Olympic Holidays 2019

The Island Specialist

January 2019/…It's been an award-winning 12 months for Olympic Holidays as CEO Clare Tobin has rung a series of positive changes across the business.

Two wins at the British Travel Awards, as voted by the British holidaymakers (Large Hellenic Operator and Large Weddings & Honeymoon Operator), were satisfying accolades although Tobin's 'Leader of Change Award' in the iX everywoman Travel Awards encapsulates how the business is moving forward with intelligent fine tuning.

2019 will see further focus from high volume, low-end charter holidays to concentrate on margin and increasing yield while ensuring exemplary, personalised service and delivery. The true roots and DNA of the company will be further consolidated by becoming 'The Island Specialist' and by 2022 'The Global Island Specialist'.

Tobin says: “Here at Olympic, we have more than 55 islands within our portfolio and the majority are in Greece. We are market leaders in this field with more than 50 years' experience and we aim to be the first port of call when people think about booking an island holiday.”

She added: “Our expertise allows us to offer a range of rich and authentic experiences to clients. We hold a treasure trove of local knowledge and we can share these often hidden gems that make for a truly memorable holiday.

“We have undertaken extensive research through customer focus groups and we have listened to what customers want and, in turn, we are thrilled to launch a wealth of new product in 2019.

“We will become the Google of island knowledge and by focusing on our content and digital strategies we're going to be able to react instantly in an ever-changing, digitally focused market and offer customers a comprehensive, easy-to-navigate website bursting with information and bespoke packages.”

10 NEW Island-Hopping Itineraries 

Another exciting innovation, which highlights Olympic Holidays' expertise, is the introduction of 10 new island-hopping itineraries.

These are now available, and can be tailor-made with accommodation across a range of price points and include hotel transfers and ferries.

Inter-island flights are also an option with our airline partners, including Aegean & Sky Express.

The multi-stay holidays are already proving to be extremely popular and Olympic Holidays has created an interactive online, bespoke island-hopping user experience where customers can choose accommodation, tailor their itinerary, have access to a myriad of content and speak to one of the sales team specialists to firm up their ideas.

The luxury Gold Collection has been refined and recent figures indicate a 150% increase in customers loving the choice of top-class resorts. New Gold Collection properties in 2019 include Ikos Aria, Kos, Olea All Suite Hotel, Zante, Amavi Hotel, Paphos and Parklane, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Limassol.

We have also expanded our product offering for adult-only/couples and family holidays. For a number of years, Olympic Holidays had been under-represented in the family market but that will change in 2019 with a greater choice of properties for family fun, experiential family travel and all-Inclusive options.

Weddings & Honeymoons is another area where Olympic Holidays takes great pride, offering couples (including the LGBT market) a comprehensive booking service in the UK, coupled with experienced wedding coordinators in resort. Olympic Weddings are now on sale for 2020 – think blissful beaches to dreamy venues (including yachts), affordable to luxury but all with a real focus on local traditions.

Tobin says: “The Olympic customer demographic has changed in recent years and as such, we have reviewed the entire product portfolio for 2019 and given it a huge overhaul based on customer feedback and demand.”

“Some 40% of properties within our portfolio are exclusive to us and we'vemade a concerted effort to keep the real personalities of the Olympic family”.

The new portfolio offers the perfect mix of local, family run properties, oozing with charm (an essential part of the portfolio, enhancing the specialist knowledge message) all the way through to brand new five-star properties.

Olympic Holidays' families now tend to travel for around 11 days rather than a full two weeks and couples are extending their holidays from 5/6 days up to 8-day stays. We have also seen an increase in passengers taking short breaks (around 5 days) in the winter months and we have made enhancements to our winter programme in Cyprus, Canary Islands, Malta, Goa and Gambia.

Customer flexibility will be at the forefront of flight bookings in 2019 with regional departure airports across the UK increasing to 27 (fantastic for their loyal band of agents across the country), charter combined with flexible days, low-cost options and, NEW for 2019, scheduled flights.

Behind the scenes

A year ago, Olympic Holidays' head offices were in the UK and Cyprus but the team now works as one in a matrix structure based in London, N12.

Tobin has overseen a strengthening of the purchasing and commercial teams within the company alongside the appointment of new PR agency, PeelWilliams and digital agency, Accord in 2018. Other notable new members include award-winning journalist Lesley Bellew who is supporting Olympic Holidays with content, while Jason Saracoglu is E-Commerce Manager.

The London call centre has expanded with customer service enhancement in mind, allowing the team more time to engage with and offer thoughts and ideas. On the technology side, Tobin and the team are reviewing and implementing a new revenue management system for summer 2019.

The company will roll out an enhanced digital strategy in 2019 with customer user experience being the main drive. Three major enhancements include an overhaul of the website which will result in a more in-depth, content-driven platform and the use of AI in the form of 'AMI' (which is on trial).

New app

Olympic Holidays' NEW overseas app was trialled in Zante in 2018 with great success and will be available to download from April 2019 for all customers travelling to Greece and Cyprus.

The new, content-rich app uses a pioneering platform that uniquely connects Olympic customers with a digital concierge in the palm of their hand – any island, any time.

Users will be able to message their 'virtual rep' who will be on call 24/7 during their holiday –  whether it be from the comfort of their sun-lounger, ferry terminal, airport or restaurant or when they're out and about – perfect for restaurant recommendations, island experiences such as walking routes and excursion ideas. It will also be a vital tool for any emergencies and incidents. A group chat function will be available to allow customers to give feedback, insights and have an opportunity to share their experiences.

Strong relationship with agents

Olympic Holidays maintains a strong relationship with core suppliers and agents and during WTM 2018 held an event to meet with their overseas' hoteliers which was extremely well-attended. Bookings are 50% retail, 50% direct and as such, agents will play an incredibly important part of Olympic's strategy for 2019.

Working with agents allows Olympic to offer personalised local service with flexibility and choice. The Love to Shop voucher incentive will be even more attractive for agents in 2019 with Olympic offering £20 for Island-Hopping bookings, £10 for Gold Collection and £5 for all other bookings.

Some 70% of agents book online with Olympic which means the platform needs to be fast and easy to navigate so NEW for 2019, the website has been customised to offer a greater agent focus, deals calendar (as requested) and a dedicated news area.

Familiarisation trips

2018 fam trips included visits to Crete and the Sporades and taking agents to experience some of Olympic's NEW Gold Collection product and Island-Hopping experiences. This will be vital in 2019 and we are going to be run a competition for agents to win a Gold Collection Greek Island-Hopping Experience – watch this space.

Tobin concluded: “Our dedicated sales team will be out on the road throughout the year offering educationals and listening to agents needs and requirements - it is their feedback that really helps to enhance and develop our product.

“We hope that another added benefit of our enhanced call centre in London will mean the team will have time to take educational island-hopping experiences with retail agents. We want to offer new and exciting experiences for loyal customers, we want to convert cruise clients to start island-hopping and to start build a new customer base, one that we can really 'wow' with our product.”

-Ends-

Notes to Editors:

For media enquiries or images: Peel+Williams

Kathryn Peel kathryn@peelwilliams.com; 07904 734 594

Jonathan Williams jonathan@peelwilliams.com; 07979 770 209

Olympic Holidays is the UK's leading Greece & Cyprus Holiday Company, delivering holidays to both destinations since 1967. The company has over 50 years of Island Travel expertise.

Olympic Holidays offers holidays to more European Island destinations than any other holiday company: 50 destinations & islands from 27 UK airports.

Olympic Holidays offers the best low deposit option in travel: From £59 to secure a booking. Nothing to pay until 12 weeks prior to travel.  Price guaranteed at time of booking, no surcharges, no price changes, whatever the market fluctuations. 

The “Budget Buddy” tool on the Olympic Holidays website allows customers to pay as much or as little towards their