300,000 more beds Tui Suisse snatches up hotel vacancies after FTI bankruptcy

Following the bankruptcy of tour operator FTI, Tui Suisse has taken over around 300,000 free hotel capacities. This strengthens Tui's business.

The travel provider Tui Suisse is interested in the competitor's capacities in the wake of FTI's insolvency. "We were on the move very quickly at various destinations and offered support there at short notice and looked at how we could work together," explained Tui Suisse CEO Philipp von Czapiewski at a media event on Wednesday.

The specialists from Tui Suisse quickly got in touch with the hoteliers there, particularly in Spain, Turkey, Egypt, Greece and the United Arab Emirates, in order to take over hotel capacities from FTI. "We have added 300,000 hotel places at these destinations," says von Czapiewski. Some of these had previously been offered by FTI, but not all of them.

Although local negotiations were somewhat faster than usual in the wake of the FTI insolvency, they were no different to the usual procedure in the travel agency industry. "Every year, you secure certain capacities and quotas and therefore negotiate with the local players," he said.

"But especially in the wake of the FTI insolvency, it is of course also a matter of us taking on contingents that we can continue to manage in the long term," said von Czapiewski. Tui Suisse always asks itself what it needs in the long term, how it can grow and develop locally.

He also did not rule out takeovers of FTI hotels. But first you have to get an overview of what is happening with the hotels and who owns them. This is because hotels are often not owned by the travel providers themselves, but they are simply contractually entrusted with the operation of the hotels.

Von Czapiewski emphasized, however, that it was not only about helping out the FTI partners, but also the otherwise stranded customers. Over the last few weeks in particular, we have been working hard to support our partners and find attractive rebooking alternatives. That was our focus," he said.

While Tui is thus snapping up certain capacities from FTI, the Migros Group's travel provider Hotelplan, which is up for sale, appears to be of little interest. "In principle, we are not commenting on this," said von Czapiewski. However, he added: "Our focus is on growth and further development. We have a very clear strategy and can continue to develop under our own steam."