Kuoni appoints Sarah Weetman to boost trade partnerships

Kuoni has appointed G Touring sales director Sarah Weetman in a new role of head of trade partnerships, after it admitted it had struggled to rebuild its relationships with agents following the pandemic.

Weetman will join other newly announced senior hires including marketing director Caroline Child, who joins from Travelopia, and ex-Body Shop executive Donna Hynes, who will be the firm’s new retail director.

Darren Grahame-Betts will also take on an expanded role as sales and operations director in a new-look leadership team.

Weetman started her career in 1998 at Page & Moy and headed a team of regional sales managers for Royal Caribbean before joining G Touring’s Travelsphere and Just You brands in 2018.

She will begin her new role on September 12 and has been tasked with a “root and branch” review of trade strategy.

Speaking on a Travel Weekly webcast, Kuoni managing director Mark Duguid said the external hires offered an opportunity to get “fresh thinking and fresh ideas into the leadership team”.

He also reaffirmed a commitment to the trade established in his previous role at Kuoni’s luxury sister operator Carrier, as he admitted there was work to be done to rebuild partnerships.

‘Struggled to rebuild in the trade’

“I think it’s fair to say Kuoni has struggled to rebuild in the trade, specifically post-Covid,” he said. “We have superstars working in trade roles but we have been lacking a senior strategic figurehead.

“This is a leadership team position for the trade which we haven’t had before, so I think you can take from that it’s a statement of intent about our commitment to the trade.”

Duguid added the pandemic offered a “unique opportunity” to review approaches to business and said Weetman would be tasked with bringing a “fresh perspective” and an “innovative, engaging and appealing trade strategy”.

Weetman said: “It’s an exciting time at Kuoni and I am thrilled to become part of the family.  I am looking forward to working with trade partners and helping them grow their business and take it from strength to strength with an award-winning, leading luxury travel brand.”

In addition to enhancing relations with trade partners, Duguid said the new appointments would help deliver a strategic plan to grow business and “maximise the iconic Kuoni brand”.

“I’ve now got a complete leadership team in place to drive us forward with a blend of enviable experience,” he said. “We’ve promoted talent from within and brought in people from outside the travel industry who will bring a commercial edge and new dynamic to our business as look to the future.”

Complete leadership team

Child will join on August 7, having spent 25 years in marketing across a range of industries, including travel, retail banking and charities.

In travel, she has worked for Tui and for the past three years has been marketing programmes director across Travelopia’s portfolio of brands.

She said: “It’s a marketer’s dream to have the opportunity to work on such an established and respected brand as Kuoni. I can’t wait to join the team and get started.”

Grahame-Betts takes on the role of sales and operations director and has worked for Kuoni for 15 years as head of call centres, head of customer experience and operations director.

His new role will include responsibility for the company’s virtual call centre and tailor-made sales teams.

The three new appointments join a leadership team including Duguid, Hynes, commercial and product director Marco Rocha, head of finance Andy Peacock and director of communications Rachel O’Reilly.