Classic Collection will open up its Manchester HQ to homeworking agents from this week, as part of the luxury tour operator’s mission to support its trade partners.
Its offices are currently based in Aeroworks, a former 1940s aircraft factory just five minutes’ walk from Piccadilly Station.
Visiting homeworkers can hot desk alongside the Classic Collection team, or work in the resident cafe on the ground floor. They will also be welcome at Aeroworks’ on-site bar, which serves complimentary alcoholic and soft drinks from 4pm to 6pm everyday.
Head of sales strategic partnerships at Classic Collection, Jorge Quibell, said that he hopes the homeworking hub will be a positive experience for its agent partners.
“It’s really about communicating with people and seeing them face-to-face,” he tells TTG Luxury. “I work from home a lot of the time, and at busy times of the year, you can sit on your laptop from 7am to 7pm. It gets to Thursday and you realise you haven’t seen a soul!”
As well as encouraging socialisation, Quibell believes that the hub – which is also open to retail agents – will be a space for business development.
“I think it could also be quite collaborative,” Quibell says. “Homeworkers can bounce off each other, share ideas on best practice and discuss how to increase sales.”
Classic Collection’s homeworkers hub will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, with a capacity to host up to 10 agents on any given day.
Quibell says that this decision aligns with its “100% trade focus”, which was established in May following the major restructuring of the brand.
“Everything we do has agents at heart. Getting to know people on a personal level really helps us succeed.”
Homeworkers will be able to use Aeroworks’ extensive facilities, including its on-site cafe, which serves specialty coffees as well as salads, sandwiches and pastries at a subsidised price. Complimentary tea and coffee will also be available, with hot tops and water fountains installed on each floor.
For leisure, there is a games room with an X-Box, table football and pool table, as well as a “chill-out” space with beanbags and hammocks. A holiday theme runs throughout the building; meeting rooms are named after ice creams like Cornetto and Solero, and deckchairs adorn the large auditorium.
Quibell says that he is excited for the homeworking initiative to launch, and hopes that it will “inspire other tour operators to do the same thing”.
He also hints that, if there is enough demand, Classic Collection will expand its homeworking facilities for agents outside of Manchester. “I’d love to get to a point where we open a few hubs across the UK in the long-term,” he says.
