Bradley Smith has been named as UK sales director for Virgin Hotels.
He will lead trade sales following the recent launch of a partnership which sees Virgin Hotels’ sales effort in the UK working in collaboration with Virgin Atlantic.
The partnership provides agents with access to content on Virgin Hotels and is designed to improve the booking process with the ability to package flights and accommodation together.
The in-house hotel group has properties in five US cities with plans for others in New York and Miami plus Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland.
Smith has been at the airline for 14 years in numerous roles within Virgin Atlantic Holidays retail, culminating in taking on the position of senior account manager in the Virgin Atlantic agency sales team.
He said: “I am utterly honoured to be heading up sales for Virgin Hotels and working with the industry to showcase the incredible diversity of the hotels.
“Part of the team’s strategic focus is to collaborate with trade partners, identifying opportunities to showcase Virgin Hotels and weaving a red thread through a customer’s entire experience.
“The next few months are going to be extremely busy; our trade partners will see us at key industry events, at partner conferences and virtually, as we support the trade in the lead up to the peak winter campaign period.”
Virgin Atlantic sales vice president Lee Haslett added: “We are delighted to welcome Bradley to the team. I know he’ll bring incredible passion and energy as well as a wealth of experience to this new role. I look forward to working closely with him, as Virgin Hotels continues to create and build excitement in the UK market.”