New Dertour UK joint CEO reaffirms importance of travel agent sales

The new joint chief executive of Dertour UK has reaffirmed the company’s commitment to working with travel agents, in his first UK trade interview.

 

Ben Boesch started his role in January, working with joint chief executive Francis Torrilla in leading the region’s 11 specialist businesses. 

 

He told a Travel Weekly webcast: “We love the trade and we invest a lot [in] education, training and immersions.

 

“We are investing in support. We recently increased staffing to support travel agents across brands.”

 

He highlighted an agents’ trip to Chamonix later in March, in partnership with Travel Weekly, as an example.

 

Another important issue is bookability, he added, noting CV Villas’ new unbranded, client-facing website to help travel agent partners when presenting villas to their clients.

 

Explore is due to unveil a new booking solution, while Kuoni’s platform offers agents access to exclusive deals and single-centre products, he said.

 

“We also certify travel agents for their expertise, which Carrier does with their luxury specialist endorsement, which I think is a great idea, to bring that seal of trust to our partners.”

 

More: Dertour UK sees ‘recovery of demand’ thanks to diverse portfolio

 

He said the investment in trade relations results in regular awards from the likes of Aspire and Travel Weekly – and also attended his first Globes awards ceremony in January, on his second day in the role.

 

“I have never seen something like this before…this kind of event with high-profile artists and inspiring speeches,” said Boesch, who grew up in Switzerland and has also worked in Germany and Dubai.

 

Boesch experienced his debut British peaks during January – which was also the first for the expanded group, following Dertour’s acquisition of Hotelplan, establishing a group of 11 specialist brands in the UK, which includes Carrier, CV Villas, Explore, Inghams, Inntravel, Journey Latin America, Jules Verne, Kirker, Kuoni, Santa’s Lapland and Solmar.

 

“We had a very good start…we had very good performance across the board,” he told the webcast.

 

“We saw a lot of extraordinary momentum in the villa business, in both brands; also in escorted tours.

 

“In trips across Europe, from Kirker, for instance, we saw very good demand as well.

 

“I can also highlight Kuoni, which saw a lot of demand going into Africa, for more complex, tailormade trips, which is Kuoni’s home turf and strength.”

 

Another market he is looking at is skiing, noting how the Net Promoter Scores (NPS) for Inghams’ new Norwegian holidays are “through the roof”.

 

Reflecting on his first few weeks in the role, he said: “What I enjoy the most…is to support the managing directors of our specialist brands to grow…and to try new things, which always works faster in smaller units.

 

“Now we have this beautiful swarm of entrepreneurial teams that try different things and then manage to share it across other brands. That is great to see.”