Thomas Cook has confirmed it has no plans to drop the Med Hotels or Hotels4u.com brands. The travel company acquired bed bank Med Hotels from lastminute.com in January this year for an undisclosed sum. It bought bed bank Hotels4u.com in February last year for £21.8 million. In its interim management statement the company said it intended to…
Med Hotels and Hotels4u to remain separate brands
Thomas Cook has confirmed it has no plans to drop the Med Hotels or Hotels4u.com brands.
The travel company acquired bed bank Med Hotels from lastminute.com in January this year for an undisclosed sum. It bought bed bank Hotels4u.com in February last year for £21.8 million.
In its interim management statement the company said it intended to combine both businesses, leading to fears one or both brands could disappear.
But a spokeswoman said merging the two businesses was only likely to affect back-office functions, not the brands. “We are definitely keeping both brands,” she confirmed.
No further details have been revealed on how the brands will be integrated or whether any jobs will be affected.
In December, Thomas Cook also agreed to acquire a majority stake in Gold Medal International. This is subject to European Commission approval and is expected to be completed in March. It has also entered into option agreements, which will enable the company to acquire the remainder of Gold Medal from March 31, 2010.
Meanwhile, earlier this month the group said it intended to acquire Lufthansa’s 24.9% stake in charter airline Condor by exercising options granted in 2007. The buy-out is for 77.19 million euros.
