Specialist Holidays Group has today announced three significant trade-focused initiatives as it continues to strengthen its commitment to travel agent partners and deliver on its promise to make working with SHG easy and enjoyable
The three new initiatives include a dedicated trade bookings team, a new self-service trade booking portal, and a trade loyalty programme, which is all due to launch in Q4 2026.
The new self-service booking portal will include American Holidays for the first time.
Trade bookings have increased 57% year-on-year in June, and the new initiatives aim to keep it growing by making the booking process significantly smoother for trade partners.
The announcements came as SHG prepared for a busy few days of trade engagement. The business will host more than 250 agents at a VIP lunch, cocktail reception and at the Agent Achievement Awards in London, followed by hospitality at Chester races.
Jorge Quibell, Head of Trade partnerships at SHG, commented on the new initiatives, "We are currently recruiting Personal Travel Planners to join us in Horsham and Chester. We expect the team to grow significantly as demand continues to increase. Ours is a people business and building relationships sits central to all we do. [...] This is a significant development for the trade, providing access to a huge range of new product for agents to offer customers, creating greater choice for holiday options. The portal will provide 24/7 access to offers, products, incentives, and bookings across all three SHG brands: including American Holidays for the first time, we’re excited to see how this performs. [...] While this year has been challenging for much of the industry, we have seen stronger-than-forecast growth from the travel trade and are now doubling down on our commitment to the agents who have supported us by supporting them."
