Hotelplan UK recruits former Tui IT boss Craig Randell

Hotelplan UK has appointed Craig Randell to the newly-created role of group director of IT, with a remit across the Inghams, Explore, Santa’s Lapland, Inntravel and Esprit brands.

Randell’s 25 years of experience in the industry includes running Tui’s IT for the UK and northern Europe.

He joined Hotelplan UK earlier this month, bringing “significant strategic delivery experience to the role, which will be crucial to as the brands work on further synergies as well as various digital transformation projects,” the company said.

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Randell’s priorities will be to lead the digital transformation of the brands and develop a digital platform to allow the businesses to grow.

“I’m excited to get into Hotelplan and work across such an exciting collection of diverse travel brands,” Randell said.

“Helping businesses to drive forward their vision for digitalisation and effective use of automation is my passion, and I can’t wait to work with the teams at Inghams, Explore, Santa’s Lapland, Inntravel and Esprit to bring about more dynamic and integrated systems.”

Jo Ponte, chief executive of Hotelplan UK, said: “We are delighted to welcome Craig Randell to the role of director of IT and to the board.

“His enormous wealth of experience will be a huge asset to the group as we plan to make big strides forward in digital transformation right across the business and impacting all of our brands.”