knowledge diy add-ons Interview
Getting into bed with...
Simon Garrido, national sales manager at
Somewhere2stay.com, tells us how agents can benefit from using the bed bank
What does
Somewhere2stay.com offer? We offer hotels, villas and apartments in all the most popular holiday destinations, both short and long-haul, from two to five-star and self-catering to all-inclusive. We constantly review our product offering across all gateways to ensure we offer the most competitive prices in the marketplace. We’re expanding all the time to suit what agents are looking for and have recently added ski product for the first time.
How do you work with agents? One of our unique selling points is our enhanced administrative functions offering live pricing upfront and rich content. This allows agents to have full control over bookings, run their own reports and print hotel vouchers in colour, whether they book via xml or viewdata. Also of benefit to agents is our Abta membership and that they can deal with us on a principal basis. We are also ready to offer flexible trading conditions, so they can work with us via gross or net pricing to suit their business model.
Why should agents work with you? As part of a huge global travel group, Somewhere2stay has enormous buying
power, and the priority of our dedicated contracting team based all over the world is sourcing the most competitive rates in the marketplace. Agents know this and often ask us to tailor-make quotes to suit individual customer requests. We also have a dedicated specialist groups team which handles any ad hoc requests.
What about your on the road sales team? That’s me, Tom Bell and Nicola Peacock, and we will be joined in January by our new sales director, Gary Anslow. Gary comes from outside the travel industry and is sure to bring a whole host of new challenges for us – all of which I’m sure will benefit the way we do business with agents. We already assist agents in any number of ways, includ- ing product training, tactical offers and incentives, and generally helping them to focus on the benefits the accommodation- only product can bring to their business.
What did it mean to win the TTG Travel Award for accommodation-only supplier this year?
We were completely astounded and overwhelmed to be recognised in this way as the industry’s leading bed bank. It has given the team a great boost and set us up to further grow the product in the new year.
Hotel Elba Carlota is Somwhere2stay’s best-selling property 52
26.11.2010
How will the Somewhere2stay team be celebrating Christmas this year? There are many of us involved in Somewhere2stay – from product to sales and everything in between. And of course, we will be celebrating together as a team as well as finding some valuable time to spend with family and friends before the hectic post-Christmas campaigns begin.
ttglive.com Upgrade
Superbreak’s “Do London” packages include London Eye tickets
Superbreak has introduced “Do London” packages, comprising theatre, dinner and attractions. The packages can be booked as an add-on to a hotel break or on their own. Two options are available – a £79 budget package and an £89 premium package. Both include a theatre ticket to a choice of West End shows, a pre-theatre dinner and tickets to a range of attractions such as the London Eye, Madame Tussauds, the Tower of London and London Zoo. ■
superbreak.com/agents
Trade-only accommodation specialist
Getabed.co.uk has compiled a new “Director’s Choice” portfolio of hotels in its top US destinations. The hotels are three- star or above, boast an official complaint ratio of less than 0.5% and offer preferential rates or added value. They are available for Miami, New York, Fort Lauderdale, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. ■
getabed.co.uk
Best-selling destinations for
Youtravel.com this Christmas are Egypt and the Canary Islands. Sales and marketing director Paul Riches says: “Guaranteed sunshine and a relatively short flight are the triggers for families and couples looking to get away for some Christmas sunshine.” A week at the five-star all-inclusive Diamond Hotel in Hurghada, Egypt starts from £260 per person on December 23, based on two sharing. ■
youtravel.com
Somewhere2stay has introduced five hotels from the Elba chain in Fuerteventura. Prices start from £20 per apartment, per night at the three-diamond rated Castillo de Elba, and £58 per person for B&B at the five-diamond Sheraton Fuerteventura. Special offers include half-board for the price of B&B until December 23. ■
somewhere2stay.com
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