Gary Willment Email & Phone Number

Uk And Ireland

A diverse and challenging role, where up to 48 guests from different parts of the world, come together for a guided holiday (tour) for 6 - 20 days through the UK and Ireland. Organisation and forward planning is essential for a successful trip. In advance of the trip, I secure booking for attractions and restaurants, check transportation such as ferry times, train departures and with my driver, ensure we work together planning routes and timings. Our guests tend to be seniors. Talking… Show more A diverse and challenging role, where up to 48 guests from different parts of the world, come together for a guided holiday (tour) for 6 - 20 days through the UK and Ireland. Organisation and forward planning is essential for a successful trip. In advance of the trip, I secure booking for attractions and restaurants, check transportation such as ferry times, train departures and with my driver, ensure we work together planning routes and timings. Our guests tend to be seniors. Talking with guests I can assess their mobility, health, interest etc. This helps me to adapt small things on the trip to assist guests.Communicating with the group is crucial. Practical information, history, places of interest etc., need to be given by me to guests, using verbal visual and written information. Taking time so chat with each guest, allowing them to build trust with me on a professional and personal level.Ensuring hotels know well in advance of our arrival, helping to secure room requests, porters, timings for meals and ensuring all rooms and keys are ready. Making for a smooth check in and no stress for my guests. Dealing with unforeseen circumstances. Lost property, group dynamics, timekeeping, guests loosing themselves in cities, traffic congestion etc., to name a few daily occurrences we face. Show less

London, United Kingdom

As part of a small but crucial team, we worked to created new guided holidays (tours) and improved existing tours for guests traveling to Europe with Trafalgar.In total the team worked on over 130 trips on two different brands, (Trafalgar and CostSaver),with the aim of attracting new guests and increase repeat business.Building relationships with new and exciting suppliers, and working with organisations such as the National Trust and English Heritage, improving guest experiences and… Show more As part of a small but crucial team, we worked to created new guided holidays (tours) and improved existing tours for guests traveling to Europe with Trafalgar.In total the team worked on over 130 trips on two different brands, (Trafalgar and CostSaver),with the aim of attracting new guests and increase repeat business.Building relationships with new and exciting suppliers, and working with organisations such as the National Trust and English Heritage, improving guest experiences and driving down costs with renegotiating deals with Historic Scotland and others on entry into visitor attraction . We worked closely with other departments on costings, logistics and contracts. Brochure pages from concept of a trip through to sign off, will all amendments, image selection and all final checks were our responsibility. Organisation was essential as we worked within very tight time schedules. Show less

London, United Kingdom

Working closely with our clients within the pharmaceutical industry to plan and deliver meetings, conferences and congresses on regional, national and global events. Preparing proposals, costings and providing choice to our client on different options on hotels or venues which matched the clients request. I planned and delivered incentive trips for top performers, travelling with the winners to ensure a successful and enjoyable trip. While on-site I would work with local supplier to… Show more Working closely with our clients within the pharmaceutical industry to plan and deliver meetings, conferences and congresses on regional, national and global events. Preparing proposals, costings and providing choice to our client on different options on hotels or venues which matched the clients request. I planned and delivered incentive trips for top performers, travelling with the winners to ensure a successful and enjoyable trip. While on-site I would work with local supplier to provide memorable experiences. I managed ad-hoc events as well as assisting with product launches. With global congress events, demand for accommodation, transportation and restaurants was exceptionally high. I would work with congress management to secure as much as possible as soon as it became available. Site visits were often taken beforehand with the client they were happy with options I provided. Invoicing for events I ran were my responsibility. Show less

London, United Kingdom

Held many job positions including a Holiday Site Rep in Barcelona, Corfu, Venice and the Austrian Tyrol, Tour Escort in the Greek Islands and Egypt, Tour Manager in Europe, European Field Manager, Product Services Manager and Training & Recruitment Manager.Due to space issues, please read the role of Travel Director at Trafalgar which is a very similar role.My roles working head office were also varied. As European Field Manager, I undertook many trips to visit Holiday reps based… Show more Held many job positions including a Holiday Site Rep in Barcelona, Corfu, Venice and the Austrian Tyrol, Tour Escort in the Greek Islands and Egypt, Tour Manager in Europe, European Field Manager, Product Services Manager and Training & Recruitment Manager.Due to space issues, please read the role of Travel Director at Trafalgar which is a very similar role.My roles working head office were also varied. As European Field Manager, I undertook many trips to visit Holiday reps based at our European destinations. Checking on accommodation, meals, staff morale and meeting suppliers before reporting back to my line manager. Assisted in recruitment, training and being onsite for the winter ski programme.Promotion to Product Services Manager saw me take on new challenges. Providing costings and setting budgets, training of European based staff. organising transportation, securing tickets and providing meals for events such as Ladies Day at Royal Ascot and Edinburgh's Hogmanay Celebration.Be in charge of staff levels, contracting of ski passes and ski lessons for our ski programme in the Austrian Tyrol.Attend meeting as part of the Crisis Mananagment team.My final role at Contiki was to be in charge of Training and Recruitment for Tour Managers. Contracting media outlets (websites and relevant magazines) in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Liaising with candidates and offering/declining applications. Liaising with colleagues who were conducting interviews in Australia and New Zealand on our behalf. Interviewing candidates in London on a group and individual basis. If successful, candidates would be sent an assignment that I put together which needed to be complete in advance of the trip. IOn-road training lasted 46 days. Working with our on road Training Manager (usually the best current Tour Manager we had) before, during and after the trip, to check on progress, deal with issues and assist where necessary. Show less