Ken Freer has been appointed MD of the House of Travel.

In his role he will build on the company’s record retail form of the last three years in the New Zealand travel retail market.

“It is great to have someone of Ken’s calibre join us as we move into another exciting phase,” Mark O’Donnell, House of Travel CEO, said.

O’Donnell said that Freer’s focus will be on ensuring the House of Travel brand continues to resonate with customers, regardless of the channel they engage with.

“Today’s customers are interacting with us through a wide range of digital mediums as well as face to face, and we want to ensure they get the same premium level of service in every forum.”

The company is looking at a new marketing strategy based on consumer insights, as well as working with owner operators to ensure the customer experience is consistent across its stores.

Freer is currently the director of global marketing and acting CEO at Fiji Tourism.

Prior to that he was responsible for Tourism New Zealand’s marketing in North America, Europe and the UK.

A role for Westpac in NZ and Australia gave Freer a strong base in digital marketing, together with success built on his own agency handling direct operations for American Express, Jaguar and Citroen and others.

Freer joins House of Travel on January 12, 2015.