Type Joint venture Founded 2010 | Industry Retail Parent organization The Co-operative Group | |
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Products Travel agent, Tour operator Owners Thomas Cook Group (70% stake)
The Co-operative Group (30% stake) Website co-operativetravel.co.uk Headquarters Peterborough, United Kingdom Profiles | ||
The co operative travel
The Co-operative Travel is a travel agent in the United Kingdom, run as a joint venture between the Thomas Cook Group, The Co-operative Group and Central England Co-operative. TCCT Retail is based at the Peterborough Business Park at Lynch Wood, Peterborough. It is a member of ABTA and holds an ATOL licence; it also acts as an agent for licensed Tour Operators. Customers can earn a share of the profits in proportion to purchases through The Co-op Membership scheme.
Contents
The brand is also used by independent retail co-operatives, through their access to The Co-operative brand.
History
The Co-operative Wholesale Society opened its first Excursion Department in 1905, to work with railways, steamers, and tour operators to get the best rates for co-operative society’s excursions. In 1920, CWS arranged its first overseas excursion and published its first holiday guide. By the 1950s, the CWS Travel Service had become one of the five largest travel agencies in Britain and had begun to organise air travel for co-operative societies and their members.
CWS Travel became known as Travelcare when the Co-operative Wholesale Society merged with Co-operative Retail Services in 2000 to form The Co-operative Group. The Co-operative Travel was formed by the integration of the Manchester-based Travelcare business with United Co-operatives' Co-op Travel subsidiary on the merger of the two societies in 2007.
Joint venture
It was announced in 2010, that Co-op Group Travel 1 Ltd. and Midlands Co-op Travel Ltd. would merge with the retail branches of Thomas Cook. The joint venture does not include the latter's tour operating arm, which remains wholly within the Thomas Cook Group. The new network is 66.5%-owned by Thomas Cook, 30%-owned by The Co-operative Group and 3.5%-owned by Central England Co-operative. Both chains retain their own branding, except for the small number of Thomas Cook's Going Places shops which were rebranded as The Co-operative Travel. The partnership arrangement has helped to retain the heritage and ethics of The Co-operative brand and to ensure the consistency of message.
The merger included the Co-operative's home-working division, Future Travel Limited, trading as "The Co-operative Personal Travel Advisors". These consultants work from home, primarily by telephone, providing the same range of services as the High Street branches but for extended opening hours.
In 2010, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was given 45 working days to review whether to formally oppose the merger. The Office of Fair Trading requested a referral from the European Commission and, in turn, referred the case to the Competition Commission in March 2011. In July 2011, it was announced that the Competition Commission raised no objections to the merger. As a result of the merger, the business became part of the Thomas Cook Group.
In 2016 the Co-operative Group decided that having a minority stake in a travel business no longer fitted with its strategy and said that it would exercise its option to quit the joint venture. Thomas Cook announced it would buy out the stakes owned by The Co-operative Group and Central England Co-operative, taking full control of the retail network and rebranding the high street travel stores that operate under the Co-operative brand.
Other users of the brand
The Midcounties Co-operative travel branches, which also trade as The Co-operative Travel, are not included in the joint venture. Despite its own involvement in the joint venture, Central England Co-operative also operates a network of Co-operative Travel branches which are managed separately from Thomas Cook. This arises from the 2013 merger of the Midlands Co-operative Society who had joined the venture and the Anglia Regional Co-operative Society which continued to operate its travel branches independently.
Operations
The Co-operative Travel offers package holidays, city breaks, hotels, flights, cruises and skiing holidays to a wide range of destinations. Foreign exchange services are also available, including American Express traveller's cheques. The Co-operative Travel Cash Passport is issued by Travelex; travel insurance is underwritten by White Horse Insurance Ireland. All flights and flight-inclusive holidays are financially protected by the ATOL scheme.
Membership
Members of The Co-operative Group, Central England Co-operative and other participating regional societies earn one membership point for every £2.00 spent at The Co-operative Travel. Points are converted into dividend at a rate agreed annually by the Board.