THOMAS COOK

GROUP
CRISIS OF 2006
SUBMITTED BY:

ANMOL NARANG
R U C H I AT H A W A L
A N S H I K A PA R I H A R
ROSHANI
THOMAS COOK GROUP: THE
SAID ‘GUILTY’
• British global travel company owning number of tour operators and
airlines based in UK, Germany, Belgium and Scandinavia
• Operates in five main divisions: UK, Central Europe, Germany, West
Europe and Northern Europe
• One of the UK’s biggest and most popular provider of holiday
packages
CRISIS OF 2006

In October 2006, two siblings Christi and Bobby died due to

poisonous gas carbon monoxide venting out of a faulty boiler in the
bungalow adjacent to the one where they were staying on a family
holiday, in hotel booked through Thomas Cook.
CHRISTI AND BOBBY: THE
INNOCENT VICTIMS
 In 2015, the victim family decided to go for
inquest but were denied the legal aid. After
meeting the British PM, they got access to the
aid and case reopened.
The investigation brought forward several
peculiar points which led to the mishap.
Thomas Cook did not accept any of their
mistakes and just expressed an apology out of
sympathy in the media. The parents of dead
children took the company as guilty though.
 But as the media experts, travel experts and
others started criticizing Thomas Cook’s
response in this situation of crisis, the company
had to take back its earlier comments of doing
“nothing wrong”, meet the parents, ask for
forgiveness and promise financial help as
goodwill gesture.
Thomas Cook had to accept its mistake of
breach of duty to handle the situation, going
out of control otherwise.
BUT THIS CRISIS TURNED INTO A
CORPORATE DISASTER OWING TO
THE LEADERSHIP RESPONSE OF
THOMAS COOK, WHICH IS, AS
SAID BY JOANNA BOURKE, ‘A
LESSON IN HOW NOT TO MANAGE
A CRISIS’.

LET US SEE HOW AND WHY!

REASONS TO BLAME
THOMAS COOK
• Failings in hotel assessment process followed by Thomas Cook
holidays: no verification made of hotel’s claim of not having any gas
appliances (which is a policy of Thomas Cook before they get into
contract with any hotel)
• The hotel was using faulty gas boiler since a long time and had taken
no renovations even when warned to do so.
• In 2012, it hired third party to conduct hotel inspections who relied
on what the hoteliers told them.
HOW THOMAS COOK
RESPONDED INITIALLY?
• Shifted whole burden of guilt onto the hotel saying that the hotel
itself has cheated the tour company
• Former and current employees denied answering any questions during
inquest interrogation

Thomas Cook’s former director of government and external affairs

and director-general of the Federation of Tour Operators, Andy
Cooper, told the inquest "I don’t believe the duty of care of the tour
operator is that they should be carrying out a full safety check" and
described the checks conducted as "a basic audit".
• CEO publicly refused to apologize and accept the mistake
• Donated £1.5 million to UNICEF out of £3 million received as
compensation from the hotel without any consent of the parents of both
children
• General sympathy expressed

The current Thomas Cook Group’s chief executive officer Peter Fankhauser,
told the inquest: "I feel incredibly sorry for the family – incredibly sorry. But
I don’t have to apologize". He went on to explain, "I feel so thoroughly, from
the deepest of my heart, sorry, but there’s no need to apologize because there
was no wrongdoing by Thomas Cook".
REACTIONS TO LEADERSHIP
RESPONSE
SHARON WOOD, THE MOTHER OF DECEASED
CHILDREN, SAID THAT THE HOLIDAY
COMPANY WAS MORE CONCERNED WITH ITS
PUBLIC IMAGE THAN THE DEATH OF HER
TWO CHILDREN CAUSED BY LEAKING HOTEL
BOILER IN 2006
Thomas Cook’s shares were down 3.22 per cent in the following days and some
believed it may suffer brand damage for not coming across as more compassionate
business earlier.
Thomas Cook has found itself under fire on social media such as Twitter and
Facebook over how it handled the situation. Some people have even threatened
never to book with the company again.
 FOLLOWING ARE SOME COMMENTS MADE BY EXPERTS ON THE
LEADERSHIP RESPONSE

• “When companies go into defense mode, they stop being human. The
fundamental fact is that they [Thomas Cook] were not human. They
needed to show they understood some of the pain caused.”
• “I think the problem is that they were looking at the legal point and not
the man on the street’s point – and its core customers will not be lawyers,
but the man on the street, and you have to look at how they would react
to the case. You have to show humility and you have to say sorry properly.”
• In The Independent Joanna Bourke wrote: "Nothing Thomas Cook could
ever do would bring back the two children killed by carbon monoxide
poisoning on a Greek holiday in 2006. But the firm’s handling of the case
has been a lesson in how not to manage a crisis“
OUR TAKE ON THE
LEADERSHIP RESPONSE
• Thomas Cook relied more on what its PR team and lawyers suggested i.e. not
accepting the mistake and cleanly denying the responsibility.
• It is however apparent that no company is expected to behave in such non-empathetic
manner especially in a situation concerning deaths of innocent children.
• The CEO should have asked employees to clearly answer when interrogated because
the act otherwise infuriated not only the victim family but also other stakeholders in a
vocal society.
• All the companies must show human values and Thomas Cook ought to display these
values more prominently given the kind of services it provided. It should have made
everyone believe that they too were distressed on the tragic happening. All the
decisions should have been taken with prior consent and opinions of the family.
• Thomas Cook did not at all behave right and went into defense mode
after which whatever it did and said was out of its understanding.
• In the statement, Mr. Fankhauser also used the words “I apologize”,
saying: “I believe this is the right thing to do and I apologize to the
family for all they have gone through.” This is what they should have
done as their first response to the crisis to tackle it in a humane and
logical way.
References of the comments by
Experts

• http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-34697804
• https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-
features/carbon-monoxide-deaths-from-a-tragedy-to-a-
corporate-disaster-for-thomas-cook-10259735.html
• https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-
features/carbon-monoxide-deaths-from-a-tragedy-to-a-
corporate-disaster-for-thomas-cook-10259735.html
THANK YOU!