OTA Iglu poaches Ingham’s Simon McIntyre

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Independent ski and cruise agent Iglu.com has poached Hotelplan’s group head of sales Simon McIntyre to take on the newly-created role of general manager, ski.

He will take a position on Iglu’s operations board and oversee marketing, sales and commercial teams, specialising in ski.

Iglu said that by creating a ski business unit, it had affirmed its commitment to strengthening its position as the leading OTA by focusing talent and resources to the ski sector.

CEO Richard Downs said: “We believe that recent dynamics in the ski travel sector will continue to allow us to grow strongly and build upon our strong position as a leading agent for great skiing holidays.

“Our customers increasingly demand an experience that is seamless on and offline, so we needed to bring all core functions under one roof.

“We’re very excited to welcome Simon into this role as we strengthen our partnership with suppliers and drive the business forward.”

McIntyre added: “I am very pleased to be joining Iglu.com at such an exciting time. Iglu is a leading Online Travel Agent within the ski market and I believe there is great potential for the business, in what is a fast paced and evolving sector. I have no doubt that developing our capabilities and realising our digital ambitions will ensure more people than ever chose Iglu Ski for their holiday needs.”

He previously spent nine years at Ingham’s parent Hotelplan, three as group head of sales.

Hotel plan said it is currently working through a transition plan for a new leader in agency sales to continue the dedicated focus to drive its trade business forward.

“I am very grateful for the many great opportunities I have had with Hotelplan over the past nine years.” addd McIntyre. “We have achieved many great things together, but it is now time for a new challenge and joining Iglu.com at such an exciting time provides me with just that.”

Hotel plan CEO Paul Carter added: “Simon goes with our very best wishes and leaves a strong team in place.

“Under Simon’s leadership, Hotelplan’s agency team has made huge improvements to the way we support the trade. We want to continue to build upon our strong position as a leading tour operator for great skiing holidays and further strengthen our partnerships with key agents, not just in Ski, but on all our other specialist programmes including Santa’s Lapland, Inghams Lakes & Mountains, Inghams Lapland and Inghams Italy.”