Bede Aquilina

Responsible for the total new customer acquisition and winback/reactivation business development strategy, plus sales frontline team's growth activities, across all travel segments of APAC & China, including: Airlines (i.e. consumer & flight disruption), Tour Operators/Destination Marketing Companies (DMCs)/Offline Concierges, Loyalty/ Affiliates/Redemption/Employee Benefits, Online Travel Agents (OTAs, i.e. open, closed user groups, online shopping, super-apps, finance/banking/insurance, etc), Tech Platforms, Wholesalers, Global Sales Agents (i.e. hire of 3rd party distributors in service black spots), etc.

Seasoned deal-maker that oversees the end-to-end API/WEB/White Label B2B2C integration on-boarding processes, approval of all commercial/financial/legal agreements, credentials/distribution types architectural blueprints and product mapping curation consultation for all new clients that want to connect with and sell Hotelbeds' vast inventory of multi-category products - Bridging supply & demand!

Led and participated in many work streams to constantly improve the overall acquisition area globally and to ensure that we maintain customer centricity in relation to everything that we do at all times, including: "Mission Acquisition" projects, new value propositions, new product business cases, tech-supported sales enablement research of software CRMs, assess FinTech payment solutions as we evolve beyond just being a bedbank, etc.

My major remit is diversification to generate a healthy profitable business mix and a laser-focused approach on driving truly valuable transformational partnerships that are mutually beneficial and long lasting...

Based in Singapore since mid-2017, I have spent many years at Gullivers Travels Association (GTA), then Hotelbeds (after our 3-way global integration in 2019, including with Tourico Holidays) working in the sourcing side of our business, managing large culturally diverse teams and driving our key Guarantees & Deposits Investments, as well as high-value Acquisitions throughout the region.

Reporting directly to the Regional Sourcing Director for APAC, I am a chief investor for the continent, responsible for establishing strategic alliances in accommodation services with hotels, clusters and chains that involve Hotelbeds contracting preferential rates, allotments and unique commercial conditions to have a competitive edge over the market. In exchange of securing such exclusivity's, Hotelbeds negotiate to make either performance-based Guarantees in the form of revenue &/or room nights (single or hybrid targets) or Deposits to deliver advanced cash flows to the supplier. The program structure has numerous benefits for partners: Client mapping optimization, point of sale ranking promotion due to additional points being accumulated as part of the complex positioning algorithm, special marketing across various platforms and many more perks…

Hotelbeds’ value proposition pertaining Guarantees & Deposits (G&D) is to hand-pick selective product in volume-potential destinations to provide heightened exposure for its connected multi-segmental B2B client network to focus their selling efforts on, constantly ensuring unbeatable rates and secured availability to meet the demands of their travellers.

Responsibilities:

• Assignment of destinations and portfolio ownership for sourcing tandems (contract, yield & market managers).

• Tasks that a G&D Specialist will coach, mentor and facilitate with their tandems:

o Pipelining, Acquisition & Qualification of potential suppliers.

o Business Intelligence Analysis checking and approval.

o Proposal checking and approval.

o Contract, Addendum & Termination checking and approval.

o Negotiation support or lead.

o Product Garantias (i.e. submissions, approval process, investment committee presentations, Q&A).

o On-going maintenance of existing agreements (i.e. trading, deviation & risk, operating margin & pricing maintenance, availability, client mapping optimization, sales push and many other parts).

o End-to-End management.

Head of 3-way regional sourcing integration of: Hotelbeds, Gullivers Travels Association (GTA) & Tourico Holidays. Responsible for successfully driving the output, financial results and metrics of a geographically and culturally disparate team of hotel rates, content and availability negotiators composed of Contract, Yield & Market Managers by providing critical strategic directions and leadership to overcome complex issues and coaching/mentoring team members towards their commercial success.

Direct Reports = 14 pax.

ABOUT HOTELBEDS - THE WORLD'S LARGEST B2B TRAVEL & FINTECH PLAYER WITH UNRIVALLED SCALE!

Since being established in 2001, Hotelbeds has combined organic growth with strategic acquisitions to support the vision of becoming the No.1 B2B travel ally. Following the simultaneous purchases of GTA & Tourico Holidays in 2017, Hotelbeds is now clearly the undisputed leader in the bedbank space.

In a fragmented and complex travel landscape, Hotelbeds provides +320,000 hotels across the globe with access to high-value, complementary distribution channels that significantly increase occupancy, rates and optimize RevPAR - whilst not competing with their direct brand.com distribution strategy.

Hotelbeds does this by offering hoteliers access to a network of +71,000 hard-to-reach B2B travel buyers such as: tour operators, retail travel agents, online travel agents, airlines, and loyalty & employee benefits schemes in +150 source markets worldwide. These sort after channels provide returning guests that book further in advance, cancel less, spend more in destination and stay longer.

In addition to accommodation services, Hotelbeds is also venturing into FinTech solutions and is the world’s largest B2B buyer & seller of travel ancillaries, operating under the "Beyond the Bed" brand, offering 24,000 transfer routes and 18,000 activities, as well as attractions, tickets, cruises and car hire.

HQ in Palma de Mallorca, Spain and has +3,100 employees spread across +60 offices globally.

Multi-Country Cluster Manager of Singapore & Indonesia, with offices in Singapore, Bali & Jakarta to manage. Responsible for successfully driving the output, financial results and metrics of a geographically and culturally disparate team of hotel rates, content and availability negotiators composed of Contract & Market Managers by providing critical strategic directions and leadership to overcome complex issues and coaching/mentoring team members towards their commercial success.

Direct Reports = 12 pax.

ABOUT GTA

GTA is a global distributor that provides travel companies with easy access to accommodation and destination services.

Our teams have been scouring the globe for +40 years to create a vast inventory of accommodation and unique destination service experiences, covering everything from airport transfers to attraction tickets and excursions. Travel companies, such as: travel agents and tour operators, access this via our state-of-the-art technological connectivity solutions, enabling them to create truly exceptional travel experiences for the traveller.

We are trusted by our clients to deliver because of the wealth of experience and on-the-ground expertise that we offer.

• Global HQ: London, England
• Company Size: 1,001-5,000 employees
• Website: www.gta-travel.com
• Industry: Leisure, Travel & Tourism
• Founded: 1975
• Type: Public Company

Established in Rozelle, Sydney, NSW Australia in the year 2000 as a manufacturing company of a premium range of gelativo branded Gelatos, Sorbets and Greek Style Frozen Yoghurts. The build in 2016 of our state-of-the-art 4,300m2 manufacturing plant and distribution centre in Derrimut VIC was a major achievement.

Main Job Tasks & Responsibilities:

• Total P&L and budget accountability.
• Review performance data (i.e. financial, sales and activity reports) to monitor and measure productivity.
• Trade commercial head with strategic and management involvement across all channels and customers, key negotiator (i.e. trading terms, activations, etc), complex deal-making specialist.
• Determine and allocate multi-departmental staffing requirements.
• Day-to-day operational management, multi-divisional/functional.

I have +10 years participation selling branded products (with some private label dealings) to the following channels and customers:

1. Domestic (Australia)

• Grocery, Independents & Gourmet (all major retailers): Woolworths, Coles, ALDI (branded and private label), Costco, SPAR, Metcash (all major MSO IGA and Foodworks groups): Ritchie's, Drake's, Romeo's, Chapley's, Harris Farm Markets, Thomas Dux Grocer, Karellas, Benzat, Supabarn, Cornett's, LeMax, LaManna, Champion's, Ryan's, to name a few.
• Clearance/Discounters: NQR, Rite Price, Spud Shed, SPC Ardmona, DSTOK, Unlimited Buying Power, plus many small operators.
• Route Trade/P&C: I have dealt with 7 Eleven and Caltex.
• QSR/Airlines: Retail Food Group (Crust Gourmet Pizza Bars), Alpha Flight Services, Gate Gourmet.
• Foodservice/Wholesale: I have dealt with many distributor members of: PFD Foods, Bidvest, Countrywide/CFA, NAFDA, plus many independents.

2. Export (Asia, Oceania - to date)

• Grocery: E-Mart, Korea is the most notable.

Our gelativo Mango Sorbet 1L is the No.5 best selling SKU in the entire ice cream category.

gelativo is the No.1 gelato brand in the Australian grocery trade!

Check out www.gelativo.com

Responsibilities: Defining authority managing the whole business.

Achievements:

• First launched back in 1988, the Enrico's name quickly became a channel leader in the sale of premium, single, heat & serve, Meals & Pizzas to thousands of school canteens Australia-wide.
• I purchased the intellectual property assets, rejuvenated the brand/marketing/packaging/etc and then out-sourced manufacturing/storage/distribution/end-user selling/etc of the products to focus on driving top-line growth and profitability.
• Enrico Viscontini had a comprehensive national distribution network and was accredited by all key school canteen associations in the country. These associations are namely the Healthy Kids Association (HKA), Federation of Canteens in Schools (FOCiS) and the Western Australia School Canteen Association (WASCA) Star Choice scheme.
• I sold the business to Vesco Foods on the 29th November 2013. Vesco Foods are parent owned by a significant private equity group called Catalyst Investment Managers, who also own Prepared Foods Australia. Vesco Foods is one of Australia's leading multinational manufacturers and distributors of frozen meals and meal components.
• I effectively built the company up and then sold it off lucratively.

Check out www.enricos.com.au

Manufacturer and distributor.

Responsibilities:

• Account management and new business development of all customers in the following channels: Grocery, Independents, Food Service, Route, P&C, etc.
• Meeting all financial targets and KPIs set.
• Managing all national field sales and telesales teams.
• Key negotiator of exclusive supply trading agreements.
• Reporting directly to the CEO/Managing Director.

High-end gelato bar and dessert cafe chain.

Check out www.gelatomessina.com