loveholidays has appointed Ady Guthrie as Senior Director of Partnerships to lead a new trade-facing division, making the technology that powers its direct-sell platform available to the trade.
The online travel agent (OTA) will initially focus on white-label and API solutions, allowing other businesses to use the technology behind its holiday booking platform.
The move builds on existing white-label partnerships with HolidayPirates in the UK, which began in 2017, and German holiday deal aggregator Urlaubstracker.
Loveholidays, which is the UK’s third-largest ATOL holder, plans to expand its B2B offering across the wider travel industry and adjacent sectors, including airlines, airports, hotel chains, fintech businesses, loyalty programmes and sports organisations.
Independent third-party agents are not identified as potential partners at this stage, the company said ‘the immediate focus is on other businesses within the travel industry, and providing them with white label and API technology to integrate into their own platforms’.
Ady joins with more than 20 years’ experience in travel and technology partnerships, having previously held roles at Rentalcars.com, Booking.com, Meili and Auto Europe Car Rental. He will report to loveholidays Chief Marketing and Supply Officer Al Murray.
Loveholidays said it had increased its share of the UK package holiday market from 5% in 2019 to 15%, and reports that it now has an ATOL licence covering more than 5.5 million UK passengers a year.
Ady said: “I’m delighted to join loveholidays during such an exciting phase of its growth. Over the past decade, the team has built a flexible technology platform that makes finding and booking holidays incredibly easy, and we’re now in a position to bring that capability to more businesses and their customers.
“I’m looking forward to strengthening existing relationships and building new partnerships across the industry as we grow the division.”
Al added: “Industry partnerships have played a big part in getting loveholidays to where it is today, and they’ll be just as important in where we go next.
“Ady has spent his career building partnerships that work for both sides, and I’m delighted to welcome him to the team as we open up the technology that has fuelled our growth to other businesses.”
