Shaun Hinds, director of commercial, The Co-operative Travel Group
Shaun joined British Midland as area sales manager 20 years ago, when it was a domestic carrier, and helped launch new European routes.
He then moved to BAA, based at Stansted, with responsibility for encouraging more leisure business into the airport.
In 1996 he became senior manager, sales and marketing for Alamo, then joined Keith Mills (founder of Air Miles), who then owned First Call ticketing agency, which was later sold to Tesco.
In 2003 Shaun joined Cendant as business development manager and subsequently became MD of Cendant-owned Travel 2.
He left in April 2005 to become a full-time dad to Mathilde, and took up his current role as director of commercial for The Co-operative Travel in October 2007.
Describe your job:
Part of the executive management team of The Co-operative Travel Group, I have two strands of responsibility.
On one side I look after all of our commercial activities, such as cruise company and coach operator partners.
On the other side I have responsibility for all of our own in-house tour operations, the Co-operative Travel Holiday brochures and our dynamic packaging businesses, Escape Beach and Escape Flights and Cities.
I also oversee a sports event business that, among other things, is responsible for all the team and fan travel for Manchester United, and a couple of small brands, which focus on different destinations, such as Spain, Tenerife and South Africa.
Basically, I’m in charge of everything we buy from third parties and everything we put together ourselves.
Who reports to you?
Eight direct reports, three from the commercial team and five from the other tour operating and in-house products.
What’s the best thing about the job?
The diversity. I have got such a broad remit. My responsibility touches every single area of the business. Being on the senior management team means I am playing an influencing role in devising strategy and helping to take the business forward.
And the worst?
The frustration about the speed and capability at which I would like our technology to deliver for us. As a business, and as an industry, we have a lot of legacy systems. Some of our technology is good, but the industry is nowhere near the forefront of where we need to be.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned about the travel business?
You never really know it. You spend a lot of time trying to compare trading patterns and you think you know it and it has moved on.
How would your staff describe you?
I asked them, and this is what they told me: Quite an out-of-the-box thinker; always coming up with innovative ways of looking at things; someone that will come up with the one thing that no-one has thought of; approachable and busy.
You recently launched Co-operative Travel Holidays with Cosmos. How easy was it to form the joint venture?
Joining forces with a tour operator to create a new brand you would expect to encounter some issues. I found it to be quite a natural process. We put together this joint venture in a very short space of time in order to get the brochure on sale. It has gone very well. We come at it from a perspective of retail; Cosmos comes at it from an operator perspective. We are both bringing something to the party.
The brochure was launched earlier this month. What’s the feedback been like among branch staff?
Incredibly positive. They are pleased with the look of the brochure. There has been a lot of anticipation for the brochure among customers. Staff are excited that this is a starting point for us and they are keen to help it grow.
And what about reaction from the trade?
There’s been a disproportionately large amount of interest in what we are doing. We are still the largest third-party distributor of other people’s products. If my programme sells as well as the amount of interest then I won’t have any trouble reaching my targets.
Outside of work, how do you spend your time?
With my family, Mathilde, nearly four, and Charlie, 18 months.
On holiday, do you manage to switch off from work?
I never really switch off. I have always got one thought back on what is going on back in the office. I have recently been enlightened because I discovered how to turn off emails on my BlackBerry, and still receive phone calls. That has certainly had a positive effect on my marriage.
What keeps you awake at night?
My daughter.
On a long-haul flight, who (apart from family and friends) would you like to sit next to, and why?
Neil Armstrong. I’m a bit of an Apollo geek and for as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by the moon landing. To spend seven hours being able ask him about it would be fabulous. I’d start by asking whether, if he had the chance, he would go back.
What’s your favourite place to fly in to?
Dubai. The airport is extraordinary and I always have a great holiday in Dubai. Second is Manchester, because I know I’m nearly home.
Which, as yet, unvisited destination would you like to go to?
New Zealand. I got to know Australia very well when I was with Travel 2, but I never made it to New Zealand.
Who in the travel industry do you most admire, and why?
Air Miles founder Sir Keith Mills, who later set up First Call and then Nectar. He was chief executive of London 2012 and is now head of the Team Origin Americas Cup campaign. He’s the most down-to-earth, easy to talk to, inspirational guy you could meet.
If you weren’t in travel, what would you do?
I would be very tempted to become a builder. There is something about the ability to build and know all the other skills associated with it.
And now for the quick-fire round:
Manchester United or Manchester City? Easy – United
Yorkshire pudding or Lancashire hotpot? Yorkshire pudding
Blackpool or Benidorm? Benidorm
Oasis or Blur? Originally Blur, now Oasis
Corrie or Emmerdale? Neither – how about South Today or BBC North West? South Today
Brown or Cameron? Cameron
Online or offline? Online