On arrival at Holiday House which was around lunch time it was instantly apparent of the scale of the growth of Jet2holidays compared to my last visit, the entrance was bustling with staff members scanning in and out of the building (it was lunchtime after-all). We were asked to sign in and then took a seat in the reception area which boasts a trophy cabinet full to the brim of various awards ranging from exceptional service awards, best airline and industry trade awards. I was an impressive display.
After a short wait and time to admire the trophy cabinet we were met by Nikki, the national sales manager for trade, and subsequently treated to a tour of the different departments (of which there are many). Our first port of call was of course the travel trade department where it was good for us to put a name to the faces of the team we speak to on a regular basis.
Alongside the sales executives on the road who we are in touch with almost weekly, these behind the scene team members look after our joint marketing ventures and creatives and any issues we may have with software and systems etc. We also bumped into Zoe Towers who is the ‘Head of Product’ at Jet2holidays, and spent a while understanding the amount of work that goes into finding new hotels and destinations and of course viable routes. It was at this point we learnt of the new destination that was to be launched at 4pm that very same day, but of course we were sworn to secrecy until the official launch time. I am of course able to talk about this now and am delighted to see the traditional Greek Island of Samos added to the portfolio. We were also told that there were more exciting ‘new’ things to come in the very near future so definitely watch this space.
Following our tour of the different floors and departments it was then time for our meeting with Alan Cross the Director of Travel Agent Relationships. As a tour operator Jet2holidays support to independent travel agencies is un-rivalled and they really do get behind us and help us to grow and develop our Jet2holiday sales, discussing different initiatives and ways of working together and improving our partnership. Total Travel are delighted to be a key account for the UK’s Number One Tour Operator, not bad at all for a small independent West Yorkshire travel agency.
May remained the top selling month last week with 16% share and June was second with 11% share of new bookings. Late bookings increased to 37% share of the total bookings with so many of you opting to travel within the next few days. Top-selling destinations were Turkey, Greece and Lanzarote. Long Haul holidays were also particularly popular to book last week with Thailand taking top selling destination for those wanting to venture further afield.