Number of Gold counsellors hits an all-time high
A record number of travel counsellors have attained the company’s Gold status. The company said 34 UK
Guest act The Overtones
Travel counsellors visit the new head office in Manchester
Byrne invites counsellors to suggest Phenix ideas
Travel Counsellors’ focus for 2016 will be on helping its agents to offer a more personal service to customers and creating a culture of “idea generation”.
Managing director Steve Byrne outlined the priorities for the company, saying: “We are focusing on getting closer to our customers, using data and information to improve the way we personalise our service and supporting our travel counsellors and customers. “We are growing and building on the culture where people feel they can come up with ideas. We want a culture of idea generation and we will invest significantly in people development.” The improvements in personal service will be led by improvements to the Phenix in-house selling system. This will be developed to
allow travel counsellors to deal directly with destination management companies and ground-handlers in resorts, to source net rates and put together itineraries themselves.
“We will add the ability to search for hotels based on types of customers”
Other additions to the
system will include more villas, apartments and ski product, as well as more cruise lines. Last year it unveiled a Quote
and Book system so agents could put together their own cruise packages with low-cost flights and hotels. Byrne said the user experience
would also be developed with a more detailed search facility. He said: “We will significantly
invest in the front-end experience. What we will add, for example, is the ability to search for hotels based on the facilities and types of customers.”
Retailer seeks 300 agent recruits in 2016
Travel counsellors will be actively recruiting in 2016 with the aim of attracting up to 300 agents worldwide. Managing director Steve Byrne said: “We will be as proactive as
possible to bring people in. We would expect to recruit between 200 to 300 globally in the next 12 months.” This is likely to include more business travel agents, he added. Currently, around 100 of the UK’s 900 travel counsellors focus solely on selling to the corporate market. Byrne expects corporate travel sales to grow significantly. “We would expect to recruit more travel counsellors for the
corporate travel market,” said Byrne. “And we expect to see more travel counsellors sell more corporate travel as people want agents to look after their business and leisure needs.”
travel counsellors had achieved the status in the last year by earning annual commission of at least £77,500. There are now 183 Gold agents globally. Travel counsellors are self-employed and work on a commission-only basis. The company also revealed
there had been an average increase of 12% in travel counsellors’ individual incomes for the 12 months to the end of October. Earnings of ‘mature’ travel counsellors – those who have been with the company for more than three years – were up by 30% in three years. “That growth is driven by them growing their individual business and earning better margins on the holidays they are selling,” said managing director Steve Byrne. Operations director Karen Morris said a new mentor system was also now in place to help more agents achieve Gold status. The scheme sees Gold counsellors “buddy up” with others who have not reached the £77,500 earnings threshold. She added: “We want all
travel counsellors to see us as a family support network, not just a business.”
Travel counsellors win a car for their customer satisfaction scores
26 November 2015
travelweekly.co.uk 17
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76