Club 18-30 was a holiday company working from its head office in Peterborough, that provided holidays for people aged 18–30 in typical party island destinations. Club 18-30 company was sold on to Thomas Cook and took around 45,000 guests each year. The average age of guests is 19, and one third of customers are travelling on holiday without their parents for the first time. On 8 October 2018, it was confirmed that Thomas Cook had announced that the Club 18–30 brand would no longer continue after Summer 2018. The last ever Club 18-30 holiday makers travelled from Manchester to Magaluf on 27 October 2018 and returned on 30 October 2018.
History
The company was set up in 1968 by the Horizon Group to offer package holidays targeted at young singles and couples to travel without families or children. The idea for starting Club 18-30 came from Paul Latchman. Initial promotion was low-key, even austere. To maximise the use of aircraft, night flights were used. The first destination was Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava. Horizon Group only received modest success and sold the company on to a management buyout in 1973. Subsequently, during the 1970s, the popularity of these holidays was increased by cut-price air fares. Furthermore, an advertising campaign promoted attractions of people who were sexually active and could enjoy themselves in uninhibited, alcohol-fuelled ways. Despite its notorious image, the company was listed on stock exchange in 1980. In 1982 it was acquired by International Leisure Group and continued to grow and prosper. In 1991, ILG collapsed and was taken over as a management buy-out backed by venture capitalistsCounty NatWest Ventures, Grosvenor Capital and Causeway Capital, in a transaction valued at £167,000. After being briefly rebranded as The Club due to regulatory rules precluding the use of the name for 3 years, it reverted to the original name in 1994. In 1995 the company was sold for around £9.75m as a part of a "bimbo" with various venture capitalists including Royal Sun Alliance and others and incorporated with Sunset Holidays and the newly formed airline Flying Colours. In 1998, Thomas Cook acquired Flying Colours for £57.5m. Club 18-30 was subsequently incorporated into Thomas Cook’s JMC brand of travel companies which included the operating brands Flying Colours, Sunworld, Sunset, Inspirations and Caledonian Airways. In 2002, following a strategic review of the business, the management company UP Trips, was formed to ensure that Club 18-30 retained its dominant position in the youth market by providing a dynamic package offering. However, by 2008, the UpTrips Management company dissolved with Club 18-30 once more a key product within the Thomas Cook portfolio. From 2008 onwards Club 18-30 continued as a very successful part of Thomas Cook specialising in the youth travel market. In May 2018, Thomas Cook announced that due to the changing tastes of consumers and the new focus that they have on their own brand portfolio and hotels, that they were reviewing what to do with the brand moving forward. On 8 October 2018 they confirmed that it would close and that Summer 2018 would be the last summer that Club 18-30 would operate. The last Club 18-30 guests flew home from the Island of Zante on 27 September 2018. Club 18-30 has a smaller lesser known sister brand named Club Xtra, that offers holidays in party destinations but that do not have a Club 18-30 rep service or excursion programme. The last customers for Club Xtra travelled home at the end of October 2018.
In 1995, the company's billboard advertising ruffled feathers with the Advertising Standards Agency, being the second most complained-about firm of that year. The ads, designed by Saatchi & Saatchi included , "Be up at the crack of Dawn... or Julie... or..." and It's not all sex, sex, sex. There's a bit of sun and sea as well. They were the subject of an activist graffiti campaign in Manchester and succeeded in gaining local and national media attention.
Since January 2002, the ITV programme Club Reps, made by STV Productions and narrated by Emma B, and later Lisa I'Anson, unearthed the life of a travel representative on Club 18-30 holidays. It kept the Daily Mail awash with stories. It also doubled bookings for Club 18-30 holidays. In 2005, Channel 5 showed a documentary called the Curse of Club 18-30 made by North One Television. Club 18-30 were not happy with the documentary and complained to Ofcom. Ofcom agreed that they had not been allowed to answer for themselves on the documentary but the other allegations made were not unfair.
