Grecotel has appointed a new UK sales manager as it heats up the campaign to further support UK agents while also expanding its portfolio of 40 properties. 

Liz Shaw says she is ‘so excited’ to join Greece’s largest five-star hotel group, where she will primarily be responsible for the development and expansion of the luxury market. She’ll also be building strong relationships with agents through training, fam trips and events, all of which are crucial to the long term success of the business.

As she celebrates her one-month anniversary at Grecotel, Shaw speaks exclusively to TTG Luxury about the major career move and how she sees the vision for the company’s future. 

“It’s been a complete and utter whirlwind,” she first admits. “There are so many different elements, you’re not just on the road promoting the brand. You’re assisting with issues, you’re fighting to secure bookings with tour operators and travel agents, you’re looking after agents with staff and their own holidays. It’s fascinating.” 

Fortunately for Shaw, she is more than capable of facing the pressures of this challenging role. Her journey into the travel industry dates back to her teens, when she decided she wanted to explore the world before enrolling in university to study midwifery. However, after realising ‘backpacking or camping’ weren’t her forte, Shaw went searching for alternative ways to flex her passport. She landed her first travel job at Going Places, where she quickly discovered her knack for selling holidays, before heading to First Choice to further hone her business skills. 

What had begun as a stopgap gig to save money and travel, with the intention of then pursuing her nursing dream, ultimately turned into a lifelong career. Shaw fell in love with the thrill of finding new properties and sharing them with clients, and within a few years, she was climbing the ranks of this competitive industry. 

Shaw’s third agency was Thomas Cook, where she was promoted to assistant manager and later customer manager over four of its northern England branches. She was also heavily involved in the now-defunct company’s charities and specialist team, and even worked as a cruise specialist in its Chester store. 

But after Thomas Cook went bust in 2019, she considered leaving the industry altogether. The overnight collapse of the company resulted in the loss of more than 9,000 jobs in the UK, including Shaw’s.

Opportunity in adversity 

Shortly after her redundancy, she was offered a sales specialist role at luxury operator Elegant Resorts, but was unsure as to whether she should accept it. 

“I initially didn’t want to do it. I thought, there’s too many world events that make things go wrong,” she admits. “But my partner, seeing that I liked being a ‘lady of leisure’, told me I needed to take it!” The risk paid off, and Shaw’s career in luxury travel has continued to flourish.

While at Elegant Resorts, she became extremely familiar with its Mediterranean portfolio, which happened to include Grecotel’s Corfu Imperial. Her confidence in selling the resort on the island’s Kommeno peninsula saw its bookings ‘soar’ – results which quickly caught the attention of the brand’s director of sales for UK & luxury, Kostas Sinis. Impressed by Shaw’s razor sharp selling skills, he didn’t waste any time in offering her a job on his team. 

Why Grecotel?

“It was a completely different role to my previous ones,” Shaw explains. “Although I had a lot of experience selling the product, I’d never gone around training people on it. But Kostas had the confidence in me and I’m still here, four weeks later!” 

Shaw’s European roots also bring a unique perspective to the business. Born to a British mother and a Greek father, she grew up in Corfu until the age of 11 and continues to speak her native tongue. 

“My mum went on holiday there and met the waiter! It was a complete Shirley Valentine story. They even had a taverna on the beach,” she reveals. It was this Greek heritage that first attracted Shaw to Grecotel, giving her the confidence to easily adapt to Mediterranean work culture while also continuing to thrive in the UK. Another pull was the prospect of joining a family-owned business, where she believed she could make an impact on long-term growth.

“I thought, ‘It would be amazing to work for a hotel chain that wasn’t corporate.’ I have such autonomy here, which is lovely, because then if an agent or operator needs additional marketing or training, I can make that decision: ‘Yes, that’s no problem.’ There’s so much freedom,” she says. 

What’s next? 

Having fully embraced her new position, Shaw is taking advantage of this refreshing autonomy. She is currently focussed on the expansion of Grecotel’s sales team to support luxury travel agents and tour operators in the UK, vowing to work with the trade ‘more so than ever before.’

This includes inviting travel agents to events and fam trips, both of which are crucial for building strong relationships and exposing their properties to the market. 

“We work closely with the likes of Travel Counsellors and Designer Travel, just to name a couple,” she says. “If an agent is constantly in touch about bookings, then they’re the agents we target for our fam trips. If we’ve been to any agent dinners, we also reach out for fam trips, and we’ll suggest people for product knowledge.” 

But with Greece becoming an increasingly popular destination for British tourists, Grecotel is keen to do more. “The business has taken off massively here,” Shaw says. “We know we can support the UK even better.” She also points to the invaluable nature of the trade, adding that while social media influencers have their place in selling luxury, nothing can beat the expertise of the professionals. 

“We always want travel agents to visit our properties on fam trips, because they often have a client base who really trust them,” she explains. “Clients want to know, will their suitcase fit under the bed, or how many Nespresso pods will I get and what flavour will they be? It’s the small details that clients are paying the big bucks for.” 

As for Grecotel, Shaw confirms that the company – already operating in 12 destinations – ‘always’ has plans to expand its collection in Greece. “We are also constantly renovating our properties and investing money into the ones that we have,” she teases. “Watch this space!”