First Class Holidays has recruited former Hays Travel area manager Nisha Bean as its new head of sales for the north.
Bean, who worked at Jetset Holidays and Travel 2 prior to Hays, starts on March 25 and will be on the road visiting agents and forming new partnerships.
Her appointment brings the number in the tour operator’s trade sales team to four.
It follows the recent promotions of Katie Daniels to head of sales for the south, Paula Martin to head of key accounts, and Emma Clarke to the new role of business development manager.
Managing director Dan Gathercole said: “Nisha will be on the road fully supporting agents. She has really good experience and is a perfect fit for us. We really value our agent relationships and all the team are excited she is joining us.”
Bean said: “I am so pleased to join such a well-established and well-liked company. I can’t wait to meet all our agent partners and start talking about our destinations.”
The sales team is likely to be increased further longer term, potentially with more business development managers across different regions, he said.
“We are still looking to increase the team. Two years ago we only had a national sales manager. It’s very much a case of finding the right people that fit in and have the right personality,” he added.
Meanwhile, the operator is now offering customized digital itineraries on all its trips for agents to send on to clients. Previously this was only offered on an ad hoc basis.
Agents will be emailed a link to the itinerary and customers will be able to open the details in an app, which not only features the itinerary details and information about the destination but also has contact details for the travel agent.
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