Last month travel consultant Raine earned just under £26k in 1 month! With 25 different families and couples travelling during half term, October was one of the busiest periods she’s ever seen in her travel business.
Popular destinations included Cyprus, Dubai, Mauritius, and Morocco.
Raine’s specialism and niche is ‘family holidays’, something that has organically grown over the past 4 years. As a mum with 4 kids, she understands better than anyone the needs and wants a family typically has on a holiday.
“It wasn’t a typical month for me to have so many people travelling in the same month. It seems that many of my customers bet on October half term as a great time to getaway.
Not everyone was planning ahead though, I had a large number of last minute bookings that boosted the numbers.
Repeat bookings are about 40% of all my bookings. Building customer loyalty and delivering outstanding customer service is what ensures people keep coming back.”
Raine’s grown her travel business to become ‘the place to book’ for many families looking for a chance to getaway.
Why did you start a travel business 4 years ago?
“Before starting my travel business nearly 4 years ago, I’d been a stay home mum for 12 years.
I’d always loved travel, I’d always wanted my own business so that’s why I started. I wanted something to call my own.
I wanted to prove to people I could be successful and that I was capable of so much more.
Fast forward 4 years, a typical day for me is: cooking a bolognese for the family with one hand, whilst being on hold with a holiday supplier and doing the ironing!“
For someone new to travel, what are ‘peaks’?
“Peaks are notorious in travel. Once Christmas is out the way, people then start thinking about their next holiday. This is the time when all the adverts on TV are about holidays.
There is no logical reason why you’d book a holiday at this time but the majority of people do. I believe the industry has created an urgency and a rush which has created this ‘peak’ period.
Peaks traditionally start as soon as Christmas day is over, but I find February is actually busier for me because families, my target audience, tend to think about their next holiday around this time.”
What advice would you have for others thinking about starting their travel business?
“I’d say have just a handful of ‘go-to’ holiday suppliers. Don’t get overwhelmed with the 1000’s out there. Build relationships with a select few and create a strong contact base within those suppliers. Then you know exactly who to reach out to when you have an enquiry.
COVID has brought lots of positives in the world of travel consultant as it’s forced us to focus on fewer destinations as there have been less choice at times.
This is a positive because I’m now focusing on a few select destinations which I know deliver every time for my clients, which makes things easier and more streamlined. It’s not always about being everything to everyone.”
