American Holidays has opened the doors on its brand-new premises in Belfast City Centre, following a significant investment and a renewed strategy to increase its operations locally.
While remaining in Lombard Street, American Holidays will now occupy the old Ulster Bank site that has been vacant for several years. This new space will allow for the expansion of its retail shop and call centre for its trade partners, with a larger dedicated Belfast team in place. The new retail shop provides a relaxed and comfortable environment for staff and customers.
Above are Karen Sheals Hoy, Manager, and Astrid Bell, Cruise Product Manager, Belfast and Dublin.
Karen said: “We pride ourselves in offering a seamless and dedicated customer journey delivered through exceptional service. It is this passion shown by the team that resonates with our customers and gives them confidence in the services we offer. Today American Holidays has over 50 staff based in Belfast, Dublin and Leeds and we are proud to be part of the world’s largest collection of specialist travel brands.
“American Holidays has developed longstanding relationships across the industry, and we continue to forge new associations. American Holidays prides itself in having a dedicated team in place to negotiate and secure the best prices for our customers, so we can remain competitive in the marketplace.”
Starting as an independently owned company in Lombard Street 27 years ago, American Holidays opened its Belfast branch in 1991. The new larger premises will now allow for a new dedicated training room to be housed onsite, enabling American Holidays to host regular training sessions for their staff and the Northern Ireland travel trade with partnered airlines, hotels, destination team specialists, and suppliers.
Karen added: “As specialists in our field we can share the expertise we have at our fingertips with those who support us and to better develop everyone’s knowledge, especially of the lesser known areas of the USA and Canada.”
Astrid Bell said: “American Holidays’ biggest strength is our team. We know North America inside and out, upside and down, and have a great heritage as a specialist North American tour operator. We go the extra mile and know that it’s often the little things that make a big difference. Our sales staff have collectively visited almost every State, so we have the USA and Canada covered.
“We understand the need to invest in education and training for our staff and work very closely with training partners to develop training programmes for all.”
American Holidays is part of Travelopia, the world’s largest collection of specialist travel brands. It is always working to develop and grow new products to the USA & Canada – next year will be no different. 2020 will see a new 148-page North America brochure and a 100-page Escorted Touring brochure including Cruise and Canada. The new brochures will offer some new exciting experiences while also offering some old favourites. The new brochures will hit the shelves in November 2019.
