The Gold Medal Travel Group has started the recruitment process to find a successor for sales director Nick Hughes, who is moving to Princess Cruises.
His departure from the B2B supplier was announced earlier this month but Gold Medal managing director Simon Applebaum said the sales team will keep its current structure while a replacement is sought.
“I’ve known Nick for most of my travel career and I’m very lucky to have worked with him a couple of times, and I wish him all the best,” Applebaum told a Travel Weekly webcast.
“He’s been brilliant with our customers throughout a very challenging time…and he’s also built a fantastic team.”
The team includes Colin Currie, head of trade partnerships; Clare Weatherall, head of commercial relations; and Karen Fletcher, head of trade support, plus a 10-strong team of trade partnership managers. Eight of them cover different regions across the UK, while two are dedicated to homeworkers.
Applebaum said they are all experienced, quality people, which means there is no huge time pressure on finding Hughes’ replacement.
“We’re just starting to receive CVs…at some point, in the next couple of months, I’ll be doing interviews, and in the natural course of things we’ll announce that [appointment].”
He said the team work on all four brands – Gold Medal, Cruise Plus, Pure Luxury and Incredible Journeys – but staff also have their own expertise in certain areas.
“Rachael [Belshaw] and Jodie [Bassy] worked with me at Attraction World so they both know tonnes about that product; other people have come from luxury backgrounds,” he said.
“We are constantly assessing and evaluating it – that second person for homework is a new addition, because that sector is growing so quickly for us. So expect iteration, not some crazy revolution.
“We got a fantastic award-winning trade sales team. We don’t want to rip that up and start again, it’s absolutely continuing the good work that Nick’s done over the last few years.”
The group’s fam trips and incentive scheme called Farebank Rewards will also evolve rather than undergo dramatic changes.
The fam trips are slighter smaller because of the capacity for suppliers to host agents, while there are no “radical” plans to change Farebank, he told the webcast.
“We’re always moving…to really drive awareness of the breadth of products that we have, so sometimes we feel we need to shine a light on something that maybe hasn’t had the spotlight for a little while and that’s a balancing act when you sell the whole world and so many different sectors,” he said.
“Farebank has been an institution in the trade for years. Agents know it, they love it.
“Things evolve and they move to the web, so the Gold Medal website just has become the home of Farebank now, as well as your bookings and your booking management.”
Generally, the operator’s staffing levels are much better now, he said, but some vacancies remain.
“If anyone watching this is looking for a great business to join, we’d love to hear from you,” he commented.
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