Director, Swift Travel Visa Agency Ltd
Jon French
About Jon
Jon is a board-level executive / MD with an extraordinary depth of knowledge in both B2C and B2B travel businesses. His range of achievements are as diverse as leading teams of up to 200 people, and generating start-up projects (easyJet holidays, and OTA OctopusTravel Spain) and launching Dynamic Packaging and other new product development (for ebookers/Orbitz). Jon’s knowledge of technology in travel is impressive, and he has worked on multiple optimisation projects and is experienced in the challenges of technology project work from concept to delivery. Prior to Swift & his other engagements, Jon led the Strategic Partnerships team at Hotelbeds, developing their airline proposition & led its ground-breaking partnership with easyJet holidays. Jon’s B2C credentials also include covering senior/board roles at LateRooms and ebookers/Orbitz, and taking on the Managing Director’s role at OTA Octopus Travel Spain, an early adopter of online travel back in 2004. Jon started his career in contracting transportation, Tours, and Activities in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, and built his early reputation in worldwide buying in the Destination Services division of Gulliver’s Travel Associates.
Jon has lived & worked abroad, including Australia and Spain – he is also fluent in Spanish. He now lives on the Kent coast with his family and is a lover of travelling & (relatively) healthy living.
Major Achievements
- Set-up two organisations from scratch, delivering growth & customer success in both.
- Struck landmark deals such as Singapore Airlines for Hotelbeds Strategic Partnerships.
- Developed new beach product stream for Orbitz/ebookers, delivering over €30 M in incremental revenues.
- Designed, delivered and won board approval for Airline proposition at Hotelbeds, doubling revenue in 4 years.
- 20+ years experience of managing large teams – up to 200 people, remote, global and in matrix organisations through times of great growth, but also times of uncertainty, economic downturn and constant change.
- Managed delivery, execution and strategy for Hotels and Dynamic Packaging at ebookers, moving a low-margin flight dependent company to a more balanced higher margin product mix.
- Launched inbound Destination Services product (purchasing and operations) for GTA in key gateway cities.
- 10 years contracting experience of destination services & experiences product across Asia Pacific, Middle East/Mediterranean, Africa & the Americas. (Restaurants, Ground Transportation, Tourist attractions)
- Led complex multi-million pound technology projects as Business Product Owner at ebookers, easyJet holidays and Hotelbeds from conception to delivery and execution stage.
- 9 years managing B2C Travel e-commerce companies overseeing all aspects of the business, from P&L, digital marketing, business optimisation, Customer Service to User Experience – and tremendous growth through internationalisation.
Career History Summary:
- Director of Strategic Partnerships / New Business Development, Hotelbeds, 2015-2019
- Managing Director, easyJet holidays (Hotelbeds partnership), 2013-2015
- Operations Director, LateRooms, 2013
- Director Hotel and Package, ebookers/Orbitz, 2006-2012
- Managing Director, OctopusTravel (Madrid) 2004-2006
- Worldwide Contracts Manager, Gulliver’s Travel Associates 1997-2004
- FIT Ground Transportation Operations, GTA 1994-1997