STEPHEN BRACEGIRDLE
Manchester,United Kingdom
Summary
Strategic and commercially driven senior travel leader with nearly 30 years of leadership across travel, retail and multi-channel operations. Currently overseeing 3,500+ colleagues across UK & Ireland retail and virtual contact centres, I bring deep expertise in delivering multi-year strategies that drive revenue, transform customer experience, and optimise operational efficiency. Proven track record in leading complex, large-scale transformation while embedding sustainability, digital innovation, and colleague engagement at the core. Passionate about shaping the future of travel through omnichannel growth, world-class service, and empowered teams.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
1998
1998
years of post-secondary education
Work history
Full-Time Head of Retail, UK & Ireland
TUI Group
Manchester
09.2016 - 07.2025
- Accountable for the strategic leadership and performance of TUI's UK & Ireland retail operations, managing a workforce of 3,500+ colleagues across over 300 (previously 603 pre covid) stores, virtual multi-channel Contact Centre and homeworking environments.
- Produce, implement, and execute the end-to-end retail strategy across all customer touchpoints and internal operations, aligned with broader organisational goals and the overall business strategy.
- Lead delivery of all key commercial KPIs including channel share, customer satisfaction (CSAT), discount management, and sales performance. Sending 1.4 million Passengers on holiday each year.
- Operationally responsible for the retail network, its H&S, loss prevention, compliance, and direct security, working with other partners to continuously improve the experience of colleagues and customers.
- Drive year-on-year growth in high-priority and new revenue growth / product areas including TUI Experiences, Allianz insurance and digitized travel money propositions.
- Produced a noticeably clear and concise communication plan for the retail estate, the approach helps drive commercial messaging and general business change messages, through utilising all my levels of management across the estate from Divisional Managers through to Store Managers.
- Lead the development and rollout of the FY25 retail sustainability strategy across the network. improving our onsite recycling by 70% over the last 12 months
- Optimize the retail estate through utilisation of productivity and footfall data to better target CAPEx investment and localised footfall growth plans
- Recognising that 7 million passengers start their journey before visiting a retail store, overseeing digital transformation across the retail journey including TUI app adoption and retail-influenced account growth. Linking the more digital parts of the business with the retail network through an advanced multi-channel journey.
Divisional Sales Manager
TUI Group
06.2012 - 06.2016
- Oversaw regional sales and performance, delivering strategic objectives across a portfolio of over 150 retail locations.
- Overseeing the Thomson to First choice merger and integration whilst consistently delivering the sales results through the period of change for the business
- Supported area teams to exceed KPIs, improve service quality, and implement localised growth strategies. Led from the front, often in stores 4 times per week meeting colleagues and customers
- Provided coaching and succession planning for emerging leaders and frontline managers over 80% of people promoted from within vs external recruits
Education
NVQ Level 3 - Travel and Tourism
NVQ Level 2 - Travel and Tourism
Accomplishments
- Consistently Met and exceeded challenging Financial Targets: Consistently achieved the retail budget set by the UK Board for the last 5 years, delivering over £1.9 billion turnover in the last 12 months whilst also demonstrating strong cost control, commercial focus, and operational execution.
- Consistently Delivered Commercial Targets: Increased high value ancillary conversion from by 23% in two years, adding an additional unbudgeted £1.5M to the retail P&L. Generated an additional £1M in holiday insurance sales in the last 12 months.
- Retail Expansion via White Space Investment: Executed a £6 million white space investment program, expanding the store network by 8% over five years. Delivered through an asset light/revenue rich operating model.
- Developed Internal Talent Pipeline: Appointed over 80% of Retail Regional Sales Managers internally through a structured and continuous leadership development and talent pool program.
- Exceeded Employee Engagement Targets: Constantly achieved engagement results across the retail estate, surpassing targets in the last review with an engagement score of 80%. Consistently the highest across the division and the UK business.
- Reduced Attrition and Strengthened Retention: Lowered colleague attrition by 5% through enhanced recruitment, employee engagement, and DE&I initiatives. Actively championed more back to the floor activity from Senior Leadership.
- Record-Breaking Customer Satisfaction: Achieved the highest CSAT score in TUI retail history (9.7) by leading operational reforms and investing in targeted training. Compared to the UK travel industry average of 7.6%.
References
Available on request
Timeline
Full-Time Head of Retail, UK & Ireland
TUI Group
09.2016 - 07.2025
Divisional Sales Manager
TUI Group
06.2012 - 06.2016
NVQ Level 2 - Travel and Tourism
NVQ Level 3 - Travel and Tourism
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