“We launched in January… and within weeks we’d made 10 bookings.”
Katie Coates and Vikki Gillies first met in a prenatal class in Bristol when their babies were just six weeks old. Those babies are now 18, and since meeting they’ve spent maternity leave together, holidayed together, and watched their children grow up close too.
Both women work part time. Vikki has her own business in the beauty industry, and Katie works as an office manager, but they wanted to build something they would genuinely enjoy alongside everything else.
They committed to The Travel Franchise in the autumn, but decided to launch in January because Vikki was busy over Christmas. In the meantime, they put the work in behind the scenes getting organised.
And when they launched, it took off faster than they expected.
Katie says: “We trained January 12th–16th and made our first booking the same weekend for a holiday in the Canary Islands.”
That same weekend, they had four or five enquiries come in as well – and from there the momentum just built.
In just two weeks, Katie and Vikki made 10 holiday bookings, including their biggest booking so far: a £11,500 trip to Turkey.
Katie describes it as a whirlwind:
“Our feet haven’t touched the ground. We didn’t anticipate how supportive people would be and how many enquiries we’d have.”
They’ve been working hard but really enjoying it.
What matters most to them is keeping the personal element – understanding what clients want from their holiday, tailoring the trip to fit, and providing a genuinely good service.
They’ve also been busy building strong relationships with our travel suppliers so they can look after clients properly from start to finish.
Katie and Vikki’s story shows what can happen when you commit, get set up, and start talking to people: real enquiries, real bookings, and quick momentum – even alongside part-time work and a busy life.
If you’ve ever thought, “Could I do something like that too?” – their first weeks are proof that yes, you can.
