Lucy Holden, sales executive at Railsbank, entered TTG’s 30 under 30 in the class of 2019. She talks about embracing technology and keeping on top of travel trends.
Joining the travel industry was a matter of being in the right place at the right time, says Lucy Holden [now 31].
“In my mid-20s, I moved to Folkestone. I wanted to work in a nice office with cool people – that’s when Holiday Extras was recommended to me.”
Holden joined in 2016 as a junior sales executive before progressing to business development manager where she was tasked with nurturing existing application interfaces (API) and white label partners.
“During my time with Holiday Extras, I was invited to speak at the Elman Wall summit and educate more than 500 delegates on our product,” she says.
Two years later, a move to London saw Holden join start-up currency exchange platform WeSwap.com. “It was my job to take the B2B API to market, which required networking and meeting with managers in the travel industry,” she explains.
"I loved being part of a start-up with a clear strategy that made business sense. This meant I was able to market a product that I believed would make a difference in the travel industry."
“New destinations and organisations are always emerging, so keep up to date with trends”
This month, Holden takes up a sales executive position at Railsbank, a financial technology (fintech) company that connects businesses to global financial services using APIs.
“Fintech is a fast-paced industry, with several start-ups launching daily in Europe alone. Railsbank’s API sufficiently improves a business’s operational cost reduction, connecting them to multiple financial schemes through five lines of code,” she explains.
Reflecting on TTG’s Smarter, Better, Fairer mantra, and how agents can achieve this in how they operate, Holden has this advice.
“New destinations and organisations are always emerging, so keep up to date with news and wider trends – that way you’ll always be ahead of the game.
“The Thomas Cook collapse shows there is still a lot of uncertainty in the industry. The only way to overcome it is for businesses to come together.”