Traveltek Group has appointed respected industry leader Chris Brown to spearhead its user experience transformation strategy.

The former sunshine.co.uk and holidaywatchdog.com boss comes on board as group product manager.

The role has been newly created for Brown as the travel tech specialist looks to harness his extensive online travel agent and web-based travel review experience to make major enhancements to its entire business-to-business suite, in particular its iSell and iTour products.

Both are already used by a large number of agents and operators across the UK.

Brown has years of practical experience using iSell – the technology system of choice among the independent agency community.

In his new role, he will work with Traveltek clients to determine how the user experience can be enriched.

From improving user-friendliness and streamlining supplier integration to introducing new and exciting user-generated content, Brown is looking to make changes that he believes will take travel technology innovation to the next level.

“I am a passionate techie with a great understanding of Traveltek’s products and their intricacies and I’ve come on board to ensure travel agents get the very best out of them,” said Brown.

“There is so much scope to refine the User Experience and to introduce new concepts such as user-generated content that can be leveraged as a unique selling tool – a concept that is yet to be rolled out to the trade on mass by any technology provider.

“I am therefore really excited to join Traveltek as it looks to pioneer a user experience strategy that will set the company apart on a global scale.”

Brown boasts extensive travel industry experience that has been well-documented in the trade media.

Starting out as a telesales travel agent at Virgin Travelstore in 2000, he was appointed agency sales support manager at medhotels.com a year later and then launched independent holiday review website holidaywatchdog.com in 2003, which was acquired by TripAdvisor in 2008.

He then co-founded sunshine.co.uk, a large and successful online travel agency, which quickly established a reputation as a leader in online travel reservations.

Brown left the company in 2012, but earlier this year, it was snapped up by beach holidays specialist OnTheBeach for £12 million.

Brown boasts enviable content management experience and before joining Traveltek was projects and operations manager at Online Travel Group where he led the company’s restructure and website development.

In his role at Traveltek, Brown will complement the work of Dominic Williams, the company’s recently-appointed creative services director, who is responsible for digital and brand development strategy, including data-driven user experience design and digital user interface design.

Both appointments come as Traveltek embarks on its biggest growth phase in its 20-year history, spearheaded by the company’s president Kenny Picken, who at the end of last year, secured £5.3 million investment from private equity fund manager YFM to plough into product development and international expansion.

“Chris brings unrivalled online travel agency and web review experience to Traveltek, which coupled with his knowledge of iSell and understanding of what travel agents need from their travel technology, will bring a brand new dimension to our business-to-business products,” said Picken.

“We have always had a close working relationship with the trade and with Chris on board, I am confident this collaborative approach will reach new heights.

“The outcome will be a mind-blowing user experience that upholds Traveltek’s ongoing reputation as an industry pioneer.”

Traveltek was recognised by the World Travel Awards in St. Petersburg

More Information

Traveltek has been delivering world-leading technology to the global travel industry for 20 years.

It was the first travel technology company to develop aggregated tour operator content on the web for travel agents in 1997 and in 2004 released the very first advanced dynamic packaging tools for the travel trade.

Traveltek provides leisure travel content of more than 400 industry suppliers, including 190 cruise company’s content powering Traveltek’s hugely successful travel agency and cruise retail and wholesale selling systems.

Within the UK Traveltek systems are used by seven of the eight travel consortia and in international markets, Traveltek now support clients in 42 countries worldwide with regional offices in Miami, Sydney, Hyderabad, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong with more planned in 2018.

Traveltek recently took the title of Europe’s Leading Travel Technology Provider at the World Travel Awards.

The company is also nominated for the title of World’s Leading Dynamic Packaging Solutions Provider at the World Travel Awards Grand Final in December.

Find out how to vote for the company here.