From London to Belfast, Travel Counsellors is criss-crossing the country as it connects with around 650 of the independent businesses in its network through a series of eight TC Together “mini conferences”.

The event format is nothing new, but this time around though, the message at the gatherings is clear: the opportunity to grow premium leisure business.

Last week’s recognition as the Top Luxury Agency at the TTG Top 50 Travel Agencies 2024 couldn’t have come at a better time too, with the accolade serving as compelling evidence of Travel Counsellors’ heightened focus on luxury travel.

At their core, chief executive Steve Byrne says the TC Together events are ultimately about giving TCs the connection they crave with each other, and providing the environment they need for break-out sessions where they learn from each other and experts. But he’s attending every one of the conferences to also “share the opportunity” with the audience.

Byrne says potential spend on leisure travel in the UK sits in the region of £50 billion, with £10 billion of that being in premium travel, something he is keen to capitalise on.

“We have a big opportunity here, to make the most of what that premium customer wants, as we know that if customers receive a personalised service that shows high levels of care and a premium experience, they are very likely to rebook,” adds Byrne, who has been with the company for 20 years.

More than three quarters (77%) of the business Travel Counsellors already books could be considered premium leisure travel, Byrne says, with premium sales in 2023 amounting to £520 million. The company generally is heading towards a turnover of £1 billion this year, with 1,573 TCs active in leisure sales in the UK.

Much – but still not all – of TCs’ business is booked through Phenix, the inhouse tour operator Travel Counsellors has been building and fine tuning for many years. A whopping 90,000 development hours went into building 2,500 new features on Phenix last year and TCs can also now tap into the Phenix Premium Leisure team, newly formed to help support them in using the system to its full advantage.

As Byrne points out, the volume of business booked through Phenix means it has quietly become what’s probably the largest luxury player in the trade. But Travel Counsellors’ credentials as a premium business focused on tailor-made, high-end holidays is something Byrne says the sector doesn’t often give it credit for.

While TCs can (in theory) still book external product suppliers as they see fit, Byrne says he believes Phenix does increasingly give them access to “anything they could ever need”. Even tiny boutique luxury hotels in the middle of nowhere?

“We’d do our due diligence on whether we could work with those sorts of places, but yes, ultimately, if it’s what the customer needs, we make it happen. We certainly have all the luxury hotel brands available to book that our TCs would ever need,” he says. “Our TCs can get the best airline and hotel connectivity, access to DMCs – there is nothing they can’t book.”

Talking tech

Travel Counsellors has 100 people in its tech team alone, and has earmarked £15 million for investment in this area this year, with a particular emphasis on the kinds of itinerary software that help bring agents even closer towards that goal of selling more tailor-made and premium travel than ever before.

This includes a burgeoning range of exciting itineraries known as TC Journeys, launched in November, which agents can access online and then tweak and finesse further as needed for their clients.

“Some itineraries are being designed by us, some are what TCs have created themselves for clients and then shared with other TCs to lift from,” Byrne explains. “Being able to access these gives the agents more time to focus on developing and maintaining those relationships with clients.

“Helping them realise the opportunity they have, giving them time and advice for customer acquisition, encouraging them to keep in touch with people, and developing what they have to sell are all part of what we do,” he adds.

The recent acquisition of Planisto also aims to further elevate this, using the proprietary, cloud-native technology platform to empower advisors to create and manage complex personalised itineraries. A Netherlands-based company, Planisto is being rolled out to TCs there first, before making its way across the network this year.

Couldn’t Travel Counsellors just have built something like this itself? Probably. But for the speed of getting something to market that can actively help in the pursuit of tech-driven but human-powered travel planning that leads to high levels of customer conversion and retention, Byrne says it was worth it to buy a company that could help do that quickly.

“The customer expects the best of both a human and digital experience and high levels of personalisation,” he adds. “People will pay a premium for a service when they know they are being cared for. The customers you have probably leave you because of perceived indifference. They don’t feel appreciated. If you can convince customers they are valued, why would they go elsewhere? Keeping customers means loyalty, and loyalty builds advocacy.”

He says he also recalls something once said by former Tesco boss and retail expert Terry Leahy at a conference that stuck with him, along the lines of “one of the biggest mistakes brands make is spending too much time finding new customers instead of focusing on the ones they have”. 

He also believes the rise in premium bookings can come from the TCs already in the fold, rather than just taking on more: “We want to look after our premium customers even more, not necessarily have more TCs.”

Newcomers are considered however, if they fit the “TC way”. “You must have the drive to run your own business, high personal standards and an ability to care deeply,” he highlights.

Of course, a helpful recent leapfrog was the acquisition of 100 or so people just like that when Holidaysplease was taken over last year. Byrne doesn’t rule out other acquisitions either, provided they “fit the strategy”.

Travel Counsellors’ phenomenal growth has also come with little above the line consumer advertising at a brand level; rather it’s the TCs who build the brand themselves among their customers, mostly via social media. And Byrne believes the bounceback that the company and many others in travel experienced post-pandemic will continue.

“We were deprived of the opportunity to travel, and people still feel that and are reacting to it,” he says, adding a staggering fact. “We’re 60% bigger as a business than we were pre-pandemic.” 

Not all smooth sailing

But Byrne is also naturally aware of the challenges TCs face, even if these are of course not unique to them: inflationary pressure on pricing and not enough hours in the day to do everything, are among them. But he believes with the tools and support Travel Counsellors offers, these can be combatted to a degree.

His attitude is one that has become something of a common – but ultimately effective – trope of the modern era: to try and focus on affecting the things you can control, rather than worrying about those you can’t. “Yes, we’re in an election year, which can soften demand, and there are many geopolitical events affecting travel – we can’t control any of that. But we can control our relationships with our customers and each other, and stay true to our values.”

Travel Counsellors has also operated successfully in the corporate travel space where he sees another big opportunity: it’s currently worth £200 million to the company, but he feels TCs could be booking £500 million worth of SME business travel within three-five years.

Whatever they’re booking or how they do it, Byrne says the uniting factor among travel advisors comes back to that “TC way”. “This a community that helps each other, and goes above and beyond for its customers, that’s the TC way,” he concludes.  

Click for details of all those who made it onto the TTG Top 50 for 2024.