Travel giant Thomas Cook fails to find private funds to avert collapse: source

I never understood what was the added value of such company. They just take 20 to 30% of a package of hotel nights and plane tickets...that you can buy yourself since internet has developed.

 never understood what was the added value of such company. They just take 20 to 30% of a package of hotel nights and plane tickets...that you can buy yourself since internet has developed.

Which is why any government bailout would be the theft as far as taxpayers are concerned.

A lot of old companies are like this. The writing is on the wall for years, but they are just completely unable to pivot and readapt.

It would appear to be Cheaper for the UK Government to Nationalize it than repatriate existing customers.

They just take 20 to 30% of a package of hotel nights and plane tickets...that you can buy yourself since internet has developed.

Even before internet, they never were interesting for just plane tickets for 2 persons or the hotel night for your routine business trip. But the travel industry makes all the profits with groups.. Currently, they'd have 800 000 customers stranded. So they can negociate bulk prices. Even the bargain packages you get on internet, it's theirs, rebranded. When there is a business fair somewhere, already 3 months in advance, you can try to search on internet, even call all the hotels one by one so you work with them. Take the rugby event, some operators had reserved hundreds of seats in planes, hotel nights maybe 3 yrs in advance, as soon as that was scheduled. That's the only way you can later reserve the trip for 30 groups of 20 supporters traveling together. On TV, they talked about 8 resorts in Tunisia and that's typical trips for working class Brits, they go with family, group of elderly, company and that's cheaper than individual booking.

Which is why any government bailout would be the theft as far as taxpayers are concerned.

They have 150 000 tax payers stranded overseas... Then the current government has played a role in it. They'd better advance a few millions ASAP because if they wait, that will become Lehmanbrotheresque.