First Choice opts for Prior

First Choice opts for Prior

TheFirstResort managing director Mathew Prior has been poached by First Choice as part of its ongoing restructure.

Prior will join next month as charter services director with responsibility for the seat-only business of Unijet, First Choice and Eclipse.

He will report to Nigel Jenkins, the newly appointed managing directorof First Choice’s Independent Traveldivision.

One of Prior’s major tasks will be to differentiate the product of First Choice and Unijet’s seat-only businesses, which have combined sales of one million passengers but which target the same customers.

Jenkins said putting both operations under one managing director will avoid the brands overlapping.

“We need to have a clear strategy of how we differentiate each brand proposal,” said Jenkins.

“Having two management teams can lead to conflict.”

He said brands can be differentiated through pricing, commission payments or direct sales but added nothing had been decided. The move reflects a general trend to focus more on customer type rather than brands, although Jenkins stressed both the First Choice and Unijet seat-only brands will remain.

&#42 First Choice group chief executive Peter Long was awarded the Institute of Travel and Tourism’s 2001 Odyssey Award for his services to the industry last week.

Prior: overseeing seat-only operations