The first Thomas Cook own-brand hotel in the Maldives, smartline Eriyadu, and the first in Italy, Sentido Acacia Marina in Sicily, will open during the period.
The brand will open a third Ocean Beach Club by Sunwing in Cyprus and two further Casa Cooks, in Kos [as TTG reported earlier this month] and Mallorca.
Thomas Cook is making more rooms available in its existing own-brand hotels, especially Sunwing Family Resorts and adult-only Sunprime Hotels, available to sell in more of its markets across Europe.
The development of a strong portfolio of own-brand hotels is a key pillar of the group’s strategy for long-term profitable growth, the business said.
Stays at the properties include a 24-Hour Hotel Satisfaction Promise and access to a 24/7 connected service.
Cook claimed customer satisfaction is “significantly higher” in these hotels – “better than others in the portfolio”.
“This reflects the greater level of influence that Thomas Cook has over the customer experience at these hotels and resorts,” said the firm.
Alongside the new Casa Cooks, Ocean Beach Club and properties in Sicily and the Maldives, there will be an additional nine new own-brand properties opened over the next two years.
In Cape Verde, on the island of Sal, there will be the first Sunwing and Sunprime Resort ready for the winter season 2017/18.
There will be new Sentidos in Bulgaria, Turkey and Croatia where a new smartline will also be opened and there will be additional SunConnect properties in Spain and Cyprus.
Sentido Golden Star in Bulgaria has been renamed Sentido Marea and will undergo a complete refurbishment with new management. The own-brand portfolio for summer 2017 will total around 190 hotels.
Peter Fankhauser, group chief executive, Thomas Cook, said: “Offering people the absolute best holiday experience and turning them into loyal customers is key to our strategy for profitable growth.
“We are investing heavily in delivering best-in-class service and our own-brand hotels give us the opportunity to take even more control of the customer experience.
“The benefits are clear in the satisfaction scores that they achieve and the recent success of Casa Cook also shows the positive impact we have with customers when we try new things.”
As well as adding new hotels, there will be greater sharing of capacity in the existing portfolio across all Thomas Cook markets from summer 2017.
The initial hotels to be sold more widely across the group from summer 2017 will include the Ocean Beach Club in Gran Canaria, Sunwing Family Resorts in Gran Canaria and Mallorca as well as Sunprime Hotels in Turkey and Majorca.
Not all of the properties will be available to the UK market. Cook will announce more details this week.
