Speaking at the Institute of Travel and Tourism’s Leadership dinner on Wednesday (9 April), Handley-Hughes – InteleTravel’s UK and Ireland managing director – revealed she had been “shocked” by the social media backlash towards InteleTravel agents after she joined the company in 2018.
However, she insisted that after many sleepless nights, she had learnt to ignore the “energy sappers” – even though she initially took the online attacks “very personally”.
“Companies have accused us of being a side hustle," said Handley-Hughes. "But you’re not going to walk away from a full-time job, unless you’re confident you’ve got the audience and the business plan to be able to [pay your bills].
"I’ve become very proud [of the fact] that we’ve got so many agents who are part-time. Our agents are professional people a lot of the time. There’s nothing wrong with working part-time.”
Highlighting recent sales successes, such as that of Irish InteleTravel agent Lucille Furlong, who has landed group bookings worth hundreds of thousands of euros, Handley-Hughes said: “I would not sneer at a side hustle – these agents are now migrating away from their full-time jobs.”
Handley-Hughes candidly admitted she didn’t know who InteleTravel founder James Ferrara was when he first contacted her about joining the business in 2018.
She also revealed that despite listening to what he had to say over dinner, Handley-Hughes initially declined to take a full-time position at InteleTravel and instead worked as a consultant for the company.
“I had never heard of InteleTravel," she explained. "I didn’t have a clue, but James [Ferrara] said to me, ‘I’ve heard you’ve been doing some consultancy work in the travel industry. Would you mind meeting me for dinner?’ – was I going to say no?
“I listened, but I left none the wiser. I was confused about the brand. I did not quite get it. I tried to get my head around it.”
While consulting for InteleTravel as the company tried to gain Abta membership, Handley-Hughes urged Ferrara to “stop flying all these Americans” to the UK because she was concerned about how the association would view the company.
"Abta were looking for recognised names, people they trusted,” said Handley-Hughes. “My first job was getting that crack team together – [industry lawyers] Jo Kolatsis and Chris Photi, both whom many of you know. Suddenly we became ’The A-Team’ for InteleTravel.
"We knew exactly what we needed to do, but I was still getting to grips with the business model, which was very disruptive for the UK and very different. We then got our Abta membership and we started trading quite strongly."
Fast forward seven years and Handley-Hughes is full of praise for Ferrara. “We’re the oldest homeworking company," she said. "We’re the largest globally with 125,000 homeworkers, but even though we’ve been going for 36 years, our values have never changed.
“We’re very much a people organisation, led by James, our group chief executive. He has become a mentor for me. He treats us like family. The values have never changed.
"We care about all of our agents. I know it has not always been easy. Life has been a challenge, but James is a hard act to follow. He is wise, experienced and just a lovely man to work with.”
’How am I going to handle this?’
Handley-Hughes insisted her priorities are to “change perceptions” of InteleTravel and “manage expectations”. “I’ve talked about respect," she continued. "You will have seen some of the social media I have to deal with. Others may have let it go over their head, I took it very personally.
“I would lie there at night and think, ‘what am I going to do? How am I going to handle this?’ I had to lead by example. The social media journey was one of the hardest journeys I’ve ever been on.
"There will always be those who don’t understand our business model, who fear our business model, or are even jealous of it. But like it or not, our business model is successful. Social media has had a lot to deal with my growing up in this business.”
Handley-Hughes concluded by saying InteleTravel would soon announce “big news”, likely to be further “overseas expansion”.
“Will I be here to lead it? I don’t know – I’ve got to keep these grey cells going,” she said. “For a woman in my 60s, who is now a widow, I’m not about to sit down. This is my journey, sand this is how it is going to continue.”
