If Only eyes new Glasgow premises 'by the end of the year'
James ChappleIf Only plans to complete its move to new, larger premises in Glasgow city centre “by the end of the year” to accommodate its “ambitious” growth plans.
The operator, based around 10 miles north of the city in Milngavie, has been working with a property broker to whittle down a shortlist of suitable locations.
“What we are now down to is the structure of the deal,” chief executive Andy Freeth told TTG on Thursday (July 19). “We want to get in by the end of the year so we can bed in before peak season.
“We’ve been in Milngavie for 14 years. We’re on an enterprise business park that really wasn’t built for a company like If Only. We’ve taken over several units, but we’ve outgrown it now. We need a bigger space to accommodate a larger team.”
Freeth said access to the city’s Central or Queen Street stations was paramount to ensure strong business transport links and staff access.
“One of the main objectives of the office move is to create a more open plan, collaborative, positive working space as we grow,” said Freeth.
“The reason we made this public is there are so many people involved in a move like this, it was bound to come out. I’d rather they [If Only staff] heard it from me first.
“We’ve already spoken to our team because we care about them and want to make sure [the move] works for everyone. We may have to offer some flexibility to keep everyone with us.”
'Recruitment is ongoing in most departments'
Freeth joined If Only in April after his protracted move from Gold Medal Travel 2, along with sales and marketing director Gordon McCreadie, business development director Tracy Docherty and head of specialist business David Irving.
He has already overseen the arrival of more than a dozen new members of staff, taking the operator’s headcount to around 80.
Last month, TTG reported If Only had revamped its phone system and expanded its reservations team following 42% year-on-year growth in sales during April, May and early June.
“Recruitment is ongoing in most departments,” said Freeth. “It’s gradual in line with our growth.
"Our main focus is on what we can do for the trade in terms of more product and better service.
"We want to ensure we see more new travel agents each week. It’s important we get the headcount right for peaks too.
“We’re working with a select group of retailers on an exclusive basis to provide marketing bespoke assets and we want to extend our product commercial team to build campaigns too.”
'I think what we're doing is very achievable'
Freeth said one thing that “defined” growth was new product: “You have to beef up the team every time,” he explained.
If Only last month launched its Caribbean, Mexico and Bermuda programme. It will launch Canada in December and Latin America and South Africa in the New Year.
The tour operator will also launch a luxury “cruise and stay” programme to the trade later this year, likely in November, in partnership with "five or six" luxury operators.
“It all sounds like a lot, but when you work with partners on the ground and DMCs, you can get things up and running quite quickly,” said Freeth.
“The trick is making sure you have the talent to make it work. Three new destinations in 18 months is quite ambitious, and it will be a lot of hard work. But we’re doing it slowly and carefully.
“It’s not all about launching new destinations though. You have to keep discipline around existing destinations. We are always looking at them, reviewing them and improving them.
“We have a team who know what they are doing and have been through business growth in the past. I think what we are doing is very achievable.”
Freeth added he was encouraged by growth in the independent travel agency community, particularly the luxury, tailor-made end.
“We will grow with them,” he said. We’re seeing a lot of nice, steady growth from our deal with The Travel Network Group too.”
James Chapple
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