Swords Travel has appointed Hollie Stillion as head of marketing partnerships as the agency looks to double its turnover within the next year.
Stillion joins after 10 years at dnata where she worked as an account manager for Travel2 and most recently as business development manager for the company’s bed bank Yalago. She started in her new role this week.
Owners Mark and Stuart Swords said they hoped the appointment would help fuel further growth for the agency which currently has a retail shop in south west London as well as six associate agents and one affiliate based around the UK.
They said the business had already seen an 200% increase in turnover this year from 2019’s performance. Mark Swords said he would like to see 2022’s figure increase by 100% next year.
The agency plans to introduce a tiered marketing scheme, giving supplier partners access to various levels of digital promotion and social activity depending on their budget and commitment.
Suppliers can opt to become become gold, silver or bronze partners, with plans to cap the gold and silver categories to just eight suppliers in each.
“We have seen huge growth ambitions and this year we’re already trading way above what we did pre-pandemic,” he said. “We have been doing a lot of the marketing efforts ourselves and as the business grows we need a dedicated person who really knows how to excel in this area. I worked with Hollie at Travel2 and he background is in travel marketing so we’re delighted to be bringing her in to the business in a completely new role.”
Mark added: “We want to increase the number of associates and affiliates we have working under the Swords Travel name. We’d like six more associates and three more affiliates.
“It’s a hugely exciting time for the business and all of this has given us such a buzz.”
Having studied travel marketing at university and held marketing related roles previously in her career, Stillion said she was excited to get back into “the core of the travel trade” and focus on her passion for marketing.
“I wanted to take on a more marketing focussed role as that’s what I studied and that’s what I did when I first started in travel,” she said. “Mark and Stu approached me to come and work with them keen to drive their marketing efforts as part of their expansion plan. It’s such a brilliant opportunity and I’m so pleased to be working with them.
“We’ll be building annual marketing plans and I look forward to working with our partners to promote them to our clients.”
During the pandemic and while on furlough, Stillion set up online blog BabyInBucks to help parents in Buckinghamshire with day trip and activity ideas. She grew her account considerably and now has 11,000 followers on Instagram alone.