About the role
Swain Destinations sells primarily through the trade: travel advisors and the consortia they belong to, including Virtuoso, American Express Travel, Signature, and Ensemble. This role exists to grow that channel. You are the person in the market winning new advisor relationships, deepening the ones we have, and making sure Swain is the first operator an advisor thinks of for Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, and Africa.
This is part new business, part account management. You hunt for productive new advisors and you keep our best ones engaged, supported, and selling.
What you'll do
- Identify, pursue, and onboard new travel advisors and agencies, with a focus on productive accounts inside our consortia.
- Own a portfolio of advisor relationships: stay in regular contact, understand each advisor's book, and grow their Swain bookings year over year.
- Represent Swain at trade shows, consortia events, and advisor functions, including Virtuoso Travel Week.
- Deliver training, destination briefings, and product updates that make advisors confident selling Swain.
- Be the advisor's internal advocate, connecting them to the right consultant and resolving friction quickly.
- Track pipeline, activity, and production against targets, and report on what is working.
- Feed market intelligence back to the team: what advisors are asking for, where competitors are winning, and where we have room.
- Partner with marketing on advisor-facing campaigns, co-op opportunities, and event follow-up.
AI-forward expectations
Swain is building AI into how we operate, and we want this role comfortable using it.
- Use AI productivity tools to work efficiently and keep your day-to-day moving.
- Familiarity with Claude is a strong plus; general comfort with AI productivity tools is expected.
- We would rather you spend your time in front of advisors than at your desk, and we expect you to use good tools to make that trade.
Skills & qualifications
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
- 3+ years in travel trade sales, business development, account management, or advisor-facing relationship roles. Experience with a tour operator, DMC, luxury hotel group, or consortium is a strong plus.
- Knowledge of the luxury travel advisor channel and how consortia work.
- Proven ability to build relationships and grow revenue from a portfolio of accounts.
- Comfortable traveling and presenting to groups.
- Excellent communication, follow-through, and organization.
- A self-starter who measures themselves on production, not activity.
- Genuine interest in our destinations and the high-touch, personalized travel we sell.
Why Swain Destinations
Swain Destinations is a luxury personalized tour operator specializing in Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific, and Africa. We hold status with Virtuoso, Signature, American Express, and Ensemble. Our edge is specialization depth and relationship quality, which makes the advisor relationship the heart of the business and this role central to it.
To apply: Email [email protected] with your resume and LinkedIn URL.
