Home-based retail firm TravelManagers is targeting 500 personal travel managers within the next two years, as it reported a “significant” rise in interest so far in 2013.
The firm currently numbers 407 personal travel managers but chairman Barry Mayo is confident that it will reach the goal based on a growing number of enquiries this year.
While some of those enquiries may have been prompted by the Jetset Travelworld Group’s announcement of its new Helloworld branding, Mayo told Travel Today that the rise had predated that move.
“It possibly could have been down to the anticipation of Helloworld, but I wouldn’t say much more than that at this stage,” he said.
Other home-based firms such as Travel Counsellors have admitted to actively seeking out disgruntled JTG agents in an attempt to encourage them to jump ship, using channels such as social networking site LinkedIn.
But Mayo insisted that TravelManagers will not be adopting similar tactics.
“We’re just going to go about business as normal – in that way we’ll be part of the selection process that they will go through,” he said. “We’ll basically do more of what we’ve been doing. We might fine-tune the messages but we won’t necessarily change the processes that we’ve got.”
Marketing plays an important role in communicating the benefits of switching to a home-based model but practical experience is also a major driver, according to Mayo.
He highlighted extensive overheads and the time-consuming nature of staff management as some of the factors causing those in small to medium agencies to consider becoming home-based.
While the model gathers momentum, Mayo underlined TravelManagers’ offer of constant access as its key point of difference.
“We provide 24/7 access to all aspects of their clients’ files – it doesn’t matter whether it’s the booking or the accounting side,” he said.
