Scottish-based Barrhead Travel recorded its fourth successive record-breaking Saturday (27 January), Hays Travel achieved “above-target sales” over the weekend and other agencies – including Baldwins Travel – confirmed Saturday was the busiest of the three previous ones this month. 

Barrhead’s sales success coincided with the company’s annual Back to the Floor day where more than 30 directors and sales support staff joined retail colleagues to help out in-store. 

Barrhead Travel president Jacqueline Dobson said: “What a finale to an incredible month. We’ve been quietly confident all month that we would see record sales numbers, but obviously you have to take things week by week.

“We had some initial concerns about the challenges with the weather, particularly when travel advisories were issued in some regions, but the appetite to book holidays never wavered.”

She added: “Customers who couldn’t travel into towns or cities took to the phones, email or social media to connect with our experts.”

Hays Travel recorded above-target sales this weekend, with cruise and long-haul bookings particularly strong. 

The UK’s largest agency believes sales were boosted by customers waiting until the end of the month before booking. 

Before payday weekend, Hays reassured customers that plenty of holiday stock was still available through marketing campaign. 

Jane Schumm, Hays Travel retail director, said the agency was “delighted” with the impact of the campaign, adding: “There are still plenty of great holidays and offers to be had from the many operators we work with.”  

She noted how customers are telling Hays agents they “appreciate knowing that they are fully financially protected when they book with us”. 

Matthew Johnson, assistant manager of Midcounties Co-operative Travel branch in Leicester, confirmed the weekend was “very busy”.

“It was probably the busiest weekend of the month as we are only open on Saturday. We had six bookings.”

Couple bookings are strong, said Johnson, who added that family sales had dropped off.  

“I don’t know why that is, maybe families don’t have the money at the moment?,” he said. 

Nick Marks, Baldwins Travel managing director, also saw bumper sales on Saturday. “It was the best of weekend of January,” he continued. 

“We saw a marked difference [against the other Saturday]. It means we’re a lot more positive about February. Payday helped a lot.” 

Marks highlighted how demand for the US had previously been affected by exchange rate concerns among consumers.

“I think demand for the US was hit by the exchange rate, so hopefully we’ll see that will come down again,” he explained. 

Shona Thorne – owner of Thorne Travel, the six-time TTG Top 50 agency – said staff working in each of the three agencies had seen “a lot of enquiries” last weekend.

In particular, there was strong demand for long-haul departures in October and Christmas into next year, Thorne added. 

“Direct debits have been big for us, paying a deposit now for long-haul breaks later in the year and into 2025,” she explained.

“The new Prestwick store has been brilliant, absolutely amazing. We set a target for it for January and we have already doubled it.”

 
But she added: “Recruitment has been more challenging, and we still need two team members. We’re talking to colleges about taking people on and have two job fairs coming up.”

Premier Travel managing director Paul Waters confirmed last Saturday was up against the same day last year, but it was not the biggest Saturday this month.