Kuoni has reformed its trade sales team for the first time since the Covid pandemic.

The team has a new addition, Matt Sole, who has been appointed business development executive, and sees the return of Robin Griffiths, who was previously part of the team under former senior sales operations manager Brad Bennetts, who left in 2020.

Griffiths has been working closely with the operator’s retail stores and new virtual call centre and managing product training and commercial messaging for the last two years.

Pre-Covid the trade team comprised three members of staff which was reduced to one during the pandemic. It is now a team of four, with distribution and partnerships manager Amy Roullier looking after Kuoni partner stores while Sole and Griffiths cover third-party agents and report into commercial manager Paul Ingram.

The team plans to go back out on the road visiting agents for the first time since the pandemic later this year.

Griffiths said: “Our message to the trade is a really positive one and primarily is one of continued support to a really important and much valued sales channel.

“As well as price parity, expert advice, improved trade communications, end-to-end service and a new virtual call centre that is currently requiring very short wait times for agents and is open seven days a week until 8pm Monday to Friday, there’s also lots of new product being launched, including more exclusive resorts in key destinations and the return of the much loved Friday Deal Of The Week.”

New interim chief executive Francis Torrilla, who has taken over from Derek Jones after his departure last week, said the operator had seen higher value bookings coming from trade partners in the last two years as more agents sold its products.

“We have seen very good bookings from agents that we were not getting before,” he said.

The Virtual Call Centre set up during Covid has been made permanent with a dedicated trade phone number so that agents can get through to the operator quickly, he added.