McCreadie unveils new trade team for Travel 2 and Gold Medal
Gordon McCreadie, the newly appointed director of sales and marketing B2B for Travel 2 and Gold Medal, has completed the formation of a dedicated sales team for the UK trade.
He said the new Travel 2 and Gold Medal sale team will be hitting the road in the next few weeks to meet as many agents as possible.
Heading a team of account managers is Tracy Hirsz, head of sales B2B UK, who has worked at both Travel 2 and Gold Medal during her 20-year career.
In her new role, she will focus on ‘maintaining the strong relationships that both brands have with agents as well as managing and developing the on the road team’.
Tina Hodge, national account manager and with over 16 years of experience in the industry, will head up the relationship with key consortiums.
Both Hirsz and Hodge will report into McCreadie who will oversee all relationships with independents and multiples for sales and marketing.
With a total head count of 800, the restructured team is made up of the existing Travel 2 and Gold Medal sales teams.
Eight key account managers will be on the road to cover a smaller geographical area, giving them more time to support the trade with training, marketing, events and in store promotions.
A dedicated team of three development managers will be headed up by Ruth Hilton, head of sales and business development, to manage the existing Thomas Cook and Gold Medal relationship.
Hilton’s new role sees her take responsibility for identifying and delivering new business not in the UK as well as in Ireland which will launch in the coming months.
Karen Fletcher will also continue to manage the Gold Medal wholesale relationships at the Preston-based office.
McCreadie said: "All staff are staying, so whilst our agents might be meeting new faces over the next few weeks, we know the importance of existing relationships and are committed to maintaining these.
"Everything that our agents value about both brands will remain, with more FAM trips, bigger and better incentives and more training already planned for the upcoming key turn of year booking period.
"We remain 100% trade only with the on-the-road managers and strong teams in Preston and Glasgow available to answer and service agents and ensure that they get the support they need to drive sales."
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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