A DAY WITH... HASLEMERE TRAVEL, SURREY


Juliet Dennis visits the agency led by Aito Agents chairman Gemma Antrobus


Haslemere Travel may have just marked 30 years in business but that certainly doesn’t mean the agency is resting on its laurels, according to owner Gemma Antrobus. In the last 18 months, the agency has left


Abta to join the Travel Trust Association (TTA), stopped taking payments by American Express credit cards following the fees ban, and overhauled its business to meet new data protection regulations. The next challenge is the peak sales period amid the uncertain climate of Brexit, although so far only one customer has mentioned the ‘B’ word as an excuse to hold off booking. “The town is certainly quieter, and if we


UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL


MAUREEN BIAS administration assistant Despite being the oldest member of Haslemere Travel’s team, 83-year-old Maureen has no intention of giving up


any time soon. Maureen, who works two days a week, started at Haslemere Travel 23 years ago and has the job of typing up clients’ itineraries after they’ve booked. Her favourite holiday is a cruise. “This year will be my 15th cruise with Oceania Cruises,” she says.


NATASHA NORTHMORE travel consultant Natasha is Haslemere Travel’s newest recruit, joining three months ago from another agency. “There is


something exciting about booking holidays for people,” she says. Her favourite holiday is a tailor-made tour. “I have just come back from Sri Lanka and I like New Zealand and countries that offer lots of different things and have a beach at the end.”


have to wait until March for everyone to book, it will be really painful,” says Antrobus. “People aren’t worried about travel; people are worried about their money, savings and pensions.” For Haslemere, it is a case of knuckling


down to business as normal – which may include a change in payment terms for clients. The credit card fees ban introduced last year has, without doubt, hit the bottom line, Antrobus admits, and for this reason she is considering whether to take balances on credit cards only up to an agreed limit. Already, the agency promotes electronic transfers as its preferred payment method. “We cannot keep losing money,” she says.


“When we tell clients we don’t take Amex, they just pay another way. We encourage money transfers, but it’s harder when clients are in the shop. We will do something, but we’ve not yet made it official. It’s down to communication; if you spring it on clients, then they get angry.” Antrobus, who bought the business in


Surrey’s most southerly town, Haslemere, at the end of 2015 from founders and owners Andrew and Di Brownrigg, but has been managing director since 2008, does not shy away from making big changes. Since owning the business, she has


introduced a back and front-office selling system, and switched the agency’s membership from Abta to TTA. Gemma says: “Everything was on paper. Until three years ago, if we had had a fire, we would have lost everything. Now everything is quick and automated.” The agency’s cupboards are still full of ledgers featuring handwritten booking details. The move to TTA has been just as seamless.


“It makes no difference to clients. It’s a good partnership and the TTA is very quick to turn things around,” says Antrobus, who feels the move was the right decision for the business. Haslemere Travel, which was previously a member of Advantage Travel Partnership before going it alone and sitting outside all consortia, continues to do commercial deals itself with some suppliers with which it has


42travelweekly.co.uk10 January 2019


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