The head of distribution at easyJet holidays is “extremely positive” about peak season sales, thanks to the operator’s range of product and consumers’ determination to get away.
Kelly Walker joined the operator in September, with a remit to develop trade sales, expand her team and launch tools and incentives for travel agents.
The operator launched in November 2019 so it hopes that this current peaks selling season will be the first to be unaffected by the pandemic.
She told a Travel Weekly webcast: “From the minute I walked through the doors in Team Orange Towers, everything has been extremely positive.
“This is our real big year, where we hope everything will be undisturbed and uninterrupted. Trading has been very, very good.”
She said she saw “immediate spike” as soon as the company’s Big Orange Sale was launched on December 22.
“Since we came back after Christmas, the numbers have been fantastic,” she added.
“There’s the ‘I am not going to give up my summer holiday’ attitude, regardless of what’s going on out there and the current economic climate.”
Walker expects this trend will continue but noted there may be a “shift” in the types of holidays or numbers of trips that people book.
“More than three quarters of what travel agents are booking for us are all-inclusive hotels,” she commented.
“We’re seeing a high amount of bookings coming through with our four and five-star hotels.
“Not only is it all-inclusives, but ‘if we’re only going to go on one holiday this year, let’s make it a really great holiday’.”
She said the product team has been more focused on sourcing hotels that offer “more value”, such as early booking deals”, and giving more prominence to all-inclusive properties.
The operator is also seeing an increase in 10 and 11-night durations, thanks to the flexibility offered by easyJet’s schedule – and people may not be able to afford the traditional two-week break, she added.
However, as the operator had seen a “surge” in early bookings for 2023, it also put holidays on sale for 2024 to capitalise on the demand from clients.
Walker said the new routes from easyJet have “gone down really well” and the operator is keen to highlight how it can offer holidays with high-end hotel brands such as Rixos and Hilton.
“There is sometimes a misconception that easyJet is low cost so [it] will only have the lower end of the market,” she said.
“That is absolutely a misconception that we need to push away. Agents can book high-end holidays with us as well.
“We are focused on getting that extra product where we can see extra opportunities.”
For beach holidays, destinations such as Turkey, Greece and Spain are selling well, while the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh has made “a bit of a comeback”, said Walker.
She said travel agents also support the operator’s city breaks very well, with destinations such as Reykjavik and Paris “flying out of the door”.
“We have some agents who do loads and loads of cities but not so much beach and others vice versa, so in 2023 it will be good to get closer to agents and understand their customers,” she added.
Picture credit: Sergei Sokolnikov/Shutterstock.com
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