Husband and wife Paul and Niki Waters have been appointed managing directors of Premier Travel and Premier Holidays respectively as the company eyes future expansion.
The pair have both been with the travel agency and tour operator, which operate as separate businesses, for 20 years. They start in their new roles on October 1, reporting to chairman Renford Sargent.
Their appointments come as the company, which has its HQ in Cambridge, looks to grow its 25-branch high street retail chain and add further destinations to its operator portfolio.
Sargent said expansion was “on the cards”, adding: “We have a fairly strong retail chain and it would make sense to expand that a little and have a few more outlets to feed into the tour operation, although we sell everyone else and our shops are not tied to our [tour operator] product.”
Regarding the company’s tour operation, he said: “A company like ours probably needs to become more specialist. We would like to see one or two more specialist destinations [in our portfolio].”
He credited Niki and Paul with showing “phenomenal leadership” during Covid, which he described as one of the toughest times the business had ever been through.
He said the business, now in its 86th year, had many long-serving employees and retained a caring, family feel, focused on ensuring staff had a good work-life balance.
“For us, it’s about lifestyle and there is a feeling of being ‘in it together’. Niki and Paul will carry on that company culture and their appointments will also give a lot of confidence to staff and make them feel secure going forward,” he said.
Niki became a director and company secretary of both companies five years ago, having previously worked in reservations, training, project management, HR, head office operations and finance.
Paul started as a sales manager on the road for the operator before moving across to Premier Travel in 2007 to oversee branch sales and marketing. He became director of the retail business in 2011 and took overall responsibility for retail and finances.
The business has not had managing directors for the separate operator and agency businesses for the past four or five years.
Sargent, who runs the business with co-owner Peter Andrews, said he had no plans to leave the company.