Please, introduce yourself, tell us about your experience in the travel industry.

I’m Angela the Head of Business Development for UK & Ireland. I lead our rapidly expanding and hugely talented team in growing and supporting our travel trade partners within the UK and Ireland market. Prior to working for RateHawk I spent 7 years representing Expedia TAAP where I was responsible for looking after UK b2b partnerships. Having worked in the travel industry for almost 15 years some of my previous experience includes airlines and retail.

UK & Ireland team gathered for a fun filled team building event in Manchester! From left to right: Benjamin Dahan, Paloma Mundkowski, Jeremy Besbrode, Angela Weston, Michaela Smolik

Precious moments of meeting in person and having some fun!

RateHawk operates on many markets all over the world. Could you tell us what is the difference between UK & Ireland market and other ones: their communication features, business strategy, pitfalls, cultural features, mindset?

RateHawk is still fairly new in the UK & Ireland market but wow we have certainly made an impact and exploded over the last couple of years. The response has been phenomenal! Our plans to further showcase our offering, listen to our partners and continue to strengthen our product via the feedback we receive from our trade partners. Our trade sales team is growing, meaning more support and guidance from us to you every day.

A key value when partnering in the UK is support, travel agents want to know they are supported by a local account manager and have access to round the clock support. We listened to our clients and pride ourselves on offering the highest of service levels from our teams, both our local account management team and our 24 hour support team. Relationships are key within the UK market, we love having face to face meetings with trade partners and watching our partnerships go from strength to strength. 

We listened to our clients and pride ourselves on offering the highest of service levels from our teams, both our local account management team and our 24 hour support team.

We are almost in the middle of the 4th quarter, can you already say what are the top-3 most important things your team has achieved this year so far?

I’m lucky that my team has a wealth of experience across the travel industry. We share the same desire and determination for success which has been evident in some of our more recent results. It is difficult to say only 3 when we have so many highlights! But to keep to 3 I would say our highlights would be increasing our number of partners by 77% in the past year! Seeing a 131% increase in booking revenues in the past year and witnessing the energy and enthusiasm within the team, as we grow in both size and as a brand in the UK market.

Team member John ‘JD’ Docherty attended the Northern Ireland Travel Awards. The annual event is to celebrate the success of travel agents in Northern Ireland and was attended by around 300 travel agents.

In your opinion, which travel trends are going to be popular in the local market in 2023?

There is still the desire for customers to want to ‘experience’ travel, traveling to more unusual destinations, accommodations rich with culture and longer durations are still popular and I believe will remain popular as we move into 2023. Some customers will remain price sensitive due to the increased cost of living but that hasn’t stopped bookings, quite the opposite. We have simply witnessed a change in holiday preferences. We have seen an uplift in ‘off season’ destinations yet additionally we have also noticed a large increase in indulgent bookings. High standard properties, longer durations and the unusual booking destinations are here to stay!

As for travel trends in 2023: high standard properties, longer durations and the unusual booking destinations are here to stay!

With consumer behaviour and booking patterns now changing, how do you think what RateHawks’ features could be especially useful? 

The beauty of RateHawk is the access to the sheer volume of accommodation at your fingertips. With over 1.8 million properties globally, we offer the destination, property type, board basis, room configuration to suit every enquiry! Alongside that we can compliment the offering with our transfers and recent addition of flights. We offer the two fundamentals for every booking…comprehensive product supported by competitive rates!

Why do you advise visiting WTM London and what are your expectations?

WTM London is one of the world’s largest travel trade fairs and we are delighted to be exhibiting. As a range of travel professionals come together for this annual trade show in our capital city of London I am sure this event will bring lots of opportunities to meet with partners both old and new. We are excited for the huge plans RateHawk has in the UK & Irish market and we look forward to having the opportunity to share some of our growth plans with you at WTM.

WTM takes place in London, could you share your personal favourite places to visit for those who come here for the first time and have some free time?

There are so many wonderful places to visit, things to see and do in London! An absolute must would be to ensure you see some of our iconic landmarks; the home of our monarch, Buckingham Palace, a visit to see the crown jewels at the Tower of London, take a ride on the London Eye to see some breathtaking views of the city, or for those who love shopping you must take a visit down the world famous Regent Street.

Can’t wait to meet you offline at WTM, our stand number is TT330 (Travel Technology Hall). Come to have a chat, share experience and discuss expectations of how our industry will develop!

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