Travel industry veteran Michael East and former Elite Travel Group general manager Paul Cowley are among the new management team appointed to kickstart substantial growth at transfer specialist Resort Hoppa.
The shake-up follows a £2.1 million investment by venture capitalists Close Ventures, now a minority shareholder in the company.
East becomes chairman, while Cowley, who left Elite earlier this year, becomes sales and marketing director.
Also on the board as a director is Patricia Rossello Palmer, whose family founded the business in 2004. Rossello Palmer also founded Medinland in 1998, which was sold to Co-operative Travel in 2004.
She turned down an opportunity to become chief executive to continue living in Spain.
Former Cosmos head of overseas purchasing Catherine O’Regan is now overseas operations and contracts director.
Chief executive Neville Wynn becomes UK operations director and head of IT and Brian Stronell has become financial controller.
Close Ventures assistant director Michael Kaplan said the company had invested in Resort Hoppa because it had anticipated the switch to component sales. “People are booking cheap flights and hotels independently of package operators,” he said.
The company now serves 350 gateways worldwide and plans 150 more this year.