Partner plans

Key to these plans is the trade.

“I’m a massive advocate of partner strategies,” she says. This includes a new scheme entitled Very Important Agents which will see additional “perks for agents”, Darrington says, although she adds more will be revealed soon.

“Expanding the membership of this is very much on my to do list.

We have 200 agents signed up already, and we are really keen to grow further.”

Darrington is also keen to alter the way in which the Funway team themselves view agents. “I want to build a sales force that is putting agents first as if they were customers,” she says.

“When you build relationships, agents feel much more engaged and more inclined to work with you because they trust you and know you’ll deliver on your promises.”

The plan is just one of several which Darrington has lined up. Other strategies include reinforcing to the trade the quality of product that Funway can offer, especially with regards to accommodation, which Darrington admits “is a perception piece we need to work on”.

“Most of our hotels are four or five-star, but agents have a perception that we only offer lower-starred in New York. I want to change that as our offering is broad-ranging,” she says.

With 70 UK employees, Funway is larger than many agents may realise, and with Darrington now onboard, it is likely to grow faster. Bookings from agents are up 35% year-on-year, which the operator admits is partly down to Virgin Holidays’ move to go direct – “we were in the right place at the right time,” Darrington says.

However, she concedes that Funway needs to do a better job of telling the trade – and consumers – about its offerings.

“Our relationship with Sandals has been nurtured for a number of years and we’re one of the few operators to have a direct partnership with Disney. There’s a lot that has happened that we haven’t shouted about and we need to.”

US influence

Darrington is also keen to take advice from the US side of the business, with Funway Holidays owned by the Milwaukee-based Mark Travel Corporation (MTC).

“We are a family and we refer to them [MTC’s flagship US brand FunJet] as our cousins, which helps our purchasing power,” she explains. “It’s such a well-known and respected brand in America and we’ve been given the autonomy to grow Funway in the UK.”

It seems Funway’s American DNA could soon be expanding from the boardroom to the sales floor, with Darrington planning to visit MTC’s agent seminar in Cancun, which plays host to 800 of the companies’ stateside travel consultants. “I’d definitely like to see if it would be relevant for UK agents,” she says.

This eagerness to tinker and improve suggests Darrington is already feeling part of the Funway furniture. She admits the welcoming office culture has played a big part in her enjoyment of the role.

“There’s a real passion to look after people. I haven’t tried it out yet, but I love the fact that anyone of us can call him [MTC chairman and billionaire owner William La Macchia] up and have a chat.

“He ends every phone call with ‘go be unique’,” she adds with a smile. “It shows he’s living by the same values he put into the company he started in 1974.”