Thomas Cook company collapses

Are you referring to the photos of Hyde Park? They have been proved to be false. They were taken in April this year after a 420 gathering (celebrating cannabis) and actually Extinction Rebellion folks helped to clean it up.

@Joan Just saw your last post stating that you’d seen rubbish left behind yourself. Shocking. I wonder why that wasn’t reported anywhere?

I was there and saw it unfortunately too @Magwitch It certainly wasn’t as bad as I’ve seen at other marches in London.

That’s truly depressing :frowning:

They were probably too busy in Brighton by Friday pm. With the events going on there, they’ve probably forgotten!

I wonder if Barns has a lucrative booking??

Maybe. But I’d have thought some of the tabloid press would have leaped on this to heap scorn on all those “fake do-gooders”. And yes, hoping that dear @Barns got a good booking and didn’t have to deal with 24 plastic bottles left in the room (happened to me recently, I had to mention it in the review as it was so wtf).

was already full with Labour conference Muslims!

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Damn, of course. We forgot about all those demon communists trying to bring down the country. And gathering in that cesspit of gayness that is Brighton. Uggghhh, I’m going to have to lie down now, it’s too much. We won the war! Faint

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lolling out loud!

202020

This past Feb, the city of Palm Springs experienced a 100 year type of flooding. In the desert. It washed away the main road as well as the majority of our business as it rained 3/4 of the entire month. We needed to pay $8,000 to re-do the roof. An expense and loss of about $25,000 in business that we’ve only now just recovered from.

Then Airbnb started pushing Plus homes and Luxe homes to the top of the page. Both types of properties exclusively catering to our exact type of rental (large home 8+ people). It pushed our listing from page 1 to page 8. Again, something we’ve only now just recovered from.

In our Northern California home, in order to install solar panels we needed a different type of roof. So we went without. But then PG&E the utility company raised our rates after they burned all those homes down and needed to offload their burden to customers. Our bills went up about $500 a month. Thankfully, this house is now sold and we can move this into two properties with a lower cost of maintenance, more solar ready, and more efficient.

Climate related issues and bad algorithms are probably the things that I think about the most.

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The ramifications of this collapse are now far more widespread than many first thought. Two other major operators, TUI and First Choice are now cancelling many folks package holidays because the flight operator was Thomas Cook.

For those of us in Europe where TC had routes there will be a knock on effect. Flight prices from the UK to all of TC’s destinations have increased dramatically; for us personally, the sudden increase of prices for Malaga/UK flights will likely discourage some of our late Autumn UK visitors unless they are prepared to travel via London.

I’m going back to the UK for a few days next month, but still unsure of exact dates. I’ve just checked one of my potential dates and the Malaga flight I was considering has jumped from circa £55 on Friday to £168, one way!

For the TC customers already abroad, many are being forced to pay hundreds of euros to hotels simply to carry on with the holiday they’ve already paid for. Stories are surfacing of customers being ejected from hotels because they simply can’t afford the extra money being demanded.

I can see both sides here, many of these hotels lost thousands of euros recently when Monarch went into administration.

Hats off to the Turkish government though, they’ve rushed through a decree providing a credit support package for hoteliers who are owed money by TC. Minister for tourism has publicly stated that any hotel asking for money from guests will face legal action from his department.

Not a good time for the holiday industry in Europe.

JF

Yes, you are right. I’ve been reading of last minute flights from Manchester to Kos selling for more than £1k each.

And several Hedge Funds have made millions from shorting TC stock.

Bastards, bastards, bastards.

And then TC CEO’s x 3, trousering millions in pay, bonuses and expenses.

Well done Turkey.

Any type of collapse always has ripple effects. The climate crisis is going to have huge effect on tourism. Numerous things already seen: more frequent storms and flooding, grounding flights due to heat (Phoenix last year) and rain/floods, need for AC where it wasn’t needed before, disruptions to water and electric supply. Most of us probably figure it won’t be really bad until our Airbnbing days are done but some of us are already affected in minor ways. (BTW, I’m not saying the TC collapse is climate related. I merely saw the news and the commentary first on a climate group page)

One of the basic tenets of “environmentalism” of course has always been “leave only footprints.” Yet I’m always dismayed at the trash nature lovers leave behind. Back in my hiking and trekking days I’d always find trash far off the trail and far from the car park. I always took out more than I took in! With true climate activists, why is there any trash at all? They should be carrying their own water, eating food brought from home in reusable containers, and recycling their signs. When even the most “woke” people have actions that fall far short (and I’m pointing the finger at me too) then it doesn’t inspire much optimism.

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I am trying to feel optimistic but not so sure about future as I did last year. In a mean time I am almost done with mortgage …I guess can thank Airbnb for that.
I am curious about this coming high season . So far it was great …so far high season rents make up for slow summers .
Travel industry doesn’t have much effect on me even now . I don’t host travelers. Mostly locals or workers .

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Well, finally SOMETHING HAPPENED here in the land of Uncle Sam:)

Yes, you are correct. However, what the collapse of TC has shown is that the “ripples” are starting to show in some unexpected places.

Condor Airlines, based in Germany, are 49% owned by TC and have had to apply to the German government for assistance to the tune of €200. This is one that directly affects us, fourteen flights a week from Germany into our little airport.

Several other European travel companies are now in a difficult position due to tie ins with Thomas Cook Airlines.

It now transpires that both the Spanish and Turkish governments made approaches to help, a smart move given the effect this will have on many facets of their touristic sector. Unfortunately the UK government held firm.

JF

Yes, we never know where those ripples will be. That’s why some people are so terrified of climate collapse. It’s going to be unprecedented and everything is going to be unexpected for most folks.

So it appears here the Brexit related mess is the starter, TC failure is an effect and the ripple is on the shores of tourism related business. But Brexit having an effect on tourism isn’t the unexpected part, it’s the where its impacting tourism. Is that what you’re saying?

No, while it was a factor, it would appear that this mess is mainly down to bad business decisions by TC senior management.

JF

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If I were a 30’s something coastal area investor I would plan on making my money and then selling within 10 years. If I were thinking of retiring to the coast and doing Airbnb, I’d need a pretty short timeline. In fact, I don’t think I’d do it at all. Because as we saw in 2008, collapsing real estate prices can happen quickly.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/25/climate/climate-change-oceans-united-nations.html?