Le Doze said the trade was extremely important to Eurostar, both in terms of filling seat capacity and putting the brand back on the map after Eurostar launched a new brand and logo on Monday (9 October), as well as a new loyalty scheme.
The deal will broaden Eurostar’s network to a wider range of services and destinations, with the operator looking to become a "connector" between intra-European high-speed rail services and regional domestic rail networks.
Eurostar is also poised to relaunch its offering for agents, including a new trade portal and other resources to help them work more closely with the business. The brand is also looking at additional trade hires, Le Doze revealed.
“Agents are really key for us in terms of both filling the trains and getting visibility,” Le Doze said. “Trade partners are fundamental when it comes to helping us get to different types of travellers, including groups and older customers.”
Chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave, who revealed separately to TTG some of the struggles the brand has faced over the past few years, added agents were particularly valuable when it came to tapping into overseas markets.
"Tour operators and travel agents are really key for us if we want overseas tourists to travel by train when they come to Europe,” she said.
To strengthen its relationship with trade partners, Eurostar has relaunched its B2B website, which will showcase its newest content and give agents all the tools needed to sell the new-look portfolio, he said.
The company is also looking at recruiting for several B2B roles as part of its ongoing effort to turn bring Eurostar and Thalys together under a single organisational structure, something it has already started by merging the two brands’ loyalty schemes.
Le Doze said after integrating Eurostar and Thalys’s commercial teams, this effort would go further. "The indirect [trade] sales team is no exception,” he continued.
“We’re really restructuring it so everybody who works across what used to be Eurostar, and Thalys approaches it as a single organisation.”
