Cadogan Holidays to close

Posted 01/11/2011

Cadogan Holidays has stopped taking bookings after a decision was made by the parent company to ditch the brand.

Managing director Neil Chapman said it had been an incredibly tough decision to make, but he added that the independent tour operator market has changed massively over the last decade.

“Ten years ago it was always a package and now you need to have something extra," he said.

"We tried with flights and hotels in Gibraltar and Morocco but the bottom line is, it didn’t work.”

The upmarket operator, which has been in operation for 64 years, will be working with its partners and suppliers to ensure all existing bookings continue as planned, but no further holidays will be sold.

Cadogan is sending a letter out to all agents stressing that the company is not going into liquidation and that all forward bookings will be honoured.

Chapman said: “I need to stress that Cadogan Holidays has not failed nor have we gone bust but instead we have taken what we feel is a responsible and purely voluntary decision to stop taking bookings.

"This is thank you and farewell.”

He added that he would be happy to introduce agents with their own ATOL licences to contractors so they can work directly with them.

Cadogan Holidays is part of the Bland Group’s Gatwick-based travel division Airbourne Representation Limited, alongside flight-only tour operator Teleticket and representation company Skybreak.

The group will continue to hold its ATOL for 25,000 passengers for its other trading divisions.

Cadogan relaunched as a Morocco and Gibraltar specialist in April after closing its Southampton offices.

By Diane Evans

Originally published 1 Nov 2011 at: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/398/f/5923/s/19b9ac79/l/0L0Stravelmole0N0Cstories0C1150A0A220Bphp0Dmpnlog0F1/story01.htm