Paul Broughton joined Travelport in August 2014 as Commercial Director for the UK and he has recently expanded his role to Regional Managing Director for the UK & Ireland.
This follows the recent news that Travelport has heightened its leadership focus with expanded roles for its EMEA agency-facing teams, which sees Simon Ferguson taking on the expanded role of Managing Director for Travelport across Northern Europe. We wanted to get to know Paul and see what his priorities are.
What are your responsibilities at Travelport?
I’m responsible for leading Travelport’s commercial strategy, account management and new business functions to drive further growth for Travelport in the UK and Ireland.
In line with Travelport’s vision to be ‘The platform that is redefining travel commerce for our customers’, our team set out its own vision: ‘To be recognised both internally and externally as the best Sales & Account Management team in the travel commerce sector’.
What have been your priorities since joining the business?
We went through a significant restructuring process of the UK business development team to realign its strategy and focus on fulfilling the unmet needs of prospective new customers.
The team restructure meant that dedicated sales managers were allocated to the most relevant opportunities to maximise collective skillsets and offer a more tailored service to prospective customers.
What have been the key achievements?
Since I joined Travelport, we have had a number of business successes across the UK and Ireland. The whole team’s efficient use of the Customer Relationship Management System has allowed them to fully manage a prospective customer through the entire sales process and customer lifecycle. Success has certainly followed as we have had a record number of new customers won and implemented during this time.
Last year, the UK business development team was named ‘Sales & Business Development Team of the Year’ at The People Awards. We were thrilled to win this award, especially as it was the very first time we had entered. We were also shortlisted for the Account Management team category too!
What are you most proud of?
I’m immensely proud to be leading such a talented team of sales professionals. I believe that we are achieving great things due to our continued focus on putting our customers at the centre of everything we do.
We are committed to redefining our sales consultancy approach so that we can provide the best possible service for our customers.
What did you do prior to Travelport?
I have over 20 years of experience in the travel industry, having worked across multiple sectors including Tour Operator, Car Rental, Airline and TMC. Before Travelport, I was EMEA Sales Director at Chambers Travel Management and I was there for six years.
I have experience in both corporate and leisure travel having held senior positions at HRG, Europcar and Avis prior to Chambers.