TUI has revealed it has added 135 hotels which were once offered by Thomas Cook to its portfolio. The expansion in Europe comes “following customer demand,” TUI has said. Once-popular tour operator Thomas Cook collapsed in September this year, affecting the travel plans of thousands of Britons.
TUI will also offer 16 new hotels in Greece and 13 new hotels in Mexico.
The properties are already available for customers to book for 2020 on the TUI website.
Mark Hall, Director of Product and Destination Experience TUI UK & Ireland said: “At TUI we’re committed to offering outstanding holidays and to support the additional capacity growth.
“We are delighted to be introducing a wide range of hotels popular with Thomas Cook customers to make sure holidaymakers still get to experience these great resorts.
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“The customer is truly at the heart of everything we do at TUI and this additional growth in hotels demonstrates our continued commitment for people to discover their smile with us.”
TUI’s hotel expansion come nearly a month after the company announced it would be launching around 10,000 more flights in 2020.
An extra two million passengers will be flown to popular destinations including Turkey, Greece, Balearics, Canaries, Egypt, Mexico and Florida for 2020.
The holiday company will fly from popular airports including Manchester, Doncaster Sheffield, Birmingham, Newcastle and Glasgow to its expansive range of hotels.
TUI also revealed it will offer more seven, 10, 11 and 14-night durations as it “sticks with its commitment of offering more flexibility and choice for its customers,” the company said in a statement.
As for failed Thomas Cook, yesterday it was announced that Fosun, the Chinese company that held a major stake in the travel firm, had purchased the Thomas Cook name for £11million.
The company purchased the rights to use the name from Thomas Cook’s liquidators and will now be able use it and its website to market holidays.
The firm is expected to become an online-only travel agent but it is not yet known when Thomas Cook will be back online.
In further industry news, TUI has announced it will resume flights to Sharm el Sheikh in Egypt.
A flight ban issued in 2015 to restrict air travel between Sharm el Sheikh and the UK was lifted last month.
The TUI Sharm el Sheikh holidays will be on sale from 7 November, with the first flights departing February 2020.
TUI has said they will reintroduce holidays to the Egyptian resort town from popular airports Gatwick London, Birmingham and Manchester. Flights from Doncaster Sheffield and Bristol will be available for departures in summer 2020.