SINCE news broke of
Destiny Holidays, more
details have emerged
on how the alleged fraudsters
managed to hoodwink
suppliers, clients and the
trade.
In TNW dated June 19 it
was reported that the travel
agency has allegedly taken
clients for R1,6 million, with
clients paying for holidays that
did not materialise. TNW has
since established that the two
directors of Destiny Holidays
were a married couple by the
name of Vincent and Marelise
De Bruyn, who have a history
of opening businesses and
aligning them with reputable
brands.
When TNW pulled the CIPC
report for the two, it became
clear that there are a number
of associated companies
registered under different
family members’ names.
Marelise’s business interests
have included Harvey World
Menlyn and Destiny Holidays
as a Club Travel member.
The De Bruyns’ experience
with Harvey World Travel
Menlyn was very short lived,
according to Lidia Folli, ceo
of BidTravel. Lidia says the
business was exited from
Harvey World Travel as it was
not paying its subscription
fees within the first year of
joining the network. She adds
that two isolated complaints
regarding bookings had been
received after their exit from
the network, but nothing
untoward took place while the
agency was under the Harvey
World Travel umbrella.
Club Travel terminated its
contract with Destiny Holidays
with immediate effect around
September 2018, says
franchise director of Club
Travel, Jo Fraser. Jo says
she was alerted by a tour
operator that Destiny Holidays
was regularly pushing back
supplier payment deadlines,
and began to investigate. This
practice can indicate a rolling
of cash. Jo called various
suppliers who confirmed this.
She then met with the owners
of the agency and thereafter
made the decision to end
Club’s relationship with them
based on the concern of
risky business practices. Jo
sent out a stand-alone email
notification to all Club Travel
suppliers, including airlines,
tour operators, Asata, car-hire
companies, hotel groups and
the GDSs, about the decision
and discussed the matter with
many suppliers verbally.
Marelise was concurrently
also a director of a travel
technology company by the
name of Travel Twist, which
they were actively marketing
to travel agents. Sales director
of Now Media, Linda van der
Pol, confirms that Marelise
was signing contracts as a
director of the company as late
as February 2019. Linda also
confirms that the company’s
advertising bill is outstanding,
adding that Vincent and
Marelise have dodged calls
relating to non-payment. Travel
Twist is not answering its
listed telephone number or
responding to emails and TNW
has still not heard back from
the De Bruyns, despite many
attempts to contact them.
