Tez tour problems with departure 22.07. TEZ TOUR - “Why I love Tez Tour despite the high prices or the review of a dedicated travel agent.” Tour operator "Tez Tour": description of the company
Tez Tour promises to solve the problem with continuous delays of its flights tomorrow
Tourists who had been waiting for their flight for more than two days returned from Turkey to Moscow, but there were delays in the airline's charter flights iFly is still ongoing
An iFly plane took off yesterday to pick up Tez Tour tourists who had been waiting for about two days for a flight to Moscow from Bodrum. The airline will be fully scheduled on July 25, ATOR reports with reference to the Tez Tour company.
According to the association, yesterday tourists from the tour operator Tez Tour contacted the ATOR directorate; they had been waiting for three days to fly home on flight I4 9136 by iFly from Turkish Bodrum to Moscow (Vnukovo). According to them, during this time their flight was repeatedly postponed.
According to ATOR, the tour operator extended the tourists’ stay at the hotel because it could not guarantee the arrival of a charter from Moscow for them. Since the departure time was constantly being postponed, tourists had to vacate their rooms at 12.00, and then, when it became clear that there would be no flight, move in again.
Flight I4 9135, which was supposed to return tourists from Bodrum on Saturday, July 22 (its departure from Moscow was scheduled for 22.00), took off from Vnukovo to Bodrum at 14.50 on July 23 to take them to Moscow. According to information on the iFly airline board, flight I4 9136 arrived in Moscow at 22.27.
Delays of iFly flights over the past weekend became widespread - for example, on Saturday, July 22, according to travel agencies and according to information on the Vnukovo airport display, flights I4 9117 and I4 9101 to Antalya from Moscow to Antalya were canceled.
On Sunday, July 23, according to the Vnukovo airport board, iFly flight I4 9117 D to Antalya (estimated departure time 08.20) was delayed until 00.05 tomorrow, the departure time of flight I4 9101 to Antalya was postponed until 10.10 Monday, July 24, and the departure of flight I4 9449 ( to Heraklion), which was supposed to depart at 15.55, was postponed to 18.50 (departed at 19.09).
The reason for the delay on the online scoreboard in all cases is the late arrival of the aircraft.
On Monday, July 24, as of 7.30, there is information that iFly flight I4 9131, which was supposed to depart at 04.30 to Dalaman, was delayed until 00.00 on July 25. Flights from Antalya to Moscow are also delayed.
“According to updated information from the airline, the current schedule disruption is caused by a technical malfunction of one of the aircraft and the late return of another aircraft from scheduled maintenance. We are guided by information from iFly airline, which promises to be fully on schedule by Tuesday, July 25.”- said Larisa Akhanova, PR director of the tour operator Tez Tour.
“This is the second serious flight delay for Tez Tour. First it was VIM-Avia, now there are delays with the affiliated carrier of the tour operator. I think that the company’s management needs to be more careful when choosing a carrier, and we really hope that there won’t be a third time. The tour operator must do everything possible to avoid further delays.
I think that the tour operator revised its flight program to the Dominican Republic and postponed it to September 28 just in order to streamline the schedule and ensure the uninterrupted operation of scheduled flights, including to Turkey,”- Aleksan Mkrtchyan, a member of the presidium of the Alliance of Travel Agencies (ATA) and general director of the Pink Elephant travel network, noted in a conversation with us.
Hi all!
I have long wanted to write a BIG and DETAILED review about my work at the authorized agency TEZ Tour. In addition, as a tourist, I made 6 trips to different countries with Tezik: Turkey (2 times), Egypt (2 times), Spain, Thailand. But I’ll tell you about travel later, but now I’ll focus on at work TEZ TOUR, on their pros and cons.
Recall plan:
- Why Tez are the best partners or a reminder for a beginning travel agent.
- Which countries are worth flying to with TEZ TOUR.
- Which countries can you fly to with other operators?
- Navigation on the site tez-tour.com
1. I worked under TEZ for a year and I can say that this is the best partner - tough but fair. ,Tez strictly controls its personnel: once a year, each TEZ agent undergoes certification. The certification consists of theoretical and practical tasks (4 problems), which are given for a time. I must say that I haven’t strained my brain this much since college) Thank the travel gods, I passed the certification successfully)
In addition, TEZ is the only tour operator that trains employees directly at the place of work. Those. no need to travel to training centers and waste time on the road. My boss personally worked with me on every hotel and every country. Thanks to her, I, a young girl, developed a knowledge base that greatly helped in my future work.
TEZ employees go to " fam trips" - business trips with mandatory hotel inspection. Such trips cost money (200 - 600, but for TEZ employees, business trips are, naturally, at the expense of the employer. The trips are quite complex and intense: you need to see 10-18 hotels a day. You get tired both morally and physically. I managed to visit 2 -x such business trips: Egypt and Turkey. Egypt was worse, but the trip to Turkey impressed me - it was clear how hoteliers respect TEZ TOUR as their partner. We were greeted very well!
For travel agents who want to study without leaving the office or even at home, they do webinars with a detailed review of hotels, their advantages and disadvantages.
For the best agents and directors of authorized agencies there is honor board - TEZ Star. Agents with the best personal sales who have successfully passed the certification go there. The TEZ website publishes a photo of the lucky winner, the name of his agency and brief information about him.
TEZ also rewards its agents financially - by accumulation of bonuses for each sale. Bonuses are awarded only for departing clients; they amount to 20-100% of the amount (depending on the volume of your sales). You can use bonuses to pay for your clients’ trips or your own trips. For example, I paid for my trip to Thailand with bonuses, receiving a discount of 15,000 rubles!!!
2. What countries can you travel to with TEZ TOUR?
3. Which countries are better to book with other operators?
- Spain - Not all directions are represented . For example, there is no Valencia region. But Nataly tour has absolutely everything related to Spain, even apartments.
- Cyprus- a relatively new direction for TEZ; Biblio Globus always works better for Cyprus.
- Austria- also a relatively new direction, but ski holidays are a specific matter. No one does it better than the operator PAC Group.
- UAE- again, a new direction, it’s better to take from Natalie (good prices) or even from Pegasus.
- Italy- tours are too expensive. It is better to take from PAC Group or Intourist.
4. TEZ Tour website filled with all sorts of information, it can be inconvenient for a tourist . Open immediately Agent page- there is more information there, and selection of tour comfortable.
Agent page can be found in the upper right corner under Agencies.
On the Agent page on the right are presented all directions TEZ TOUR With Selection of tour, Hotel catalogue, information on flights, stop list and much more.
Convenient: select the country, resort, number of nights of stay, departure date (or date range), hotel level or select a specific hotel from the list with a slider, number of tourists, tour currency (for convenience, always select rubles!).
IN Catalog All information about the country, about resorts, about visas, about transfers, about insurance is written down. Information on visas, transfers and insurance is duplicated on the Agent page under the country name. In chapter Catalog look at the tab (on the right) - there is a detailed description of the hotel with photos and a food and entertainment program for the whole year (in Word format, you can download it to your computer).
This section is very important Visas(duplicated for each country + available in the section Catalog) - here you will find a list of required documents, samples of filling out forms, and the procedure for submitting biometric data to the Visa Center.
Day and Non-Standards - mostly only professionals watch it. Here you can find daily rates for all hotels, a list of pet-friendly hotels, and resort fees. If you need non-standard tour(for example, first grandparents and their grandson go for a week, then grandpa flies away, mom and dad fly in and stay for another week), then a day will help calculate such accommodation.
Phew, I think I told you all the most important things)
Verdict: a good operator, perhaps not with the cheapest tours, but with a high level of quality service.
Is Tez Tour closing? Rumors about the bankruptcy of the tour operator seriously worried Russians who used the services of this company year after year. The largest travel company Tez Tur can become bankrupt only under a number of circumstances. So far, the situation in the company is not so critical, although Russian tourists should remain on their guard.
Rumors that the largest Russian tour operator Tez Tour is closing arose against the backdrop of the widespread bankruptcy of well-known Russian travel agencies: Ascent Travel, Ideal World, Lanta Tour, ITC, Capital Tour and others. Considering that Tez Tur serves the overwhelming number of Russian tourists, if it is declared bankrupt, the country will plunge into a deep tourism crisis. At the same time, rumors about the bankruptcy of Tez Tour remain unfounded, although the company has certain problems.
In particular , after the tourist flow to Turkey and Egypt dried up, the company lost a fairly large amount of income.
Disabling winter armor
Most recently, Tez Tour had major disagreements with Aeroflot, which demanded guarantees from the tour operator to ensure the volume of air transportation. Considering that the tour operator could not provide such guarantees, Tez Tour suspended activities in a number of areas in the long term. However, given that the tour operator cooperates with a dozen other airlines, there is no reason to worry.
The essence of the disagreement with Aeroflot comes down to the fact that starting in October, Tez Tour began to refuse charter flights, transferring passengers to regular ones. This in turn may indicate that the company does not have sufficient funds to carry out charters. It is also obvious that when using regular flights, tourists will experience inconvenience, since it will not be possible to create an optimal travel schedule based on the timing. Therefore, of course, Tez Tour will not get to the point where it can close, but the fact that the company has begun to rapidly reduce its costs is an indisputable fact. So far, however, the restrictions have affected only winter trips. And even then, in a number of popular destinations, the travel company continues to operate as before.
In what cases can Tez Tour go bankrupt?
Tez Tour may go bankrupt due to several factors. The first is a sharp drop in tourist flow as a result. The second is the introduction of diplomatic sanctions against Russia. This tour operator itself states that 70% of its clients are Russians. In fact, most likely, the percentage of Russian tourists is much larger. And if the bankruptcy of the above companies played into Tez Tour’s hands, since the tour operator became almost a monopolist on the Russian market, then global changes could hit the company’s economy hard. If it happens that Tez Tour is closed, the Russians will not feel any problems from this, since they will face more radical and tough difficulties.
But in general, we must admit that in order for Tez Tour to suspend its activities, too global economic and political changes must take place. The great advantage of this company is that its assets are based on real funds. For example, Tez Tour owns a huge number of buses, offices, and the company’s work is carried out directly. And the income Tez Tour received last season more than covers all costs. So for now, bankruptcy of this tour operator is out of the question.
We continue to comment on the situation with the largest Russian air carrier Aeroflot, which has disconnected the travel company Tez Tour from its ticket booking system. According to the operator, this is blackmail. The same point of view is shared by the Russian Union of Tourism Industry. The Business News Agency studied the conflict and its possible consequences for the entire market.
The conflict became known on Wednesday; on the same day the company lost access to the reservation system. According to some airline sources, the reason was debt Tez Tour in the amount of 30 million rubles. ABN was unable to promptly obtain confirmation of this information from Aeroflot.
At the same time, as Tez Tour CEO Vladimir Kaganer said, the tour operator did not receive official notifications about the shutdown. “We don’t have a single penny of debt to Aeroflot, so everything that was written about shutdowns due to debts is idle speculation. And if we don’t agree, we can go to court,” Kaganer said, adding that negotiations with the air carrier are ongoing, and “it’s still difficult to say how they will end.”
“The company is clearly being pressured and blackmailed”
Note that this is not the first tour operator that Aeroflot has disconnected from the reservation system. Previously, the operators Ideal Tour, Capital Tour and Eviterra lost this opportunity. Subsequently, all companies stopped their work.
“Aeroflot flights in the company’s total volume ( Tez Tour - ABN) are no more than 10%. If they don’t agree, then the tour operator will simply “transfer” its tourists to other airlines,” Irina Tyurina, press secretary of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RST), commented on the situation to ABN.
Kaganer did not rule out this option either: if agreements cannot be reached, the company’s assortment will not include tour packages with transportation from Aeroflot. “We fly with Aeroflot on winter programs mainly to Thailand, Bangkok, Phuket. We have a lot of other carriers on these routes: Transaero, S7, Thai Airlines and other companies,” added the CEO of Tez Tour. As a result, consumers should not suffer, he assures. All those who have already purchased travel with Aeroflot tickets will be able to use them and safely fly away on vacation. Starting from November 12, Tez Tour offers trips to these destinations with other carriers.
At the same time, Tyurina found it difficult to assess the scale of the problem for the company. It depends on how the market and consumers react, she believes. “In principle, the tourism market is on the side of Tez Tour. Agencies even encourage you to continue booking there. Everyone understands that Aeroflot leaked this information on purpose. […] They did not agree at some stage, and Aeroflot releases information that Tez Tour is in debt. They are clearly putting complete pressure on the company, blackmailing it so that it leaves the volume of transportation that it originally ordered,” Tyurina said. Kaganer previously stated the same thing. According to him, Aeroflot is forcing tickets to be bought back, since demand has fallen in a number of directions.
“When the grass grew green, the sheep felt good”
Abandoning the reservation system does not pose any problem, says Vladimir Kantorovich, first vice-president of the Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR). “This particular situation does not threaten anyone, because we did not agree - well, Tez Tour will fly with some other airline. […] Let us still understand that Aeroflot is a premium company, probably of the highest level in our country,” Kantorovich noted, adding that the tour operator will negotiate with other airlines on more favorable terms.
According to the head of the Travel Expert consulting group, Georgy Mokhov, in a less tense economic situation, consumers might not have known about the dispute between Tez Tour and Aeroflot at all. Nowadays, tourism conflicts are closely monitored in society, due to this a negative background is formed, which spoils the reputation of both the company involved in the conflict and the entire market, the expert believes.
“When the grass grew green, the sheep felt good. And when they ate all the grass, they began to quarrel with each other: where is whose place in the pasture? When the economic situation is difficult, all business conflicts related to lowering costs become accentuated,” explained Mokhov. Tyurina also agrees with this: Aeroflot itself is forced to cancel flights due to underload, “but its partners cannot.” The market is tense, and any negative information about a tour operator causes “it’s clear what kind of reaction,” Tyurina points out. At the same time, the PCT hopes that the story will end without unpleasant consequences.
The conflict itself is related to the constant, according to Mokhov, problem of the tourism market in relations between charter customers and carriers. “Tour operators do not want and cannot strictly guarantee occupancy volume. And air carriers want the tour operator to pay in any case: whether the plane is full or not,” the expert said. In his opinion, the air carrier refused to meet the tour operator halfway, since it is also in difficult conditions.
“Everything bad that could happen has already happened.”
Under any circumstances, the relationship between tour operators and carriers is strong in the tourism market. The problems of some worsen the situation of others. As Tez Tour CEO Vladimir Kaganer noted, the carriers themselves cannot completely sell out tickets. If operators do not use their services, the plane flies empty or the flight is canceled altogether. According to Kaganer, the simplest way out of the situation is to negotiate rather than put pressure.
All interlocutors and experts from the tourism business refused to talk about which other players in the market might be affected by a similar problem. “We are now trying not to destabilize the market, and such attacks are just annoying. I will be careful not to make any statements. It seems to me that everything bad that could happen has already happened,” said the head of Tez Tour.
Chairman of the Board of Directors and shareholder of TEZ TOUR, Alexander Sinigibsky, in an interview with the Turkish publication Tourism Today, denied rumors that negotiations are underway to sell the company.
TT: Alexander Ivanovich, thank you for your willingness to comment on all possible guesses about the work of the international tour operator TEZ TOUR in the current economic situation. So, does TEZ TOUR have plans to sell its business in any of the countries?
A.S.: Let's start with the fact that theoretically in commerce, in business, you can buy anything and sell anything. Offer anyone double the price of their phone, and they will immediately sell it to you. At the same time, I would like to immediately note that over the past year, the international tour operator TEZ TOUR not only did not sell anything, but, on the contrary, bought several new businesses. We continue to invest in the development of new areas and have opened two offices: on the island of Sardinia in Italy and in Southern Cyprus. At the same time, already in the first season we became the first in terms of volume in Sardinia and fourth in Cyprus. We also have France planned for this year and construction of a hotel in Minsk has begun. This, I note, is what TEZ TOUR has been working on just over the last year amid all the talk about its possible sale. We are ready to remove only non-core, non-tourist assets from our business.
Therefore, when journalists write about any sales or purchases of one company by another, they must fully represent and understand the subject of their journalistic investigation. When announcing the acquisition of such a large international tour operator as TEZ TOUR, even part of it, first of all you need to assess the solvency and potential of the company that supposedly intends to implement such a historical project. Such mergers, acquisitions, and sales of companies are of great marketing value, and the parties always actively talk about the synergy and emerging potential for the market. Rest assured, if we want to sell or buy something, it will become a great information opportunity for the tourism business of our countries. Therefore, I have a convincing request to journalists from all serious businesses, and not just tourism. If you write that “someone bought someone,” have a clear idea not only of the possible desires, but also of the desirable capabilities of the heroes of your legends.
TT: Of course, the tourism sector is very susceptible to market changes and is instantly surrounded by rumors and guesses. Please clarify the situation around TEZ TOUR, where did the hints about negotiations about selling the tour operator to other companies come from?
A.S.: Tour operator TEZ TOUR has not yet initiated such negotiations. However, I will not deny that there is some outside interest, which could provoke some rumors and speculation on this topic. For example, quite recently one of our base hotels was visited by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Anı Tur, a certain Mr. Veli Chilsal. He came as a representative of an agency wanting to work with our company, and eventually offered to become a partner in our business. Having thanked him for his attention and high appreciation of our work, I politely but firmly refused. Literally a few days later an article comes out in the press, in which it is written in clear printed words that “the Ani Tour company is buying TEZ TOUR.” It is unlikely that in serious business circles this can be called “negotiations.” By the way, as far as I know from the same article, Mr. Chilsal self-confidently claims that “negotiations are ongoing.”
TT: Previously, the market also actively discussed the topic of the merger of your company with the tour operator Biblio Globus. Have you received any business proposals for cooperation from them? Please comment.
A.S.: No, it hasn’t been reported. To fully understand the picture of what is happening, I will immediately note that in Turkey there is simply no company with the name “Biblio Globus”. There is only its host company, Time Service, which has only recently been revived for operational business. What kind of purchase or merger can we talk about if in Turkey “de facto and de jure” there is no one to even talk to on this topic due to the absence of Biblio Globus as such on the Turkish market. In addition, this tour operator specializes primarily in sending tourists, and not in receiving them. They have a full-fledged own DMC, perhaps, only in Cyprus. Therefore, if Biblio Globus suddenly opened the topic of corporate transactions with us, then we could talk primarily only about our sending offices in the Baltic countries, Belarus, Ukraine, and not the receiving office in Turkey or other countries.
TT: There are indeed many legends, but your extremely clear and frank answers put a lot of things into place. We would like to take this opportunity to ask you to comment on the cooperation between TEZ TOUR and Crystal Hotels, which has also been surrounded by various speculations.
A.S.: We have been cooperating with the Crystal hotel chain for a long time and are very glad that we have developed such good commercial and friendly relations. At one time, we exclusively sold these hotels in our markets. A little later, the group’s hotel network expanded and it also began working with the Odeon Group. This year, the Crystal chain began to cooperate with Time Services on exclusive terms, and TEZ TOUR, like the Odeon Group, naturally stopped sales of these hotels. However, by mid-summer it became clear that Biblio Globus could not fulfill its obligations in full and fill the required number of beds in the chain’s hotels. Based on long-term and almost “family” business relationships, TEZ TOUR came to the aid of its long-time friends and partners, providing the necessary occupancy for 5 hotels of the Crystal group. We completed our task, and both parties were satisfied with this project. But at the moment there has been no talk of any further, closer cooperation with Crystal hotels.
TT: It is not surprising that in light of the recent departures from the tourism market of quite large and well-known companies, special attention has been focused on the work of TEZ TOUR. How much do such conversations about selling the Company affect you and your employees?
A.S.: I'll say it straight. I am sure that the purpose of these conversations is to prevent us from working fully. I agree that the work of TEZ TOUR, as one of the largest players in the tourism market, cannot but attract attention and do without various rumors. But in fact, at the moment such rumors do not have the slightest basis. Of course, I will not lie and say that such an artificially created information field does not bother us at all. But many years of working in this business have made me and most of our employees quite morally and stress-resistant. We sincerely do not want to waste time and energy on this gossip, thinking about how to fully and efficiently do our daily work. But at the same time, I note that with further escalation of the situation and the creation of an artificial unhealthy information field, we do not exclude professional legal steps on our part at any levels.
TT: One of the most interested partners in obtaining reliable first-hand information, of course, are representatives of the hotel business. What is the most important thing you think they need to know about TEZ TOUR's plans for the near future?
A.S.: I can tell all Turkish partners the following: if we decide to sell part of the business, we will not conduct endless behind-the-scenes negotiations, since we have a very clear idea of the ideal partner. The best buyers for us of part of the assets of the TEZ TOUR company can be our partners - the owners of the hotel business. In case of serious consideration of the possibility of selling certain percentages of shares of the TEZ TOUR company, we would like to see as our business partners exclusively hotels with which we have been working well for a long time, for example, 20-30 of the most interesting and serious of them. Only this option would be beneficial to TEZ TOUR and, in turn, would give additional development to hotels. To summarize this topic, I repeat - with any possible sale of part of the Company’s assets, we will initially negotiate with hoteliers, and not with Ani Tur and others.
TT: What is the general situation and forecasts for the leading tour operators on the Russian market in connection with the noticeable decrease in the number of tourists this year?
A.S.: If we talk objectively about our main markets - Russia and Ukraine - then, indeed, this year the situation is not developing in the best way, since by August all market participants felt a drop in demand. The overall tourist flow, especially in Russia, has not changed that much, but due to strong dumping and an active decline in retail prices, we note a decrease in cash turnover.
At the same time, I would like to note that, in my experience and deep conviction, optimists work in tourism. And I am certainly one of them. I want to believe that geopolitical conflicts will be resolved in the near future. But with all the optimism, it is worth recognizing that the realities of next year may be worse than this year. If large tour operators do not understand this trend in time and do not respond to the changing situation, then the prospects for these two markets will not be the most rosy. Because in our business there may come a time when the price, even the lowest, will cease to matter - everything will be decided by the literal lack of customer demand.
Information for the media
And finally, I have a very important message for the local press. From my point of view, tourism is the most important sector of the economy for Turkey. It supports the country's leading industrial and agricultural sectors - construction, livestock farming, textiles and others. At the same time, tourism is one of the most delicate and sensitive areas of business, which depends not only on real economic indicators, but also on fictitious rumors and speculation. In order to deal a significant blow to this sector of the economy, it is not necessary to explode a bomb in the literal sense of the word. Say the word “bomb” loudly enough, or even worse, at the level of unconfirmed rumors, and the wave that hits tourism will roll by itself. A journalist, of course, must have a share of responsibility and a meaningful civic position. And every time, giving out a new “sensation”, remember that behind each of his unverified words or voicing unfounded rumors in the media are the fates of hundreds of thousands of people working directly or indirectly in the tourism sector.