Grecotel has appointed a new UK sales manager as it heats up the campaign to further support UK agents while also expanding its portfolio of 40 properties.
Liz Shaw says she is ‘so excited’ to join Greece’s largest five-star hotel group, where she will primarily be responsible for the development and expansion of the luxury market. She’ll also be building strong relationships with agents through training, fam trips and events, all of which are crucial to the long term success of the business.
As she celebrates her one-month anniversary at Grecotel, Shaw speaks exclusively to TTG Luxury about the major career move and how she sees the vision for the company’s future.
“It’s been a complete and utter whirlwind,” she first admits. “There are so many different elements, you’re not just on the road promoting the brand. You’re assisting with issues, you’re fighting to secure bookings with tour operators and travel agents, you’re looking after agents with staff and their own holidays. It’s fascinating.”
Fortunately for Shaw, she is more than capable of facing the pressures of this challenging role. Her journey into the travel industry dates back to her teens, when she decided she wanted to explore the world before enrolling in university to study midwifery. However, after realising ‘backpacking or camping’ weren’t her forte, Shaw went searching for alternative ways to flex her passport. She landed her first travel job at Going Places, where she quickly discovered her knack for selling holidays, before heading to First Choice to further hone her business skills.
What had begun as a stopgap gig to save money and travel, with the intention of then pursuing her nursing dream, ultimately turned into a lifelong career. Shaw fell in love with the thrill of finding new properties and sharing them with clients, and within a few years, she was climbing the ranks of this competitive industry.
Shaw’s third agency was Thomas Cook, where she was promoted to assistant manager and later customer manager over four of its northern England branches. She was also heavily involved in the now-defunct company’s charities and specialist team, and even worked as a cruise specialist in its Chester store.
But after Thomas Cook went bust in 2019, she considered leaving the industry altogether. The overnight collapse of the company resulted in the loss of more than 9,000 jobs in the UK, including Shaw’s.
Opportunity in adversity
Shortly after her redundancy, she was offered a sales specialist role at luxury operator Elegant Resorts, but was unsure as to whether she should accept it.
“I initially didn’t want to do it. I thought, there’s too many world events that make things go wrong,” she admits. “But my partner, seeing that I liked being a ‘lady of leisure’, told me I needed to take it!” The risk paid off, and Shaw’s career in luxury travel has continued to flourish.
While at Elegant Resorts, she became extremely familiar with its Mediterranean portfolio, which happened to include Grecotel’s Corfu Imperial. Her confidence in selling the resort on the island’s Kommeno peninsula saw its bookings ‘soar’ – results which quickly caught the attention of the brand’s director of sales for UK & luxury, Kostas Sinis. Impressed by Shaw’s razor sharp selling skills, he didn’t waste any time in offering her a job on his team.