The event took place the morning after the Top 50 Travel Agencies by TTG ceremony in Manchester, with highlights of the 30-page Top 50 Insight Report presented by TTG’s head of insight Sarah Dennis.
It was supported by Bedsonline and hosted at Old Trafford Stadium.
This year’s report – the second of its kind – explored a range of topics including customer service approaches, marketing strategies, perceptions of fairer travel, workplace initiatives, community support efforts and business performance including average agent sales values and average margins both nationwide and by region.
The report analysed submission information supplied in both the 11 high street categories and two homeworking agency categories, and the full report is available only to agencies that took part in Top 50 Travel Agencies by TTG and to supplier partners.
Here are the top takeaways from the panel’s discussion around customer service and marketing.
‘Working out of hours is just part of being a good travel agency’
The Insight Report showed that, while almost all Top 50 high street finalists pre-book flight seats and make pre-departure phone calls, 80% add on a welcome home call, and 66% go the extra mile to reward customers with thoughtful gifts. The agent panellists agreed maintaining impressive levels of customer service while ensuring employee wellbeing can a challenge.
“ There’s no expectation [to work] outside of paid hours but the team are just so invested in their clients’ journeys they are on call 24/7,” said Sean Fletcher, founder of Travel Four Seasons, which was crowned Top Travel Agency in the South East.
“We haven’t had any disasters that have pushed the team to the limit because I’m the backstop – we fly by the seat of our pants a bit, but ultimately the team just muck in and get on with it.”
The Harpenden-based agency isn’t the only one where senior management regularly relieves pressure from frontline sellers: Yorkshire’s Top Travel Agency Olive Lounge Travel has a 24/7 emergency phone line which feeds through to the mobile phone of Gillian Polyhos and her co-founder, while the Travel Village Group’s homeworking arm, The Holiday Village, has added a buddy system to its emergency response and customer care teams to support its network of business owners even further.
“ Their responsibility is to make the sale, and our responsibility is to look after the customer as well as them,” said Amanda Taylor, business development manager at the Travel Village Group and The Holiday Village, which was crowned Top Homeworking Agency (small).
Tom Britton, owner of Ireland’s Top Travel Agency Marble City Travel, added: “ This is just part of what travel agents do; your customers will never know half of what goes on and it’s a challenge, but it’s handled, and can be quite good fun in the process.”
‘With high risk comes high reward’
It’s clear top-performing agencies’ hard work pays off, with 87% of high street finalists reporting at least half of their bookings were made with repeat clients in 2024. The research also revealed loyalty schemes are on the rise with 38% of finalists offering formal programmes (versus 29% of last year’s shortlist), and 29% operating a formal referral scheme.
Employee mental health is another key focus for these travel agencies, with nearly all offering flexible working patterns and many incentivising with rewards such as bonuses, annual team trips, regular socials and vouchers. Almost two-thirds (62%) of our finalists saw 100% staff retention in 2024, an increase on the 50% of finalists in 2023 who enjoyed the same.
‘Social media marketing is hit and miss’
Word of mouth remains the number one way to generate new business for our Top 50 finalists, but these agents are still seeing strong success from social media despite a range of strategies across different platforms.
Nine in ten (89%) of finalists can directly attribute sales to Facebook, while 49% see business come from Instagram. More of this year’s shortlist were using TikTok too, with 20% attributing revenue to this platform, and unsurprisingly X is on the decline with just 5% saying the same of the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Agent panellists agreed there was not a one-size-fits-all approach to social media. Marble City Travel shared how it has steered away from the expert-recommended one social media post a day, instead sharing seven offers over quick succession in a morning. “ And lo and behold, it’s actually showing a result,” said Britton.
The Travel Village Group has a Facebook page dedicated to offers run by its in-house marketing team, while Travel Four Seasons doesn’t post offers on its social channels at all.
“ Marketing [for us] is more about inspiration and relationship-led,” said Fletcher. “We are on Facebook and Instagram, but it really is hit and miss; we know our clients are there, we know some of them are active, but it’s such a crowded place we tend to market directly with [our quarterly print magazine] and face-to-face client events.”
Polyhos revealed Olive Lounge Travel has seen a decline in engagement on social media, but that it doesn’t necessarily mean the marketing efforts aren’t successful.
“ Our posts aren’t getting the engagement that they did six months ago, but we know people are looking at [Facebook and Instagram] because we get told all the time what amazing offers we’ve got on there,” she said.
‘Boldness and creativity in marketing is key’
The TTG Top 50 Insight Report showed agencies remain creative beyond social media when it comes to marketing, with the likes of TV interviews and adverts, billboards and an impressive 35% using radio for both appearances and sponsorships.
Olive Lounge Travel placed an advert at Leeds Bradford airport for the first time in 2024 to raise brand awareness and used a competition to drive engagement on the promotion. The winner received a £1,000 holiday voucher and ended up booking a trip with the agency.
Meanwhile, Marble City Travel has been working successfully with influencers.
“We’ve worked with influencers who are what I would describe as pro-travel agents, so they get what the customer service element is about,” Britton explained. “They’re not trying to ram a particular hotel down someone’s throat because they’re going to get a free breakfast – they’re saying this is a great destination and why, and if you talk to Marble City, happy days.”
‘Growth may have slowed, but it’s still impressive’
Financial figures shared by TTG Top 50 finalists points to a very successful year for travel retail, with high street finalists reporting turnover growth of 11% year-on-year, on average, versus their own 2023 figures. Finalists in the small homeworking agency category, meanwhile, reported turnover growth of more than 26% year-on-year, on average.
Other data points contained in the exclusive report include average turnover per store including regional variation, and average turnover per full-time equivalent sales consultant, including regional variation.
To receive next year’s Top 50 Insight Report, register to take part in the TTG Top 50 programme when nominations open in Autumn 2025. You can register your interest (as an agent or supplier partner) here.
