Railbookers sees ‘enormous potential’ as UK team expands

Railbookers has expanded its UK team in response to the “untapped potential” of rail travel.

Raj Mistry joined the operator on April 7 in the newly created role of UK head of trade sales and development following two years as business relationship expert at Explora Journeys. Prior to that, he spent more than nine years at Carrier.

Speaking to Aspire, Mistry said the operator was in a “really exciting” place, with his main focus on “re-engaging” trade partners that have worked with Railbookers in the past.

Speaking about his new role, Mistry said: “I got approached by my first ever boss in travel, Frank Marini, who’s the chief executive and president of Railbookers Group. He explained what they’re doing and how they’re doing it, and it’s really, really exciting.”

Railbookers’ director of marketing, Anna Davies, said it was a “great time” for Mistry to join the team due to the “untapped potential with our agent partners”.

She said: “Product expansion has happened and we can do more than we did, so talking about where our product has expanded and other destinations people may not have thought about Railbookers for is a big piece of our ambitions.”

She added: “One of the things we always say to agents is if anything around rail gets mentioned, come to us at the beginning of the conversation, rather than the end. Not only can we take care of the rail piece, but we can do everything around it.”

Mistry said the operator also wanted to challenge common perceptions of rail travel and ensure it’s not treated as a “tertiary” element of a trip.

Railbookers continues to see growing demand for luxury rail experiences, the pair said.

“There are so many ways in which we can add in that taste of luxury travel into a broader itinerary,” Davies said. “Whether they want to upgrade to five star or if they want first class throughout, we’re seeing lots of those sorts of components being added in.”

As well as launching new itineraries and product combinations in the near future, the brand is increasing its collection of private destination experiences, including the chance to join an exclusive visit to the Vatican while it’s closed to the public in September.

The group also plans to introduce new technology to improve its operations and allow agents to book journeys two years in advance.