Travel Solutions Network has been founded by Garry and Lindsey Winterburn, and is backed by Steve Endacott, who will serve as chair.

It will initially aim to provide staffing for an overflow call centre service to help firms struggling to keep up with demand process bookings.

TSN chief executive Garry Winterburn said many firms were not yet fulled geared up to cope with the "major surge" in holiday demand after being forced to cut costs during the pandemic.

"TSN has been set up to provide either outsourced call overflow or, in some cases, create a flexible full call centre and customer service operation using travel experienced homeworkers to relaunch mothballed brands," he said.

The team said with many people looking to restart their careers in travel, TSN could offer them a steady income flow while the build or expand their own client bases. It will also cater for those looking to break into homeworking travel sales too.

Lindsey Winterburn, chief operating officer, is overseeing recruitment and said one of the operation’s USPs would be payment on booking.

"Most holiday commissions post-Covid can only be released from trust funds, on the customers’ return from holiday, creating a six-month or longer wait for booking fees to be paid to agents," she said.

"TSN’s outsourcing work is mainly paid on booking, giving our homeworkers steady call flow and immediate income, while they build their own customer base. At the same time, it provides our outsource partners with a highly experienced team of travel professionals.

"We think this flexible call mix, coupled with some of the best commission deals in the sector, will be vital to attracting travel experts back to the industry as homeworkers."

TSN will also provide opportunities, and the necessary technology, for recruits to create shop hubs to work from and collaborate, with a view to establishing the brand on the high street.

"Homeworkers want to handle their own sales leads but are often looking for administrative support to look after their customers bookings and to provide sales support when they themselves are on holiday," she continued.

"We will be operating a professional administrative support function, with a personalised team who understand the importance of providing a world class, customer focused service to valued customers."

Endacott said each TSN homeworker would be offered their own bookable site and video consultation tools.

"Nobody wants to move away from phone calls or home visits, but video conferencing does offer major positives when presenting holiday options to the customers," he said. "Most importantly, [it] allows agents to see a customer’s reaction and adjust the pitch accordingly, often boosting conversion."

‘Personalised service’

Another aim for TSN will be to create a directory for destination expertise among its homeworking cohort so it can advertise central and allow them to extend their sales network nationally.

"After Covid-19, customers want to return to travel experts offering a personalised service," added Garry Winterburn.

"However, they also want the convenience of shopping from their own homes now that they also work from home on a full or part time basis. It’s important that we match the right customers to the right expertise, on a national basis and don’t waste our homeworkers destination expertise by only allowing them to service their local community as many other home working networks do."

TSN will also aim to offer optional non-travel work during November and the festive season when travel sales are quieter to help its homeworkers generate steady income year-round.