TRAVEL AGENT PROFILE: MYRIAD TRAVEL’S SUCCESS STORY
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In the first of a four-part series of travel agent profiles, Travel Daily finds out how customer events have boosted business at Myriad Travel, part of The Global Travel Group.
Name: Jessica Matthews
Title: Assistant Manager
Agency: Myriad Travel – member of The Global Travel Group
Location: Woolton Village, LiverpooI
Industry experience: 2 years as a travel agent, I did originally go to university to study law but realised it wasn’t for me!
What we do
Myriad Travel is an independent agency specialising in holidays to destinations all over the world. Our strap line is “committed to making your holidays better”. We are located on a high street and so offer all types of holidays from coach trips to luxury holidays, however it is important to us that we offer the same consistent quality of service as you never know when that £200 holiday becomes a £5K future booking!
Our success story
We pride ourselves on our customer service and we offer to book spa treatments, restaurants, tours etc. to ensure the best trip possible and that personal service.
Our clients also benefit from a bi-annual newsletter and invitations to our events which we hold in our lounge each month. Over the last few months we have had the pleasure of hosting Newmarket, Uniworld, Superbreak and Liverpool Airport over “afternoon tea” or “canapes & fizz”, we have even done a “pizza & beer” night for the younger set and featured Topdeck Tours. These events are very beneficial and as a result suppliers have seen clients book and our sales increase.
Clients are now actually coming into the shop to ask for a calendar of events so we now are operating waiting lists! Our clients also love the fact that we are available 24/7 and operate a very personal service with no call centres.
Another really very important factor for our success is training and participating in educational trips. Each member of staff is expected to take at least 2-3 educational FAM trips a year and to then “train” their colleagues on their return, without this sort of hands on experience we would not be able to inspire our clients, after all people buy from people more so than ever and getting the right holiday for the right client is a skill. Training and research has got us to where we are today, and the bespoke training and marketing support from the team at The Global Travel Group is hugely beneficial to us continuing to develop and grow.
Moving to Woolton Village last year has seen an increase in footfall and now that we own the building and have a clients’ lounge we have been able to market ourselves much more effectively and “design” the shop how we want to in order to make it more inviting. It’s important to be a part of the local community and we sponsor local charity events and take an active role in the residents’ association and school events.
What’s next?
Next year we will be celebrating 10 years trading so we are planning to entertain and thank our clients by taking over Woolton Picture House which is an “art deco” listed cinema dating from 1927 located in the village. We are still deciding on the film but naturally it will be travel themed and as with all our events we will be treating our clients to refreshments and some great raffle prizes.
We are also looking at possibly offering a tailor made business travel service and this is something we will be progressing over the next few years.