FRONTLINE
Q. What was it like at the start? My training took about a week because I was doing it around other things. You can do it online in your own time. I started off booking travel for myself, family and friends. I was nervous about the first booking and worried about messing it up; my mouse was hovering over the ‘book’ button for ages! One of my first bookings was for a hotel room in Vegas. The training has come on a lot since I started; it’s fantastic. But it was nice to be there at the start even though it needed to be improved. The longer we are around the more respect people will have for InteleTravel. I have seen a difference in some of the relationships with suppliers since I started. The training is ongoing and you have to pass certain exams. It’s not as if anything has been skipped. When you think of a travel agent you do think of someone with years of experience so I’m quite honest with clients and tell them if I’ve been to a destination or not.
BECKY HAYES The InteleTravel homeworker
reveals how she juggles her travel job with her life as a radio presenter and looking after her young daughter. Juliet Dennis reports
Q. What prompted you to become an InteleTravel agent in 2019? I have been a radio presenter since I was 18 so it’s all I have ever done; it’s been my main career. I’m 38 now. Just under three years ago I was presenting a radio breakfast show and looking for something else [additional] to do. I wanted something to work around my little girl, get my teeth into and earn some extra money. I was also going through a marriage separation at the time. A girl I followed on social media had joined InteleTravel. She was also a single mum and posted about how she was working around her little girl. There was a picture of her working in the garden with her daughter in the paddling pool. I’d done a bit of research and I liked what I saw of InteleTravel. I’ve always enjoyed searching for holidays and if I could make money from something I enjoyed I thought it’d be perfect. Once I’d made the decision to do it, I went hell-for-leather and I was so excited about it.
24 7 APRIL 2022
Q. What hours do you work as a homeworker? I don’t work every day. If I’m busy with my daughter or my radio job then I don’t. That’s why I really like it. If I need to take a week off I can or if I want to make some extra money I can. Sometimes if it’s a nice sunny day I may leave it. On average, I do around three days a week and it fits really well with what I do. It’s an industry I love. But I’ve learnt the hard way. I took on so much at the start, now I pick and choose the bookings I do. At the start I would get people coming to me with a vague enquiry and I would spend hours searching because they didn’t know what they wanted and I didn’t know either – it would waste time. I am much stricter now. I tell clients they have to know where they want to go and the dates.
Q. How’s business?
Right now I am fully booked with quotes and bookings; I can’t take any more at this moment in time. Through Covid it was completely different. There were no bookings; we were having to do credit notes and people were postponing their holidays. It was a minefield for everybody. As travel has now restarted, people are more confident about travel again. I get a lot of my bookings through social media. I will post a deal online and get a lot of people making enquiries. They will recommend me to other friends. It’s just snowballed.
Q. What’s the future hold for your agency business? When I was in my previous radio job, pre-Covid, I actually gave up my job to be an InteleTravel agent full-time. I left my radio job in November 2019 and worked as a full-time travel agent for a year and a half until April 2021 when I got another job in radio [and did the travel part time]. My original plan was to be able to take my daughter to school during term time and work abroad in the summer holidays; that was my dream. But Covid hit and everything changed. In future I’d still love to do my summers abroad with my daughter while working on as a travel agent.
travelweekly.co.uk
Becky and daughter Lilly
HOW DO YOU JUGGLE WORKING TWO JOBS?
I love doing both; I wouldn’t say one job is more important than the other.
I work at a local independent radio station, Peak Radio in Derbyshire. I do the breakfast show with my friend Laura from 7am to 10am. Sometimes I feel like I am chasing my tail and it’s up and down, but some days it works like clockwork.
I am not going to paint it as all being perfect but at the moment it all works.
I think being a radio presenter probably helps my travel business and because people know me from the radio they trust me.
I do mention my travel job on air but not much; most people know I do both and that they are two separate jobs.
Becky and radio co-host Laura Summers
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