CoachHire.com has appointed The Travel Network Group’s former group commercial director Martin Andrew as chief operating officer.
The company has also revealed an increased focus on technology-led booking solutions for the B2B market.
Andrew brings more than 25 years’ experience and has worked at firms including MyTravel, RCI Vacation Exchange and, most recently, The Travel Network Group.
Since starting in November, Andrew has already centralised the contact centre teams into the Slough head office and overseen an increase in B2B sales by focusing the field sales team on bringing group transport booking technology to the education, corporate and travel sectors.
New products for the B2B sectors include the “industry-first” Tripbooker portal.
The portal allows organisations to get live pricing for group journeys from pre-vetted suppliers; book and check their compliance details in one place; and improved account login, designed to make it easy for tour operators and agents to instantly price and add bespoke coach transport to their packages.
“I was immediately excited by the ambition at CoachHire.com and their use of technology to solve clerical, safety and pricing problems for their customers,” said Andrew.
“I look forward to showcasing these technologies and bringing their benefits to more businesses in the coming year.”
CoachHire.com will be exhibiting their new Tripbooker booking and compliance portal on Stand B1066 at the upcoming Business Travel Show at London Olympia from February 22-23.
CoachHire.com managing director, Mathew Hassell, said: “We’re very pleased to have someone with Martin’s experience and commercial acumen in charge of the teams and spearheading the release of our new tech in 2017.”