It will represent a significant loss too for Funway, since Sandals business accounts for a considerable proportion of the 38,000 passengers it was licensed to carry to the end of March 2017, when the Sandals licence agreement comes to an end.

But Thompson is keen to emphasise Funway will remain an important partner in the future.

“We will still be sold through Funway, and other operator partners. We want to work with everybody that has a potential customer for us,” he insists.

“But for agents, it will be appealing to be able to call us directly and deal with a team that only handles Sandals and Beaches,” he adds.

Gearing up

An additional 25 staff have been taken on at Sandals’ contact centre across sales, ticketing and other roles ready for the launch, and Sandals plans to employ its first homeworkers, to take calls from UK agents up until 11pm at night.

A bespoke booking portal has been created with TravelTek, which will enable flight-inclusive packages witha choice of airlines to be booked up to two years in advance.

“Getting the website right has been a massive undertaking,” Thompson admits. “Making two and  even three-centre holidays bookable online is pretty complicated. But agents who know our resorts inside-out want the online option.”

Agents will also be able to book excursions with Sandals’ sister- company Island Routes on the portal, and airport lounges through No1 Lounges.

An availability calendar will enable agents to see an entire month at a glance, and they will even be able to book on mobile devices.

Agents already using TravelTek’s iSell platform will also be able to book accommodation-only and tailor-make Sandals product – although members,” he notes. “And it’s such a lucrative product for agents to sell; they might make £2,800 on a £20,000 booking.”

A new VIP club for agents, called Club Sandals, will give consortia members their own dedicated phone lines on which to contact the call centre. And Thompson promises Sandals’ popular Sell & Go programme, which rewards agents with free nights, will continue to offer exactly the same rewards, no matter how agents book. Sandals Luxury Included Stars incentive programme, meanwhile, is to be relaunched as

“Sandals Specialist”, with new benefits, and will again be available across the board.

“Nor will our business development managers be incentivised to get agents to book with us instead. We will help agents grow their Sandals business by whatever channel,”
he claims.

Importantly, the new tour operation will maintain price parity across its B2C and B2B sites, so consumers will not be able to get better deals directly from Sandals.

“There will always be those customers who want to deal directly with us. But we are committed to making any deal we offer customers available through the agent community too,” Thompson insists, pointing out that Sandals’ top customer in the UK, and in fact the whole world – a gentleman who has racked up more than 1,000 nights at Sandals resorts – always books with his travel agent.

Boosting business

Meanwhile, the nimbleness that running its own tour operation will bring should mean more tactical promotions on which agents can capitalise in the future

“Now, if we see some last-minute availability on a flight or in a resort, we’ll be able to get that deal on sale through agent partners within minutes,” he says.

Thompson expects the new venture will increase Sandals’ UK business considerably, but any extra growth will come hot on the heels of several very successful years: UK revenue has almost doubled over the past three years, and so far in 2017 revenue is 18% up on the same period last year.

The growth is in part driven by burgeoning capacity across Sandals’ resorts, with major developments underway in Barbados and St Lucia. By the end of this year, Sandals will have close to 6,000 rooms across 19 resorts on seven islands, and several other projects are in the pipeline, including a rumoured Tobago resort.

With such ambitious plans, it’s no wonder Sandals wants to take “more control of its destiny”. But Thompson is eager to reassure the trade of their vital role within those plans.

“We want to grow our business through all our partners – all agents, all operators,” he insists. “Launching our own operation is just one piece of our overall growth strategy for the next few years.

“It’s about pushing the brand, first and foremost, and agents and tour operators alike can benefit from the millions of pounds-worth of advertising we do in the UK,” he concludes. “It really is win-win.”