Tui's Flintham: 'We know we haven't got it right on refunds'
James ChappleTui has launched a self-service refund tool and introduced greater flexibility on amendments, with UK and Ireland boss Andrew Flintham admitting the operator "hasn’t got it right" on refunds.
Flintham apologised to customers on Thursday (21 May) for the length of time it has taken Tui to find a system to process what he described as an "unprecedented volume" of refunds, with more than 900,000 customers impacted by cancellations owing to Covid-19 travel restrictions.
Customers who have cancelled holidays before 11 June can now access a self-service section on the Tui website to apply for a cash refund, while customers with holidays booked up to 31 August can now make free amendments online until 30 June.
“We know we haven’t got it right," said Flintham. "We’re doing everything we can to make things better, and we’re sorry for the frustration felt by our customers. We’ve struggled to get the right systems in place to support our customers now we can’t take them on holiday, especially at the speed of change we’ve faced in recent weeks.
“We recognise the situation around travel this summer remains unclear, and there’s still a lot of uncertainty around when we will all be able to travel again. Some customers may not wish to pay a final balance with so many unknowns.
"We are therefore allowing Tui customers with holidays before the end of August the opportunity to amend their holiday for free so they don’t have to pay until closer to their new departure date."
Flintham added customers with cancelled holidays can now amend their holiday online, and take advantage of a 20% booking incentive, or keep their refund credit and booking incentive for a later date when they know when and where they would like to travel."
Customers can also now apply for a cash refund via an online form rather than calling the operator’s contact centre, easing pressure on the business. Flintham revealed staff, who are working from home, were dealing with nearly a million calls a day – up from just 45,000 on a typical day before the coronavirus crisis.
"We’re also constantly growing our virtual homeworking team while stores remain closed, so retail customers can speak with advisors about current and future bookings," said Flintham.
“We’d like to sincerely apologise to our customers impacted by delays to refunds and the length of time it’s taken.
"We really look forward to taking people on holiday again as soon as we’re able to do. We can already see that there is a real appetite for our customers to travel again, with many using our booking incentive for holidays later in the year and next summer.”
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