Thomson starts refunds scheme

Thomson Holidays is offering to fly home and refund holidaymakers if they consider that their resort does not live up to the brochure’s description.

The deal is offered under the Thomson Money Back Guarantee if the problem cannot be resolved with their holiday rep. The guarantee is launching this week.

The initiative will be backed by a 3m advertising campaign through agency BMP DDB. Thomson is spending a third of this sum on an Adshel campaign carrying the “We’ll Fly You Back” theme. It will be followed with a burst of TV ads promoting the deal this autumn.

The move follows last year’s launch of Thomson’s “tells it like it is” approach to holiday brochures, which was backed by a TV advertising campaign that aimed to include customer feedback on the bad, as well as good, points of particular resorts.

Thomson has also confirmed the appointment of Nick Lighton as general manager of its cruise division, a small but growing part of Thomson’s holiday business.

Lighton, formerly director of marketing at Top Rank, joins Thomson on August 29. He reports to Steve Garley, commercial director of Thomson’s specialist holiday divisions.