The group will change its identity to Flight Centre Travel Group in the course of the next year. The branding on its stores and its familiar, multimedia advertising campaigns will remain as Flight Centre. The new marketing strategy will however build upon what the company says is its success to date with even more cost-effective solutions to the retail and business markets. This, it says, will be achieved through its nationwide chain of stores, the growing usage of digital platforms online, and a mission to provide its customers with the best deals available.
Andrew Stark, GM of FC Retail, describes the new approach as a process of transition from an outmoded image as a global travel agent to a specialised, world-class "travel retailer".
"Being a world-class retailer means we are the brand that people identify with and go to. It is very different from being an agent, a middleman, or a dealer for someone else's products."
The group has launched a range of products in line with the change, including Captain's Red Label Fares, a new fare package with 'Price Drop Protection'. This means that if a customer finds an advertised available airfare for less than the Red Label Fare they purchased, Flight Centre will refund them the difference by issuing a gift card.
These airfares are exclusive to the company and offer added value items such as free stopover accommodation in the hub city, lounge vouchers and more. On the land side the myTime VIP hotel programme for Flight Centre customers allows travellers to enjoy VIP treatment at no extra cost when they stay at select resorts and hotels from around the world. Both of those products were launched in August in the South African market.
Globally the group's stable has a total of 20 distinct brands tailored to advantage today's leisure and business traveller. In South Africa its brands include Flight Centre, Cruiseabout, Student Flights, Infinity Holidays, Corporate Traveller, FCm Travel Solutions, and Flight Centre Business Travel.
Says Stark: "We believe it is important to keep up with market trends. This is why we are working on redefining the traditional Flight Centre shop and how customers interact with us. This includes launching several hyper stores or Shops of the Future. These stores will house multiple brands, for example Flight Centre, Cruiseabout and Flight Centre Business Travel, providing various specialist services under one roof. These new stores also feature interactive plasma screens, iPads and more.
"We are also providing our customers with a blended travel solution to ensure that we are always available as and when they need us be it online, offline, shop, email, chat, phone or SMS."
Flight Centre has scored Deloitte's Best Company To Work For Award 2013 in the Medium Sized category, as well as winning its Best Employer in the Tourism and Leisure sector for the tenth consecutive time.
The survey ratings are measured on the input of the employees of 113 leading companies. Deloitte's comprehensive analysis across the business sectors in Southern African is regarded as a valuable performance indicator of the leading companies that enter the rigorous annual competition.
Flight Centre won the Best Company To Work For Award previously in 2010.
The Best Company to Work For Survey has been conducted annually by Deloitte since 2000 during which time it has emerged as the pre-eminent survey of its kind. It aims to identify and celebrate the best companies to work for across the Southern African region as rated by their most important stakeholder group - their employees.
