Speaking to TTG shortly after the deal for Travel House’s 16 south Wales stores was announced on Thursday (23 November), Dame Irene had a strong and reassuring message for the 68 Travel House staff set to join Hays.

"We are very confident of the people in the business – there are exceptional people in the team," she said.

Travel House was founded by Martin Morgan in 1992 when he opened the first branch in Brynhyfryd, north of Swansea, situated between the schools he attended as a child; the business was sold to Thomson in 2000 before being reacquired from Tui in 2004.

The agency, Wales’s largest independent, joined the Hays Travel Independence (IG) group in 2021, and has been acquired by Hays from investment group Swansea.com.

Dame Irene said no staff retraining would be required owing to Travel House’s IG group membership. "The stores are already operating on the same Hays Travel selling and customer service principles," she said.

However, Dame Irene told TTG there would be opportunities for the Travel House stores and team to leverage Hays Travel’s scale. “Joining a larger organisation like us gives the team the opportunity to progress and develop, and to take advantage of our training and development programme," she said.

Dame Irene confirmed all 16 Travel House stores would remain open, and will continue to trade as Travel House until April 2024 to ensure a smooth transition and continuity ahead of the impending peaks season, after which a view will be taken on next steps in discussion with the team.

All 16 stores will be put forward for consideration for Hays’s ongoing refit, refurbishment and relocation programme next year, which will see more than three-quarters of the Hays Travel retail branch network – some 375 shops – undergo a revamp over the next three years.

Dame Irene told TTG the refits, refurbishments and relocations were a “key priority" for Hays. She added the agency was constantly looking out for opportunities to grow, including through more acquisitions with the Travel House deal coming hot on the heels of Hays’s move for another IG member, Don Bircham’s Just Go Travel.

Hays announced a deal in September for 45 of Bircham’s 46 stores in north Wales and the North West, which Bircham had for nearly a decade run under a Hays Travel North West franchise agreement. He has retained the original Just Go Travel store in Mold.

"What we tend to do is look at which regions are performing well for us, and where there are gaps," Dame Irene explained. "But it’s very difficult to predict where a good site will become available in an area we want to be in,” she continued, adding sites – if they’re not already operating as a travel agency business – typically require a lot more work to fit out.

While Dame Irene insisted there was “no strategic priority” to scope out acquisitions from within the IG membership following those of Hays Travel North West and now Travel House, she acknowledged it was an easier pathway to growth when going through due diligence to look at those businesses.

“Hays will have access to all relevant information about its IG members, including their trading performance,” she said, adding this can often be difficult to discern when exploring any potential acquisition of a business outside the Hays family.

Reflecting on the deal for Travel House, she stressed: “It’s been a while in the making, and we’re very pleased to have got it over the line.”