CONFERENCE


Barrhead Travel Business Partner Conference 2019: Scotland’s biggest agency group hosts annual Business


speed-dating session


Barrhead Travel president Jacqueline Dobson


Caption for the pic


Delegates enjoy a tartan-themed gala dinner


Ex-Tui duo open Merseyside agency as Brilliant member


T


wo former Tui staff have joined Barrhead’s homeworking and Managed Service Travel


Partner (MSTP) division, Brilliant Travel, to open their own store after being made redundant. Nicola King and Nikki Doolan


opened Azzura Travel in Rainhill, Liverpool, on Monday. The pair, who worked at Tui’s


branch at Prescot, Merseyside, joined


Brilliant Travel in early November after their store closed in September. Earlier this month, Travel Weekly


revealed Tui planned to close 34 shops over the next 12 months. Brilliant Travel director Linda


Pyle said the division was now becoming “more recognised in the consortia arena” and would have 50 MSTPs and 48 homeworkers by January 1, 2020, up from a total of 69 in November 2018.


“We haven’t had to spend as much


money trying to find new members, people have come to us,” she said. “The nice thing is the mix we’re


getting. We still get the standard retailers, but there are so many other people wanting to open a business [with us].” Brilliant took on five Freedom Travel Group members after Thomas Cook’s collapse, with Pyle saying they were set up “within hours” of the failure. She said Brilliant was also


attracting more experienced homeworkers who were “big on dynamic packaging and tailor-made”. “We’ve been concentrating


Linda Pyle


(second right) with conference attendees


14 28 NOVEMBER 2019


on training members on dynamic packaging so they can earn higher margins because keeping margins up is going to be a challenge next year.” She said the division would


be targeting a further 10-15 new members next year.


Barrhead appoints head of training as growth continues


Barrhead Travel has appointed a group head of training and development as the agency looks to grow its retail network. Andrew McAulay joined the


agency at the end of October with a remit to “re-energise” Barrhead’s training programme for both sales and sales support staff, as well as focus on leadership development and professional development. McAulay is devising an “à la


carte” training programme for staff so they can choose courses that are “right for them”. HR director Wilma Taylor said:


“Tere’s a huge focus on leadership training right from the top all the way down, and promoting from within is what we do and what we do well. “Andrew is going to help us as we


grow. We could see the headcount almost doubling, so training and development will be key.”


travelweekly.co.uk


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