and said that it was on the instructions of the lease company. I was surprised, as I thought they would belong to the airlines.
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amy115
Full Member
Posts: 339
Visits to Skiathos: 5
Accommodation Stayed At: Thymis House Hotel
Dream House
Elizabeth Studios
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Post by amy115 on Sept 25, 2019 8:13:26 GMT
I was as surprised as you Kate to learn the same. They also rented their travel shops.
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Post by kevb on Sept 25, 2019 14:33:30 GMT
Whilst over there this year I bumped into Judith Jenkins from the boomerangers facebook group. They were looking forward to coming back again for a late visit and should have flown today but that's gone. It was all through TC as they stay at the Oasis (exclusively under TC contract). I think it's a guy called Mike who runs the Oasis (still never got round to calling in, walked past it though)so he'll still be owed money. What do these people do, take out loans to cover the money still owed to pay their staff and buy in consumables or do they get a lump sum at the start of the season? I know some tour firms used to do it that way.
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Post by balddave on Sept 25, 2019 15:01:42 GMT
The CAA have said they will cover all outstanding unpaid hotel fees, but I assume it will take some time. This will be a very worrying, uncertain times for the owners, fingers crossed they get sorted With regard to the Oasis, I think if any other operators do decide to add Skiathos to their list, the Oasis will be one of the first properties snapped up.
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Post by katet on Sept 25, 2019 16:20:27 GMT
Mike from the Oasis used to pop up on here and TA from time to time. He always has entertaining and useful information. It's such an awful situation for them all, but I have heard that the tourism office is already working hard to try to fill the TC void. I wonder what Dolphin are planning ... I know they own the transfer coaches, but they also own some properties (I have a feeling one of them may be the Myrtia.)
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Post by bvrc on Sept 25, 2019 16:51:27 GMT
Years ago we have stayed in accommodation in Vasilias. The guy there told us he was going exclusively with Olympic as he was tied in with other tour operators and the norm was that you wouldn’t be paid until the end of the season, after your last guest had gone home! How unfair is that! Guests pay for their holiday before arriving so why can’t the tour operators forward that on, even in instalments. Must be tough for the owners meeting demands of guests and keeping their hotels etc up to scratch all summer when monies owed to them doesn’t appear until much later. Not sure if this is still the norm though.
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