General Manager

DER Touristik Suisse AG; London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a dynamic General Manager for the UK and Benelux regions. This role involves leading a local office, ensuring operational excellence, and driving strategic initiatives in the travel sector. The ideal candidate will possess strong leadership and communication skills, with a proven track record in managing teams and fostering relationships within the travel industry. This position offers the opportunity to work in a global environment, with a focus on innovation and growth. If you are a solution-oriented leader with a passion for travel, this is the perfect opportunity for you to make a significant impact.

Benefits

Global Brand Exposure

Stability in Employment

Career Progression Opportunities

Learning and Development

Supportive Management Culture

Company Wide Bonus Scheme

Employee Engagement Activities

Flexible Working

Annual Awards and Recognition

Collaborative Work Environment

Qualifications

• 5-7 years in senior management in hospitality or travel industry.
• Strong communication skills in English at business level.
• Experience in managing large international teams.

Responsibilities

• Oversee operational excellence for leisure and MICE segments.
• Lead a team of 6 managers and drive procurement strategies.
• Build relationships with clients, suppliers, and tourism organizations.

Skills

Leadership Skills

Sales Skills

Communication Skills

Change Management

Relationship Building

Education

University Degree in a Related Field

Tools

Microsoft Office

Job description

About Kuoni Tumlare

At Kuoni Tumlare, we design and deliver exceptional travel experiences through a comprehensive portfolio of destination management solutions. With over 100 years of expertise, we serve a global network of partners by offering series tours, educational trips, MICE events, guaranteed departure tours, and more. Our marketplace strategy is at the forefront of digital transformation, ensuring a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving travel landscape.

About the Role

As General Manager DMC UK and Benelux, you have the overall responsibility for running the local office as Destination Management Company (DMC). Your key responsibility is to deliver operational excellence (quality, planning, fulfilment, customer satisfaction) for both business segments (Leisure & MICE); driving the Procurement Strategy for all categories and customer segments, continuing the transformation from a “Group Travel” company “image” towards a strong DMC to become the first choice for customers in UK & Benelux. You work closely with the company strategy in cooperation with our worldwide Sales Leadership team and COO Kuoni Tumlare.

You are fully responsible for controlling and optimizing revenue and GPM while constantly managing costs and budgets for your area of responsibility in UK & Benelux.

You have a proven ability to work effectively in a fast-moving organization, achieving objectives through personal leadership and strong communication. You have profound management experience and a strong network and relationship in the travel industry (DMC, Travel Agency, Hotel industry) to successfully drive strategic plans in a fast-paced, dynamic/turnaround environment.

The position expects a sustainable balance between strategic thinking and operational capability and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, this position requires travel and visibility (networking) outside of working hours.

Key Responsibilities

As General Manager UK/Benelux, you will:

• Report to the COO DMC & MICE Kuoni Tumlare.
• Lead directly 6 Managers who report in UK and NL office directly to you, including:
• Hotel Procurement & Hotel Reservation
• Operations
• Destination Management (Product & Quotation)
• Customer Service
• Direct Sales (i.e. domestic, markets where we don’t have a Sales structure)
• MICE (dominantly Incentive & Meeting & Events)
• Build and maintain key internal relationships with HR, Finance, IT and support offices as well as close cooperation within the department across Europe.
• Closely work with direct clients, suppliers, sales offices, tourism organizations and travel associations.

Operations (Destination Management & Customer Service)

• Responsible for the operational excellence in destination and for the service quality delivered by the local office.
• Secure optimal spread of tasks in the local office and streamline work processes and routines.
• Overall responsibility for service level agreements with sales.
• Monitor Operations KPI’s in terms of speed, fulfilment quality and deadlines.
• Overall responsible for customer service setup during office hours.
• Communicate with clients, representing the destination, meet & greet key customers and clients.
• Fully aware of complaint issues and ratios (KPI’s) and take measures to avoid any complaints.

Procurement Hotel & Product Development

• Responsible for applying the company’s market-leading hotel & Destination service procurement strategy (right product, right price, right collaboration).
• Align Sales’ expectations (demand side) with destination trends (supply side) to maintain a competitive product portfolio.
• Ensure sufficient hotel inventories for all source market requirements and in line with seasonal needs.
• Ensure rate competitiveness & sufficient hotel & Destination service portfolio (in line with market rates and demand and set KPI targets) and implement corrective measures.
• Monitor market trends and product innovation and reflect in product development in close cooperation with the Sales & Destination Management team.
• Ensure destination and product knowledge is transferred to all stakeholders (Sales / Hotels Reservation / Operations).
• Ensure your area offers special/exclusive agreements with key suppliers.
• Provide realistic additional revenue targets such as preferred partnership agreements with individual partners, National Tourist offices or Regional offices overrides, commissions and rebates.
• Ensure all business activities and employees comply with relevant financial, legislative, legal demands and ethical standards of the organization.
• Control and monitor contracting deadlines.

Management (HR / Finance / others)

• Manage and build a high-performing team and regularly hold meetings to ensure a strong office team spirit with open communication and exchange.
• Define strong MBOs that support the overall company strategy and values.
• Ensure staff training, development of key talents and mentoring your team.
• Reward outstanding performance and hold a fair and balanced salary policy in line with the financial budget.
• Workload control, vacation planning and assigning accountabilities.
• Increase team effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orientating, training, coaching, counselling and disciplining team members, communicating values, strategies and objectives.
• Monthly budgeting, managing business pipeline and regular forecasting in close cooperation with Finance.
• Constantly control overall profitability GOP and Operating Profit of the destination via internal Business Intelligence System (BIS).

To Succeed in the Role, You Should Have:

• Minimum 5-7 years of experience in a senior management position (ideally in a hospitality or international travel industry, including Asia, Japan, and European & USA market) or DMC background.
• Well connected to the UK and preferably Benelux travel trade (Travel Agency, NTO (i.e. Visit Britain), Tourism region, Hotels, excursion and attractions).
• Sales skills or experience dealing with customers (agencies or corporate companies).
• University degree or comparable higher education in a related field.
• Strong communication skills (written/spoken) in English at business level.
• Proven ability to work effectively for one of the largest travel companies in the world, achieving objectives through personal leadership.
• Experience in business transformation, integrations and change management.
• Effectively build relationships at senior levels (LT) and manage external as well as internal resources.
• Strong delivery focus and a proven track record of implementing workable solutions.
• Experience in managing large international teams effectively with the ability to inspire, energize and motivate.
• IT proficiency including good working knowledge of Microsoft Office (focus on data analysis in Excel and management reporting in PowerPoint).

We Are Looking for a Person With:

• Strong leadership skills.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Solution-oriented decision maker.
• Flexible manager with a positive can-do attitude.
• Ability to cope with different levels of stress.
• Highly organized.
• Strong work ethic.
• Meticulous attention to detail.

What We Offer:

• Global Brand: Opportunity to work in an international environment spread across 33 countries and growing.
• Stability: 100 Years at the top of our field and still pushing into new territory.
• Progression: We reward high performers and look to promote key talent internally.
• Learning and Development opportunities for growth and upskilling.
• A Supportive Management Culture and autonomous working environment.
• Company Wide Bonus Scheme.
• Dedicated Employee Engagement Activities.
• Flexible & Hybrid Working.
• Annual Awards and Recognition for high Performers.
• Friendly and Collaborative work environment.