Holiday sales are booming right now! The poor UK weather really has set holiday sales in motion with this month set to be a recording breaking month for The Good Travel Agent. 

More and more customers are looking for last minute getaways in order to escape what has been an unsatisfactory summer in the UK! While it's normal for us to have lots of enquiries for last minute holidays we have seen a significant rise in late bookings this year and it's not all down to the UK weather. 

Usually in customers would book their holidays in advance and then pay off their holiday bit by bit, but with the current financial climate we have experienced more people saving their holiday funds and then booking what they can with the budget they have rather than booking in advance and then struggling to afford it as the time comes to make payment. 

This combined with the current weather in the UK has had a big impact on customers booking last minute in order to enjoy their summer...

On Thursday 11th July 2024 we attended Travel Weekly's Agent Achievement Awards in London where we celebrate the amazing success of the travel industry and to our delight we won a prestigious award! 

We are officially Travel Weekly's One to Watch! This is due to the impact we have had on the travel industry since starting our small business, building strong relationships, setting new standards and our innovation to change the way that travel agents work. 

To win an award within the first year of starting our business is a massive achievement and something we are extremely proud of. 

As a Travel Franchise company we pride ourselves on listening to our franchise owners to ensure they have the tools, training and support that they need in order to run a successful travel agent business from the comfort of their own home!

This award is just the start for us though, we have really high ambitions and lots more innovations on our road-map to success and we look forward to...

I often get asked about marketing strategies and how to find customers that want to book holidays. Luckily finding people who like to go on holiday is the easy part! Most people you meet will go on at least one holiday per year. 

Joining a travel franchise business like ours ensures you get full training on how to market your business, as well as being their to coach and mentor you. We help you understand what works and what doesn't to help you build a strong marketing strategy. You do not have to be a marketing guru in order to get it right, you just need to be willing to reflect, learn and adapt! 

So what are some of the strategies you can use? 

Friends & Family - Most people have a good network of friends and family and most of them will plan to go on holiday at some point. These should be your first customers, they already have a connection with you and will trust you to help them with their next trip. Booking your friends and family also help you get...

Our new partnership with Trees4Travel

We are proud to announce that we are not in partnership with the award-winning environmental company Trees4Travel

As part of our commitment to the planet we will plant one tree for every booking made with The Good Travel Agent. 

We have also created a dedicated website to help our customers travel in a responsible way. They can also calculate the CO2 emissions from their holiday and opt to plant extra trees to help reduce their carbon footprint.  

We know that customers are growing more and more conscious of the impact they have on the world and we are aware that travel has a huge impact on CO2 emissions and we want to do our part to help! 

Customers can now have the confidence that booking with us will help them be a more responsible traveller, ensuring we w can continue to travel forever. 

Visit our responsible travel page for more information - www.thegoodtravelagent.co.uk/responsibletravel 

As a travel...

Summer 2024 is almost here which means that customers are starting to look for late deals and our franchise owners are getting ready for the increased amount of bookings! 

This year we have seen a different customer booking pattern. January is usually our busiest time of year with customers booking all types of holidays but most of them are for families looking for their summer holiday, but this year was slightly different. With the current economic climate customers have been waiting to see what happens with holiday prices and have waited to book holidays closer to departure. 

As a travel franchise organisation we have been busy preparing our franchise owners for the rush giving them hints and tips on the best way to help customers find deals, time management and how to close the sale during this time. 

With a lot of customers waiting to book their holiday until closer to departure we have seen a huge increase in the amount of enquiries coming through that are...

Last week some of our franchise owners joined us in Mexico for the Advantage Travel Partnership's Annual Conference, hosted by Palladium Hotels Group. It was a fantastic opportunity to network, hear from some amazing speakers and learn more about the beautiful Cosa Mujeres region. 

After arriving at the hotel, the first afternoon was spent exploring, meeting up with friends and colleagues old and new and enjoying the epic Welcome Party.

Day Two was spent hearing from a number of speakers at the Convention Centre, diving into the world of technology, marketing and more. After lunch it was time for a 'speed dating' session, meeting with a number of suppliers and sharing ideas and expertise. It was a great way of getting to know more about the suppliers we work with and what they can offer our customers. 

Day Three saw more speaker sessions touching on consumer trends, the future of travel, AI, customer insights, the quest for adventure and of course...

As a Travel Franchise Company then we know how passionate people are about seeing the world and those who chose to partner with us are no exception! Of course you get lots of opportunities for trips but this month we are guaranteeing you a FREE Cruise for two people on MSC Virtuosa! 

This is to celebrate our new partnership with CLIA. CLIA is a fantastic association which gives incredible training, support and advice on how best to make the most out of the lucrative cruising market. Our agents have already started to take advantage of this and we are now seeing that cruising is our seventh top selling holiday! 

The cruise market can seem very complicated due to the number of different ships, destinations, cabin types and lexicon but having a CLIA membership as well as the support from our head office team there is no need to shy away from selling cruise. PLUS if you have never been on a cruise, its harder to sell the experience and that is why we are giving away a FREE...

In the world of travel today, there is no denying that customers are very savvy when it comes to shopping around for their holiday. With access to the world at their fingertips they can find holiday prices within seconds as well as being able to speak to multiple travel agents to find the best possible deal. Therefore now more than ever it is vital that our franchise owners have the tools to stay relevant in the market and in order to do this we have partnered with Advantage Holidays to be able to create dynamically packaged holidays. 

What is Dynamic Packaging?

Dynamic Packaging is when a travel agent will search the whole of the market and create a holiday by searching for each component of the holiday seperatley such as Hotels, Flights, Transfers, Car Hire etc. Once they have found the best price for each of these elements they then put the holiday together as a package and then add a margin on top. 

Why is it important?

In the current climate it is important to have...

One of the biggest questions I get asked as a travel agent is 'Do you get to travel?' and the answer is always yes! Whether that is because of the great discounts you can get as an agent or because of the incredible FAM trips that you can get access to. 

What is a FAM Trip

FAM Trip is short for a Familiarisation Trip. This is where a tour operator or hotelier will offer you the chance to join them on a trip to one of their amazing destinations so that you can learn everything you need to know and get to visit some of the wonderful hotels in resort....the best thing is that these are FREE due to being sponsored by the supplier! 

As a travel franchise we have fantastic relationships with our suppliers meaning that we get access to some incredible FAM trip opportunities. Having these strong relationships is vital to getting the support and training needed to increase your knowledge to become the best possible travel agent you can be. 

FAM Trips 2024

So far we have...

January has finally come to an end, for some it has felt like the longest month of the year, but not for us. It has flown by!

It has been an exciting month with lots of great developments to improve the offering we give to our franchise owners. We love listening to their feedback in order to understand the things we need to change in order to give them the tools needed to drive their business forward. 

So what have we been up to -

• We launched our new website which allowed our franchise owners customers to book holidays online, allowing our franchise owners to earn commission from these bookings - a first for the travel franchise industry! 
• We saw seven new agents join us and lots of enquiries from people wanting to start their own travel franchise.
• We had our best month so far! January sales were fantastic and we saw lots of our franchise owners take advantage of this lucrative time of year. 
• We launched our Travel Agent Academy meaning that people with no travel...