SPL Villas has recruited its first dedicated head of marketing, tasked with raising the brand’s profile among consumers and travel agents.
Sam Willan, who starts on December 1, has previously held marketing roles at StudentUniverse and gapyear.com, and has been a board member at the British Educational Travel Association.
As well as developing and executing SPL Villas’ consumer brand marketing strategy, Willan will be responsible for trade marketing, using an increased budget to double trade bookings over the course of 2025, and building stronger partnerships with independent agents and consortia.
He will report to Laura Ingeri, who was recently promoted to the post of general manager.
More: SPL Villas hails trade support as it reports record October
Willan said: “In the last 12 months overall, the number of bookings SPL Villas has taken from travel agents has grown by a third year on year, and the average value of those bookings has increased by nearly 30%.
“Following the investment made in the brand and back-end technology, and the great work done in building positive relationships with agents by the business development team in that period, I’m excited to be joining SPL Villas at this time, and by the opportunities there are to grow those numbers further in 2025.”
Ingeri added: “Having a dedicated marketing lead will really help us accelerate the momentum we’ve established in the last year, especially with the trade.
“I’m looking forward to working with Sam in my new role, and with him maximising the investments made in the brand and technology to capitalise on the surge in interest in villa holidays during 2024, particularly demonstrated by our bookings in October.”
The villas specialist recently reported its busiest ever October thanks to a 75% increase in the total number of bookings made in the month compared to September.
Villa-only and villa-plus-flight package bookings from the trade also grew by 50% month-on-month and now account for two-thirds of total bookings taken.