Major travel agent with six shops in Sheffield and Meadowhall to reopen today

Hays Travel is putting social distancing measures, screens and extra hygiene precautions in place as its premises in England gradually start accepting customers again this week.

Entry to the shops will be limited, but people will be able to call ahead to book appointments. Services will be available online, by phone, video conferencing and email too.

Hays has six branches in Sheffield at Hillsborough, Chapeltown, Crystal Peaks, Meadowhall, Bradway and on Fargate in the city centre.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office still advises against all immediate non-essential travel, but the company is taking bookings for future trips and says it is ‘working hard’ to swap dates or process refunds for those due to travel within the next four weeks.

Hays has operated from its base in Sunderland for 40 years, and acquired the former Thomas Cook retail portfolio of 555 shops last October, taking its number of employees to more than 4,500 and its amount of shops to around 650. During lockdown 3,000 staff have been working from home.

John Hays, managing director, said: "We are really looking forward to being back serving our customers in our shops, but we will only do it in the safest possible way for all of us.”

He said bookings for later this year or 2021 had risen, with tourists choosing ‘a variety of destinations' such as Greece, the Balearics or the Canary Islands.

"On selected new bookings we are offering our Peace of Mind Guarantee, meaning that if our customers need to cancel or change for any reason within six weeks of departure, they can have a full no quibble refund with no cancellation charges."

Irene Hays, the firm’s chair who is married to John, added: "It's good to be getting back to normal gradually – even if it's a little bit different to what we're used to.”

The names of reopened branches will be added to a dedicated web page as they return – click here to view.

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