One of the world's largest U.K.-based travel agencies, Thomas Cook, confirmed Wednesday the opening of 20 own-brand hotels by the end of 2019, including six in Spain, four in Greece and three in Turkey.
The company said it will announce further new openings within the coming months with the aim of taking the company's portfolio to 200 hotels with around 40,000 rooms, making it one of the top 40 largest hotel groups in the world.
The British travel giant will open Cook's Club Adaköy Marmaris - a 130-room hotel with its own private marina, a boat ride away from the heart of Turkey's popular resort town of Marmaris in the southwestern province of Muğla.
The contemporary hotel also includes extensive sports facilities including football courts, beach volleyball, tennis as well as a PADI diving center.
The British travel agency recently launched two new hotel brands Cook's Club, aimed at a "new generation of travelers," and Casa Cook, exclusive to adults.
Its second hotel will be Cook's Club Alanya - a 115-room fully refurbished hotel in the heart of Turkey's southern resort city of Antalya's Alanya district with easy access to the historic sandy Cleopatra Beach.
The company did not share any details on the location of the third hotel to be opened in Turkey.
Burak Tonbul, a board member at Diana Travel - the Turkey representative of Thomas Cook, said they plan to open hotels in Turkey with both brands, according to Turkish daily newspaper Sabah, Daily Sabah's sister paper.
"We are planning investments in the Aegean and the Mediterranean. The first hotel will be opened in 2019," he said.
He added that the Casa Cook brand is related to families and couples in the luxury segment, while Cooks Club was designed as a young hotel for guests aged between the ages of 25 and 40.
Indicating that there was a serious demand relating to Turkey in Europe, Tonbul said Thomas Cook has great confidence in Turkey, stressing that this investment is also an indication of that confidence.
According to a statement on the company's website, the expansion is part of Thomas Cook's strategy to deliver sustainable profitable growth through a carefully curated portfolio of own-brand hotels that have higher customer satisfaction, more repeat guests and deliver higher margins than the holiday company's broader selection of hotels.
