If you ever needed proof that now is the time to start a travel business, just look at what our franchise achieved in 2025.
From record-breaking commissions and award wins, to life-changing success stories and unforgettable events, this year has been nothing short of extraordinary.
Here’s a look back at the big wins that made 2025 our strongest year yet – and why 2026 is shaping up to be even bigger.
Record Commissions & Bookings for Our Agents
2025 was the year our agents smashed records. We saw record-breaking holiday bookings, higher average booking values and increased commission across the network, including numerous standout bookings over £50,000. It’s a powerful sign of growing consumer confidence, bigger trips and the incredible earning potential available to our franchisees.
Industry Trends Are On Our Side
The travel industry is booming – and agents are right at the heart of it. Earlier this year, ABTA announced that in 12 months, the number of consumers booking through travel agents jumped from 34% to 43%. Then in October, ABTA revealed travel demand is at a five-year high: UK holidaymakers are taking an average of 3.9 trips annually – imagine if you have 100 clients and you book two of their holidays each year!
Money Back Challenge
Our Money Back Challenge continues to change lives. If you achieve a set amount of commission in your first year, we refund your Elite franchise fee (£14,995). In 2025 we had more Money Back Challenge winners than ever before, proof that more people are using agents to book holidays and that our investment in training and technology is helping agents become successful quicker. We also had our FASTEST Money Back Challenge winner ever – Lindsey and Karl completed the challenge in just four months following a single, one-off £299,000 booking for a client.
Company Awards Won
February brought one of our proudest moments yet when we were awarded Best Lifestyle Franchise in the World and Best European Franchise at the International Franchise Association’s Global Franchise Awards 2025.
With over 2 million franchise companies across the globe, this is big news. The IFA is the world’s biggest franchise association with an independent panel of judges made up of CEOs, Presidents and franchise experts. Each year it scrutinises business models and hands out just 16 awards – and we won two of them.
In 2025, our customer-facing brand Not Just Travel also won Best Luxury Travel Homeworking Business of the Year (Large), Innovation in Travel Award at the UK Business Awards, Outstanding Partner Award (TOP) Gold Medal, Best Homeworking Travel Agency in the UK and Luxury Homeworking Business of the Year (Large) at the Aspire Awards, to name a few.
Agent Awards
We’re incredibly proud of our consultants, especially those who joined us without any prior travel experience (around 98 per cent!). This year, three of our consultants were recognised among the best travel agents in the country at TTG’s prestigious industry awards.
- Anne was crowned New Travel Agent of the Year.
- Ashley Phillips was named Touring and Adventure Expert of the Year.
- Matt Phillips was recognised as one of the Top 6 Home-Based Travel Agents in the UK
Matt and Ash were also crowned Top Luxury Wedding & Honeymoon Agency at the TTG Luxury Awards.
All three had NEVER worked in travel before joining us, with Matt and Ash joining in 2022 and Anne in 2024. Now they’re officially among the best in the UK – proof that with the right training, support and community, big things happen fast.
Overseas Events
Elite franchisees enjoy two free overseas mentorship retreats – one short-haul and one long-haul – with training from one of our co-founders and other travel experts in a popular tourist destination.
In 2025 we took agents on just under 1,000 trips abroad giving them a chance to explore Turkey, Italy, Lanzarote, Portugal and Mauritius. This was also the first year we organised an Elite Experience in Japan, one of the hottest destinations selling right now.
In addition to free mentorship retreats, we also ran company-subsidised ski and golf trips and hosted a popular Seminar at Sea cruise around the Norwegian fiords.
UK Events
We’re known for our training and support and while we offer heaps of free webinars, we also like to meet franchisees face-to-face. 2025 was the year we stepped up in-person events in the UK, hosting our first ever Summer BBQ. We also held five Coffee Catch Ups around the country and delivered our biggest ever land-based Cruise event where consultants could meet our team and travel partners. Consultants are still raving about our Sales Blueprint Training Day in London, led by Helen Roberts, ex-Kuoni sales director and top sales coach!
Virtual training
2025 was the year we stepped up training webinars with suppliers as well as other industry experts. One of the favourites was our ‘Finding Customers Bootcamp’. Launched in June, this 14-week live webinar series focused on helping agents attract and win new customers using practical, proven strategies, with bonus sessions covering Facebook groups, BNI networking and more. All sessions were recorded so don’t worry, you can still catch up!
Charity Work
In 2024 we organised a Charity Trek in Peru. While we didn’t run one in 2025, we have a big one planned for 2026 (and there’s still time to put your name down if you join us soon!). We also raised money in multiple ways throughout the year for good causes at our conference and we help consultants partner with local charities and find new customers whilst raising money for a good cause.
Rebrand
This was the year we rebranded our customer-facing brand Not Just Travel, and if you join you’ll have access to countless marketing assets at your fingertips.
Diamond Agents
We offer a career ladder with various ‘pin levels’ to motivate you to get to the next level. The highest are what we call Diamonds (over £500k in commission) and Diamond Directors (over £1 million in commission). This year we’ve had more people make Diamond than ever before and we also have couples like Lee and Louise who made Diamond Director status. It’s proof that people stay with us and build million-pound businesses.
Lives Changed
In 2025 we changed hundreds of lives. Unlike other travel franchises, we don’t require franchisees to work full time. Many start part time or in their spare time – parents fit bookings around their children, others leave stressful NHS, teaching, police or city roles with long commutes and unsocial hours. Some operate solo or with a partner, friend or sibling, while others build larger agencies with teams, offices and customer-facing outlets. Many earn six-figure incomes. Some joined us after redundancy later in life, while others manage the business around caring responsibilities or health challenges. This is a business built around real lives.
Cruise
Since launching our specialist cruise division in 2022, sales have soared. In 2025 we stepped up support by employing specialist cruise trainer Kerrie, introducing 6-week beginner, intermediate and expert cruise courses and launching a FREE Cruise Helpline from 8am–8pm staffed by in-house experts with nearly 100 years of combined cruise experience. We also secured exclusive cruise offers with three major cruise brands and ran our first in-person land-based cruise training day, a Seminar at Sea, onboard a Fred Olsen ship around the Norwegian fjords. More recently we held a conference for our top-selling agents onboard NCL’s Getaway around the Caribbean, organised multiple cruise ship visits and launched our first ever company river cruise in conjunction with Riviera.
New Tools & Tech
In January we upgraded our Partner in Travel (PIT) scheme, enabling agents to partner with local businesses, charities and sports clubs who receive a share of commission when they refer a booking. It’s a powerful way to spend less time marketing while expanding your network – and give to good causes. The upgraded PIT scheme now includes an app and a customisable website, and the response has been incredible.
We also developed our FREE quotation tool, adding new functionality to help agents convert more bookings and appointed a Head of T-Profile to help agents use this incredible quote tool which we provide for free (typically it costs £85 a month).
Team Expansion
Every franchisee gets their own Business Development Manager (BDM) with years of travel industry experience. In 2025 we added four new BDMs, strengthening one-to-one support and mentoring – with zero increase in fees. We also invested in several key management positions including a new head of marketing, a new chief of staff and a new events manager.
Strong Trade Relationships
We work with around 40 key trade travel partners, giving our consultants access to tailored training, dedicated support lines, exclusive deals and higher commission. The fact that these prestigious brands – TUI, EasyJet, Kuoni, Virgin Voyages and Cunard, to name a few) partner with us, speaks volumes. Sales through our KTPs soared in 2025 which means many of them now want to work closer with us and offer even better incentives and deals.
Support
You can contact our friendly ops team by email, phone or whatsapp if you have a query or problem. Our ops team have years of experience in travel and have grown from 17 members to 30 staff in 2024 to 35 in 2025.Wait times used to be 10 mins; now it’s just 35 seconds. It means you are the CEO of your business, but you have a huge team of experts backing you every step of the way.
Conferences
Our 2025 UK Conference was our biggest and best to date, with over 500 franchisees buzzing with excitement over our announcements. The biggest cheer came when Dame Irene Hays, Chair of Hays Travel, took to the stage and announced that we’re outperforming the market.Our second conference on a cruise ship was also a huge success and there’s even bigger plans for 2026!
Celebrity Ambassadors
We are proud to have three celebrity brand ambassadors support our business – TV broadcaster Eamonn Holmes OBE, Olympic double gold medallist Daley Thompson and TV presenter Hayley Sparkes – all of whom you’ll get to meet if you join us. Why do they back us? Because they see that we change lives, and they want to, too.
Press Coverage
We’ve had hundreds of articles in national and local publications, plus industry titles. Consultants such as Gemma Poppy Outram, who is one of our top-performing cruise specialists, and award-winning consultants like Matt and Ash who have recently won industry awards despite being new to travel.
Scaling Up
While we’re known as the number one homeworking agency for people new to travel, increasingly we see many successful consultants like Kelly want to scale up their business by employing staff, opening customer-facing outlets and building larger agencies. We have implemented a range of policies to make this possible.
In short… 2025 was incredible. 2026 will be even bigger.
If this year has shown us anything, it’s that the opportunity in travel has never been stronger – and we’re only just getting started.
