French Alps: ‘I have zero stress, and I can service my clients to the level they require’

Brian Costello, Travel Counsellor

I joined Travel Counsellors in April 2021. In the pandemic I was furloughed from Corporate Traveller and then offered redundancy which I accepted with the game plan to join Travel Counsellors. I’d had an interview with Travel Counsellors several years before and really liked the idea but frankly wasn’t brave enough. Covid and the redundancy package gave me the opportunity to start my own business, work on my terms and service my clients on their terms.

I’m currently based in France until the end of April, then back to the UK for four months, then I’ll be in Spain from August to November and back to France early December. I skied very badly for 10 years and had a snowboard lesson in Lake Tahoe 25 years ago and it was like being struck by lightning... one of the most profound experiences of my life and I’ve been obsessed with snowboarding ever since.

I get up most morning between 7-8am and spend 30-40 minutes exercising (stretches, pull-ups and press-ups). I log in, check all systems and make sure there are no client GDS changes. I then have breakfast sitting on my balcony looking at the stunning La Masse mountain.

If I’m not busy I may pop out for a quick blast round the local area (generally 3-4 days per week and all weekend!). If it’s a powder day, I’ll put my bounce on until 11am UK time, which gives me till 12pm French time – any messages or calls get diverted to my mobile. If I get a call or message, I return immediately and action any requests……then I may go out again!

I’ve not actually made a booking on the slopes. I prefer to work from my laptop rather than my phone. I want decent access (and internet) to systems and although I could in theory work from my phone, my clients deserve my full attention. I have helped clients on the mountain with simple queries and advice, but any work is done from my cabin.

I’m a corporate TC but I’m happy to advise other TC’s and my clients on good areas to ski and snowboard. I recently helped a client prepare a trip to Tahoe suggesting she didn’t stay in resort but book a lodge in Truckee and visit all the resorts separately, which she said was amazing. I also gave her a few tips on setting up her snowboard stance (binding angles and stance width) which she told me transformed her riding. I’m always happy to help and talk about snowboarding – it’s all what I consider part of the service to help my corporate clients with their personal bookings.

My life has been enriched by Travel Counsellors, allowing me to live and work in a way I never thought possible. I haven’t been this happy since I spent 12 years travelling, living and working abroad many moons ago and I now have that freedom back (and then some) and I earn a very decent wage for this.

I have zero stress, and I can service my clients to the level they require. If I get a call at 3am, I’m on it and gratefully. Also, it frees me up for snowboarding during the day! It’s all about creating and cherishing client relationships and truly valuing their loyalty. I still have my first corporate client I worked with 18 years ago and I’m so appreciative and thankful to have him and many others for such a decent amount of time. I’ll never be complacent, and I never look solely at the bottom line. I’m more interested in happy clients and the reason I can do this (and do it well) is because I have the time to service them properly.

Tenerife: ‘I’m definitely selling sunshine in the sunshine’

Sarah-Jane Brooks, personal travel consultant, Blue Bay Travel

We moved to Tenerife to be closer to my husband’s family – his parents have been here for 23 years. I was working as a PTA in the call centre for Blue Bay Travel at the time and I told my bosses that I would have to leave but they said: “No way, we can make this work.”

So, when I first moved over to Tenerife, I was still in the call centre. However shortly after I decided that to get the perfect work-home balance it would be great to move over to the world of a PTC homeworker. 

I live in a lovely place called El Medano. It’s a beautiful seaside town that is very Spanish with lovely little tapas bars and a nice beach.

Every morning now I walk the dog along the beach. I have a nice cuppa and sit in the garden before work and in the summer months I have a morning swim in the pool. I work until around 3pm and then it’s time for swimming and maybe an hour’s snooze in the sun. Then it is back to work for a few hours in the evening. 

I have never actually made a booking from the beach but I have made one from beside the pool – I’m definitely selling sunshine in the sunshine!

I sell quite a lot of Tenerife and clients love the fact that I can give them lots of hints and tips. I tend to meet up with many of my regular clients and my celebrity clients too – I book travel for a few Coronation Street stars and a TV detective. Celebrities love Tenerife. I have picked them up from the airport many times to give them that extra special service and always endeavour to get them into their favourite restaurants.

Moving to Tenerife gave me a perfect work-life balance living in the sun. If ever I get a little stressed (as we all do in this business!), I will go for a beach walk and take a few moments. I do have to stay very focused and motivated as it’s quite easy to skip work and go to the beach for the day! However, I set my own hours so if I am quiet one afternoon it’s nice to be able to spend extra time at the pool with a good book or a nice walk with the dog up in the mountains. 

Costa del Sol: ‘I have a beautiful view from my desk and it’s a pleasure to be sat there working’

Jasmin Shaw, Travel Counsellor

We’re based just inland from the Costa del Sol in a mountain village called Competa. I wanted to move to Spain for years but had an uphill struggle convincing my husband to go for it. My mithering finally paid off and he relented. We attended one of the A Place in the Sun roadshows in Manchester, did a screen test – and then it all happened from there! We bought one of the houses we viewed in the show.

We hit the jackpot and had the presenter Jasmine Harman for our A Place in the Sun episode. She was so lovely, and we really felt she bought in to what we wanted. We had a crew of about five or six people. It took hours to view a single house and they’re so secretive about what they have lined up for you!

On the second to last day of filming, we viewed the house we’ve now bought, and we all had a last lunch together – a prawn curry – to celebrate. The enormity of what we’d done started to hit me and I began to feel quite queasy. We had to beat a hasty retreat back to the hotel where I spent the rest of the afternoon and night in bed and on the bathroom floor. Not overwhelmed; food poisoning! The next morning, we had to film our decision – we hadn’t even had the chance to discuss it. So, it’s a good job it all worked out!

The school hours are shorter here (9am-2pm), so I squeeze most of my work into earlier in the day where possible and then log in again in the evening and at a weekend if needed. I have a beautiful view of the mountains and sea from my desk, so it’s a pleasure to be sat there working.

I haven’t made any bookings on the beach, but I did check someone in for Orlando whilst walking around Fuengirola at the weekend. I have Travel Counsellors’ system on my phone, so I’m frequently found to be speaking to clients and tinkering with bookings on the go.

I sell quite a bit of Spain, and it helps customers to buy in to my knowledge. I have clients who have just done an Andalucia road trip, and it was great to be able to recommend some scenic drives and give them a heads up on some road closures after the recent (seemingly endless) torrential rain. I also like to email my clients’ hotels before they arrive to make sure that everything runs smoothly. I’ve found that doing that in Spanish with Spanish hotels works wonders for a bit of special treatment on check-in!

I have two young children so my life before was very full-on and quite stressful juggling the school run, clubs, keeping the house in some kind of serviceable state and everything that comes with running your own business. My husband works part-time now, also from home, and so it’s meant that he’s able to pick up on a lot more practical stuff, which has made an enormous difference to my work-life balance.

I’ve integrated a lovely Friday lunch date into our weekly calendar and the dog has never had so many walks! I was worried that work might get quieter, but I’ve actually had my best peaks ever, and it’s really nice to have more time to chat and catch up with my clients. Long may it continue!