The team of six caught a showing of Abba Voyage, the legendary group’s virtual concert residency in London, before taking high tea at the Ritz.
“It was a really lovely trip and we all really enjoyed it,” managing director Julie Bangham told TTG. “As a business owner, you want to support your staff and thank them for all their hard work, because it has been very hard work.”
The agency in Kirkburton, which was named as one of TTG’s Top 50 Travel Agencies in 2020, has over the past 18 months taken on two new consultants to cope with the post-Covid rebound.
Amanda Richardson started in March 2022 and was joined five months later by Cindy Taylor, who returned to the industry after a short stint working in the NHS.
Avid traveller Richardson, though, joined the growing number of people moving into travel following the pandemic, with the industry looking increasingly to recruit from other sectors – car rental, in her case.
Branch manager Ruth Littlewood characterised the hire as "a bit of a gamble", one that in the end turned out to be "absolutely the right thing" for the business after Richardson’s passion shone through.
Littlewood said after struggling to find the right person with sufficient industry knowledge, she quickly realised it would be better to hire someone with the right qualities for the role and who was the right fit for the rest of the team, despite their lack of travel experience.
“We realised quite early on that if they’re the right person with the right personality, we can invest in them and train them to learn how we do bookings, and provide them with a lot of support,” Littlewood said.
She added Richardson had now become a key member of the team, helping Travel Experience capitalise on the post-Covid spending surge after excelling on cruise and multi-generational holiday sales, as well as room upgrades.
Bangham and Littlewood added the future looked bright for the business, even amid the ongoing cost of living squeeze. “We’re in the second month of our new financial year now, and the pattern has continued – it hasn’t slowed down,” said Bangham.
