The Business Travel Magazine Feb/Mar 2019

AWARDS
meet the winner
Paul Coghill
CTM’s Paul Coghill was named Reservations Consultant of the Year
at The Business Travel People Awards 2018
How did it feel to be
named Reservations
Consultant of the Year?
It was a massive shock.
I didn’t expect to be
shortlisted, never mind
win. When they said my
name, my first thought was ‘Oh God, I’m
going to have to get up on stage in front of
everyone!’ I’m not one for attention. I never
blow my own trumpet or big myself up. So,
it was a massive surprise, but I was delighted.
Why did you decide to enter the awards
or how did you come to be nominated?
CTM UK’s General Manager Julie Cope
nominated me, which was really lovely of
her and obviously it was worth doing!
Tell us about your role and the work
you’ve done that clinched the award?
I’ve been with CTM for nearly 19 years, back
when we had to print tickets and I would
hand deliver them to our City clients. I’d
previously worked in travel at Lunn Poly
and with Gemini Travel, where I moved over
from leisure to business. I work on lots of
different accounts with CTM and some of
my clients have been with me for
over a decade – Sir Tim Rice,
for example. He and his
family are a joy to work
with. Having worked on
the same team for
some 18 years, I
naturally know my
clients really well.
We have solid
relationships and a
great rapport. My whole
ethos is to always provide
them with the best possible
service at all times. I give every
booking the greatest attention to
detail to ensure everything runs as
smoothly as possible for my clients which
reflects well on me and on the business.
The Business Travel
People Awards recognise
outstanding individuals and
teams across all aspects of
the supplier element
of corporate travel.
Nominations for the 2019
awards are now open!
What do you particularly enjoy about
your role?
I love stepping in to help people when
they have problems and finding the best
solution. And I love building those
relationships with travellers and bookers.
What do you think of The Business
Travel People Awards, and of the
winners event?
It’s really important to look
beyond the business and
profit and loss sheets in
any industry, and to
recognise the people
who make things
happen and who go
above and beyond,
and that’s what the
People Awards does so
well. I really enjoyed the
awards ceremony – it was
a great event, and a lovely
opportunity to meet up with
people as I work from home. I would
have loved to join everyone on the winners’
trip to New York, which sounded fantastic,
but sadly I wasn’t able to.
What impact do you think winning an
award will have on your career?
For younger winners, I can see how winning
this award could have a massive impact on
their career ambitions and trajectory. For
me, I’ve been in the industry for nearly 30
years so that was never the goal behind
entering. However, I have changed roles at
CTM since winning, moving from the
reservations team to the Elite/VIP team and
I’m really enjoying building relationships
with a new group of clients.
What do you think are the travel
industry’s biggest challenges right now?
The continuous transition from offline to
online bookings, plus NDC and finding a way
to manage this within a TMC.
It’s really important
to look beyond the
business and the profit and
loss sheets in any industry,
and to recognise the people
who make things happen”
THEBUSINESSTRAVELMAG.com
23