In uncertain times, people don’t stop travelling, but they certainly stop taking chances with how they book.
The world feels more complicated than it did a few years ago. Between political conflicts and rising prices people are more cautious about their travel plans. Flights get cancelled. Destinations that seemed straightforward suddenly are not. And when things go wrong thousands of miles from home, the difference between having booked with a personal travel consultant and having done it alone can be the difference between a nightmare and a phone call that fixes everything.
Emma and her husband Jason have seen this first hand while running their travel business.
Earlier this year, one of their regular clients was halfway through his annual Maldives trip when a conflict broke out in the Middle East. The island is small and intimate, the kind of place where guests end up talking to each other, and the mood shifted quickly when nobody could get clear information about what was happening with flights home. Other guests were trying to reach tour operators and call centres and getting very little back.
Emma and Jason were in contact with their client every day. Voice notes, phone calls, updates, and a steady reassurance that everything was being handled and he did not need to worry about a thing.
“Just rest assured,” Emma told him. “We are doing everything behind the scenes for you. You don’t need to do anything. I will contact you as soon as we know anything.”
They managed his extended stay, sorted the room, managed the costs, and even offered to call his wife’s employer back in the UK if needed and to extend his airport parking. He hadn’t booked the parking through Emma but she offered to sort it anyway.
He stayed for five extra days and came home on the first available flight. While he was waiting, he started playing Emma’s voice notes to the other guests on the beach. He wanted them to hear what it sounds like when someone genuinely has your back.
When booking online goes wrong
Among the guests listening on that beach was a couple who had their own story. They had booked their accommodation online and arrived to find it looked nothing like the photographs. An older, cheaper category of overwater room that nobody had warned them about, on a beautiful and expensive island, in accommodation Emma would never have recommended.
They saw how her client was being looked after, asked for her details, and within three weeks of getting home had booked three holidays with her worth just under £20,000.
That new client came to Emma with a list of things she needed help with. A trip to Transylvania for her daughter’s 40th birthday, a multi-generational family holiday in Tenerife for all the grandchildren, and a trip to Costa Rica for herself and her husband. Emma listened carefully to what they actually wanted and quickly realised Costa Rica was entirely the wrong choice for them. She steered them towards St Lucia instead.
As they worked through options, the husband started sending links to hotels he had found online. He thought he had spotted a good deal.
“I’ve actually been to that hotel,” Emma told her. “Everything you’ve asked for, that hotel is the exact opposite. You want a quiet, small resort. That is the largest resort in St Lucia. They do foam parties.”
The price difference between that hotel and the boutique Sandals property Emma ended up recommending was barely anything. The experience would have been entirely different. The client told her husband to stop looking and leave everything to Emma and Jason. She is now booked into a small luxury resort that suits her in every way, with a specific room location already requested because of a recent knee replacement. The kind of detail that no booking platform would ever think to ask about.
“Sometimes you think you can book a holiday online and you can,” Emma says. “But it doesn’t mean it’s the right one for you.”
How Emma and Jason got here
Two years ago, Emma was working full time as a school business manager. Jason had just retired from the police and neither of them had any travel industry background. But they both had passion for travel and wanted a more flexible working environment, something more fulfilling that they could call their own.
They joined The Travel Franchise in March, starting part time alongside Emma’s job. The original plan was for Emma to go full time the following summer when the school year ended, but by October, they were already on track to achieve the Money Back Challenge and get their initial investment refunded. So Emma handed her notice ahead of schedule and they focused ot achieving the Money-Back Challenge. And they got there with two months to spare.
The travel they do now feeds directly into their ability to serve clients well. Emma went to Mauritius on the Elite Experience retreat and loved it so much she went back with her family a few months later. They have since sold Beachcomber’s Mauritius properties multiple times.
“If you’ve been to a destination it’s so much easier to sell,” Emma says. “Your clients can hear it in your voice that you know what you’re talking about. It just gives them more trust and more faith in you.”
