Affordable appoints new head of sales
Affordable Car Hire has appointed former Royal Caribbean Cruises’ strategic account manager Stephen Joyner as new head of sales.
It has also taken on Keely Capsalis as sales/events coordinator, Lucy Ritchie as sales executives and Olivia Oakley and Ellis Sontag as business development executives.
At Royal Caribbean, Joyner was responsible for the cruise line’s top cruise specialist partners across retail and tour operators.
Prior to Royal Caribbean, Joyner was Cruise Club manager for The Travel Network Group. He has more than 15 years’ experience in the travel industry.
Joyner said his first priority was to build confidence in the Affordable Car Hire brand and strengthen partnerships with the UK travel trade to raise awareness of the product and drive sales.
"I’m excited to be working with the team at Affordable Car Hire and am looking forward to building some strong relationships with the trade and reassuring our partners that we are open for business," Joyner said.
The broker was dealt a blow earlier this year when it received a lawsuit from Avis Budget for $2.2 million following a long-running dispute and, as a result, lost two trade accounts, Barrhead Travel and Midcounties Co-operative, and was forced to reduce its staff by 11 to 24.
CEO Angela Day said: "We’re delighted to welcome Stephen to the Affordable Car Hire team, and together with the additional sales support from our expanded team, we’re confident we can get business back to where we need it to be."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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