In 2020, we had over 100 people join us to start their travel business in a pandemic. But where are they all now?
This series will give you insight into the types of holidays they have been booking, why they are continuing to build their business up despite a pandemic, and whether they have any regrets…
This week Laura Murphy celebrated her 10-month anniversary since joining. Hear what she has to say in her own words below…
Where have the majority of your holiday bookings come from?
Friends and family mostly. Referrals are also now starting to come through from all the bookings I’ve done in the last 10 months.
My husband runs his own business, and said to his clients, ‘You can’t use anyone else but my wife for booking holidays from now on ;)’
He’s got a great relationship with them all so they were happy to try me out. I’ve had lots of great bookings from them which is really nice.
Where are people booking?
U.S bookings are the most popular destination for me at the moment.
When you join, you’ll get access to incredible holiday suppliers and the trade team shares the best deals each week with you. You can then promote the deals on Facebook and share them with friends.
There was a really good deal a couple of months back from Virgin, for New York. It was return, upper-class flights, with a 4-star hotel for an unbelievable £1,600.
The upper-class flights really caught people’s attention. A group of girls reached out to me to book it straight away.
Why do you think more people are turning to a personal travel consultant these days?
The last 10 months have really shown how important it is to book through a trusted travel consultant/travel agent and not online.
I’m more convinced than ever before of the benefits of not booking yourself, searching online, and going with a faceless company.
Before joining The Travel Franchise, my family and I had a trip booked to Barcelona. It was just something I found online.
When we couldn’t go and wanted to see what the refund policy was, they turned all their phones off, they didn’t respond to our emails and they’ve completely ignored us.
I’ve personally experienced how bad customer service and care can be.
Plenty of my friends have had the exact same experience. They share their frustrations with me.
The difference is they all now book with me!
They know I’m always at the end of the phone, I’m a certified travel consultant following my training, I trade under an ABTA & ATOL licence.
I can offer them COVID-19 travel protection insurance, flexible terms on bookings should they need to cancel or change dates, and Not Just Travel, the brand my company operates under is rated number 1 for travel by consumers on Trustpilot.
Can you honestly say you have no regrets?
No regrets. I have more confidence now than I’ve ever had in my life!
The self-development you’ll experience when joining is huge.
It’s all worked in my favour and the stars have all aligned to enable me to run my dream travel business.
I’m on part-time furlough from my job right now and I run my travel business on the side.
When I was first furloughed I had all the extra time to connect with people. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do that otherwise.
I have more time to build my business for the future.
Also, more people are at home than ever before and they are able to pick up the phone if I give them a call. Pre-pandemic they would have been in an office or driving somewhere.
Even though people aren’t travelling right now they are booking.
