This October, Related launches a brand new representation and sales agency – Nordic Travel Rep. – based in Stockholm offering representation and sales in the Nordic market. The new agency, which will especially focus on hotels and DMCs, has just landed its first new customers.
Since the beginning in 2003, Related have had a strategic approach to communication and representation. However, due to an increasing demand for sales capabilities, we have now started a new agency – Nordic Travel Rep. – with this exact focus.
– The majority of our clients have a very strategic and long-term market approach focusing on strengthening their brand and image. Related’s clients, of course, also want to see specific results, but for quite some time we have been wanting to offer an even better product within sales to the many hotels and DMCs who have approached us over the years in search for a Nordic representative whose primary focus is on sales, bookings and leads – and immediate sales results, explains Director and Partner in Related and now also Nordic Travel Rep., Henrik Koch. He continues:
– It requires a sales-oriented company culture to generate bookings, leads and short-term results, and that will collide with a culture based on strategic branding and communication – and long-term thinking. Therefore, it makes great sense for us to divide the activities in two separate agencies.
Same services – different focus
In Related, sales, trade and MICE will still be an integrated part of the Nordic representation product, which is offered to all clients. Similarly, Nordic Travel Rep. will also offer PR and marketing services, but it will be as a supplement – a support activity to increase sales results.
– To effectively create short-term ROI, it requires a different set-up – both in terms of administration and employees. This set-up is now established in a new construction, which of course is based upon all the experience we, in Related, have had through the years – and the extensive knowledge we have gathered about the Nordic travelers, both from our work and from our annual market survey and analysis, Henrik Koch explains.
A small handful of our existing hotel and DMC clients are naturally moved to the new company, but we have already signed our first new clients in Nordic Travel Rep. Among these are the UAE-based DMC Orient Tours, who wants to establish relations with the Nordic travel industry and generate bookings in the Nordics – and therefore is a perfect fit for Nordic Travel Rep.
Familiar face in front
To run the new company, we have found the perfect profile: Natalie Stavrakos, a familiar face, as she has been part of the Related team since 2016, working with sales, trade and MICE. In a transition period, she will still have some assignments in Related, but her primary focus will now be to run Nordic Travel Rep., provide services to the new and existing clients – and engage in dialogues with potential ones.
– Through her strong commitment and result-driven approach to representation, Natalie has proven herself to be the perfect candidate for starting a company like Nordic Travel Rep. Also, with her in charge we ensure that the Related culture and way of serving clients, which has proven very successful and effective over the years, are naturally integrated in the Nordic Travel Rep. DNA. We can already see a strong demand for the product, that Nordic Travel Rep. offers, so we hope to convert that interest into new recruitments in 2019, concludes Henrik Koch.
Read more about Nordic Travel Rep. at www.nordictravelrep.com or on Instagram @nordictravelrep.
