General Manager

At Kuoni Tumlare, we design and deliver exceptional travel experiences through a comprehensive portfolio of destination management solutions. With over 100 years of expertise, we serve a global network of partners by offering series tours, educational trips, MICE events, guaranteed departure tours, and more. Our marketplace strategy is at the forefront of digital transformation, ensuring a competitive edge in a rapidly evolving travel landscape.

About the Role

As General Manager DMC UK and Benelux, you have the overall responsibility for running the local office as Destination Management Company (DMC). Your key responsibility is to deliver operational excellence (quality, planning, fulfilment, customer satisfaction) for both business segments (Leisure & MICE); driving the Procurement Strategy for all categories and customer segments, continuing the transformation from a “Group Travel” company image towards a strong DMC to become the first choice for customers in UK & Benelux. You work closely with the company strategy in close cooperation with our worldwide Sales Leadership team and COO Kuoni Tumlare.

You are fully responsible for controlling and optimizing revenue and GPM while constantly managing costs and budgets for your area of responsibility in UK & Benelux.

You have a proven ability to work effectively in a fast-moving organization, achieving objectives through personal leadership and strong communication. You possess profound management experience and a strong network and relationships in the travel industry (DMC, Travel Agency, Hotel industry) to successfully drive strategic plans in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.

The position expects a sustainable balance between strategic thinking, operational capability, and entrepreneurship. Furthermore, this position requires travel and visibility (networking) outside of working hours.

Key Responsibilities

As General Manager UK/Benelux, you will:

1. Report to the COO DMC & MICE Kuoni Tumlare.
2. Lead directly 6 Managers who report in UK and NL office directly to you, including:
1. Operations
2. Destination Management (Product & Quotation)
3. Customer Service
4. Direct Sales (i.e. domestic, markets where we don’t have a Sales structure)
5. MICE (dominantly Incentive & Meeting & Events)
3. Build and maintain key internal relationships with HR, Finance, IT and support offices as well as close cooperation within the department across Europe.
4. Work closely with direct clients, suppliers, sales offices, tourism organizations, and travel associations.

Operations (Destination Management & Customer Service)

1. Ensure operational excellence in destination and service quality delivered by the local office.
2. Secure optimal task distribution in the local office and streamline work processes and routines.
3. Overall responsibility for service level agreements with sales.
4. Monitor Operations KPIs in terms of speed, fulfilment quality, and deadlines.
5. Responsible for customer service setup during office hours.
6. Communicate with clients, representing the destination, and meet & greet key customers and clients.
7. Address complaint issues and ratios (KPIs) and take measures to avoid any complaints.
8. Apply the company’s market-leading hotel & Destination service procurement strategy.
9. Align Sales’ expectations with destination trends to maintain a competitive product portfolio.
10. Ensure sufficient hotel inventories for all source market requirements and in line with seasonal needs.
11. Monitor market trends and product innovation and reflect in product development in close cooperation with the Sales & Destination Management team.
12. Ensure destination and product knowledge transfer to all stakeholders.
13. Provide realistic additional revenue targets such as preferred partnership agreements.
14. Ensure all business activities comply with relevant financial, legislative, legal demands, and ethical standards of the organization.
15. Control and monitor contracting deadlines.

Management (HR / Finance / others)

1. Manage and build a high-performing team and regularly hold meetings to ensure strong office team spirit with open communication.
2. Define strong MBOs that support the overall company strategy and values.
3. Ensure staff training, development of key talents, and mentoring your team.
4. Reward outstanding performance and maintain a fair salary policy in line with the financial budget.
5. Control workload, vacation planning, and assign accountabilities.
6. Increase team effectiveness by recruiting, selecting, orienting, training, coaching, and counseling team members.
7. Budgeting (monthly) and managing business pipeline and regular forecasting in close cooperation with Finance.
8. Control overall profitability GOP and Operating Profit of the destination via internal Business Intelligence System (BIS).

To Succeed in the Role, You Should Have:

1. Minimum 5-7 years of experience in a senior management position in the hospitality or international travel industry.
2. Well connected to the UK and preferably Benelux travel trade.
3. Sales skills or experience dealing with customers.
4. University degree or comparable higher education in a related field.
5. Strong communication skills in English at business level.
6. Proven ability to work effectively in a large travel company, achieving objectives through personal leadership.
7. Experience in business transformation, integrations, and change management.
8. Ability to build relationships at senior levels and manage external as well as internal resources.
9. Strong delivery focus with a proven track record of implementing workable solutions.
10. Experience in managing large international teams effectively.
11. IT proficiency including good working knowledge of Microsoft Office.

We Are Looking for a Person With:

1. Strong leadership qualities.
2. Solution-oriented decision-making skills.
3. Flexible management style with a positive can-do attitude.
4. Ability to cope with different levels of stress.
5. Highly organized and strong work ethic.
6. Meticulous attention to detail.

What We Offer:

1. Global Brand: Opportunity to work in an international environment across 33 countries.
2. Stability: 100 years at the top of our field.
3. Progression: We reward high performers and promote key talent internally.
4. Learning and Development opportunities for growth and upskilling.
5. A supportive management culture and autonomous working environment.
6. Company-wide bonus scheme.
7. Dedicated employee engagement activities.
8. Flexible & hybrid working.
9. Annual awards and recognition for high performers.
10. Friendly and collaborative work environment.