People of different cultures
Thomas Cook have to make sure they accommodate for people of all cultures e.g. some religions don’t eat beef, so for their in-flight meals they will have to make sure the food contains no beef at all. Also they have to make sure that they do not use any offensive or inappropriate language, attitude and moral behaviour. It is also the responsibility of Thomas cook to tell customers about the culture of the country that the customer is travelling to e.g. when my auntie went to Egypt she was told to cover her body, as in some parts of Egypt she may be harassed.
Non-English speakers
At Thomas Cook they will have to deal with customers from all countries and speak all different languages. So at Thomas Cook if a foreign customer goes into the shop there will be employees that may have some knowledge of that specific language. E.g. in Leamington the sales assistants can speak a variety of languages between them, although it’s not essential for the job. This is good for the customer as they can book their holiday with little or no trouble. Thomas cook will always make sure that they have a holiday rep at the holiday destination that the customer is going to; this helps customers especially if they can’t speak the local language.
People with specific needs
Thomas Cook have had to change their ways of dealing with people with special needs due to the discrimination act, so now they have a dedicated team of travel consultants trained to deal with problems and enquiries from disabled customers. Thomas cook at Leamington spa have portable or fixed hearing loops which enables customers that are hard of hearing to use the foreign currency service. They also have a fixed ramp at the entrance of the shop which makes it easy for wheelchair access. Also the sales rep in each branch will ask the customer if they require any special facilities in and around the airport and it is their responsibility to check that the hotel has wheelchair access. Thomas cook also provide holidays that are suitable for customers using a wheelchair e.g. they have villas in Florida where all facilities are low enough for the customers to use.
Business men and women
Thomas cook have to deal with a lot of business customers in a year. Most business customers travel as individuals and most of them will require accommodation with services such as telephone/modem link, wake up calls and newspapers. They probably won’t stay for very long as well, maybe a few days at most. Thomas cook will look at last minute deals on flights and cheap accommodation.
Internal customers
Internal customers are those who belong to Thomas cook, or suppliers of products and services like brochures and computers/accessories. Thomas cook meet the needs of the internal customers by putting the newly employed internal customers through training for 4 days at Peterborough where it builds up their selling skills so they are ready to go straight into the selling process. Training is very important to Thomas cook as they believe it gives them a competitive edge. At Thomas cook they have team briefings everyday for 5 minutes before the shop is scheduled to open, where the manager updates all employees with new offers etc. they also have a 1 hour briefing at nine o’clock on every Thursday morning. This is done to increase the morale of the employees and it gives them an objective to fulfil until the next meeting. Also each employee has a pigeon hole so that any information they need to know can be delivered to them sufficiently.
At Thomas cook there is a uniform structure they must follow, it consists of blue shoes for men and women, flesh coloured tights for women and blue trousers for the men, and a blue blazer with white shirt/blouse for men and women, this is provided free as it makes the staff feel part of a team. For the sales assistances Thomas Cook rewards them with a free holiday and a 4% pay rise if they get an A grade for customer service. At Thomas cook they offer staff up to 75% off a holiday depending on how long the person has worked at Thomas Cook, this shows how much Thomas cook value the employees work. Employees at Thomas Cook are entitled to 5 weeks paid holiday, this is very good as most companies only give 4 weeks.
At Thomas Cook they have to ensure that they have enough people working at one time. They do this by having a rota. The rota makes sure that there are enough people to do all jobs that need to be done in that day. This means everyone has the same pressure.
To show that Thomas Cook value their employees they organise days out away from the working environment and also after a period of hard work it is a good reward. Also at Christmas when they are very busy; it is a good reward for the employees to go for a weekend away (Christmas party) with their work.
