Hays consultant bags mega sales from same client


Juliet Dennis


A homeworker has landed her biggest-ever booking for £130,000 and bagged another worth £110,000 from the same clients. Jane Johns, a personal travel


consultant for Hays Travel, said confirmation of the £130,000 booking was “her best day ever” as it coincided with the day her offer on a new house was accepted.


The booking for 11 people


in the same extended family is to Florida in April 2023 and includes business-class flights from Manchester, Club Level rooms at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, passes to Walt Disney World Resort and Universal Orlando Resort theme parks and their own Disney concierge. Johns, who booked through tour operator Pure Luxury, said:


family member, an old school friend, and his father was so impressed by the service that he decided to book through her too. “I looked after the client’s son


Jane Johns


“I still can’t get my head around it. I was buzzing for days after I got the booking.” The family had planned to stay at


Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa but lack of availability over Easter meant they chose the Polynesian Resort instead. Johns believes she bagged the


booking as a result of personal service and attention to detail. She was already booking holidays for one


and his cousins to go to Las Vegas,” she said. “I delivered the tickets to their house, checked them in for their flights, helped them with their Covid passes and then texted them to check they had got through security to their airport lounge. “The father saw everything I was


doing for his son, including speaking to the hotel on their behalf, and decided to book through me too. I am always at the end of the phone so clients can text me while away. I try to give the same service, whether it’s a £1,000 booking or £130,000.” Johns, a self-employed


homeworker for Hays for three years and previously at Thomas Cook for 24 years, said she had already received further bookings from the same family, including a £110,000 booking for Dubai in October.


Perfect Getaways plans expansion Harry Kemble


Perfect Getaways is set to open a new shop and a call centre as it looks to manage customer enquiries more effectively and ease the workload of its staff. The retail agency operates


seven branches across the northwest of England as well as an appointment-only store called Above & Beyond by Perfect Getaways in Brimstage, near Liverpool. Director Dave Palmer now


plans to open a call centre at the Above & Beyond site and a new branch – Perfect Getaways’ eighth – in Widnes next month due to the volume of online leads the business is generating. He said: “We’ve found that we’re


8 16 JUNE 2022


marketing brilliantly on Facebook and our staff in our shops are really busy, so the idea is for a social hub or call centre to deal with these incoming leads. “We’re generating online


enquiries that we cannot keep up with. We’re playing catch-up because of the online enquiries. Our existing staff cannot do both.” Palmer said the call centre would


“provide instant response times” and maintain the business’s high standards of service. He plans to retain the existing


structural fittings of the Widnes site, which was previously a coffee shop, when he transforms it into a travel agency. “Rather than taking on a normal


shop and changing it around, we’re thinking ‘let’s be quirkier’,” he added.


Every Perfect Getaways branch


adopts a ‘your holiday starts here’ concept, with each boasting a kids’ area, a bar and large TV screens to create a relaxed feel. Palmer said “good, experienced


travel staff” were currently “at a premium”, but added he was confident the business would be able to recruit four new staff for the Widnes branch. He also hopes to hire four staff


to work in the call centre in addition to one more person joining the marketing department. The business currently employs


33 staff across all its branches, including Above & Beyond. Looking ahead, Palmer aims to


add two more Perfect Getaways branches over the next 18 months as well as two Above & Beyond sites.


Dave Palmer with managing director Nicola Palmer


travelweekly.co.uk


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