Thomson hotel rooms at £1 a night

HOLIDAYMAKERS can now book rooms through Thomson for £1 a night after the package company put more than 1,000 hotels on to a do-it-yourself website.

Instead of a holiday rep, customers using the new service will have a 24-hour helpline for general queries, booking car hire, excursions or emergencies.

Thomson, which shed 800 staff last week, wants to be in the forefront of the growing market for tailor-made holidays booked independently over the internet.

It is offering a small number of £1-a-night rooms when demand is low as a way to promote the website, and hope to make up the lost money on extras including flights and car hire.

The company insists that traditional package tours would remain a mainstay of the business.

Accommodation ranges from small, unique hotels in out of the way locations through to large hotels in popular holiday resorts, as well as self-catering apartments and hotels in long and short-haul resorts.

Accommodation can be booked for any duration, from one night to 99 nights.

Thomson sales and marketing director Miles Morgan said: 'This is definitely not the end of package holidays. We still sell around four million package holidays a year and we predict the market will remain at around that level for the next few years.

'But demand is growing in the tailor-made travel market and we want to be at the forefront of growth in this area. It's about offering people more choice.

'Our new bed bank puts us well ahead of the competition.'