Travel Counsellors plc is one of the UK’s largest independent travel agencies with a turnover of £175million in 2006.
Founded by chairman David Speakman in 1994, the company has over 1100 full time professional agents operating across seven countries and is widely regarded as the most professional home-based travel company in the world.
Our customers benefit from having their own personal Travel Counsellor who takes a pride in getting to know their clients personally, providing them with the highest possible levels of personal service and taking care of all their travel requirements, down to the last detail.
Our personal Travel Counsellors each have an average 19 years of experience, meaning they offer a level of expertise and personal knowledge that few other travel companies can match. They are supported by over 200 staff at the company’s head office in Bolton, Lancashire who deal with all administration - including ticketing, helpdesk, IT and marketing – giving them the time to focus on their clients and provide them with a personal travel service that is simply unsurpassed.
The company also operates in Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, Australia and the US. Travel
We take pride in the exceptional levels of personal service we offer our clients, a fact that was recognised when we received the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise 2003 - 2008, the UK’s top business accolade.
Travel Counsellors has been named Travel Agent of the Year for two consecutive years in the 2006 and 2007 Guardian, Observer and Guardian Unlimited Travel Awards, as voted for by readers.
While agents on the high street have been struggling to compete against the rise of the internet, Travel Counsellors continues to buck the trend by concentrating on service rather than price alone.
Because Travel Counsellors is not owned by a tour operator the customer is much more likely to get the holiday they want rather than the holiday the high street agent wants to sell them. No one operator accounts for more than 8% of our business.
Press Release June 2007
Travel Counsellors hosts its first Business Travel Conference
Travel Counsellors hosted an exclusive Business Travel Conference for its growing team
of Business Travel Counsellors on Saturday 16th June at Birmingham NEC.
The company provided its Business Travel Counsellors with information and advice
specifically tailored for the business travel market. This included presentations from
Business Travel Manager Kevin Heath and Managing Director Steve Byrne on key areas
including business development, product updates and presentation skills. A number of
the company’s key travel suppliers were also in attendance including Silverjet, Emirates
and Virgin Atlantic. Other key members of staff from the Bolton head office also covered
different areas of the business such as marketing, sales and finance.
The company has seen a significant growth in its business travel sector, with over 70
consultants now operating purely in corporate business travel and over 140 specialising
in both business and leisure travel. This is in response to increasing demand by
businesses for the superb and tailored service provided by its Travel Counsellors, who
are the crème de la crème of the travel industry. The Business Travel Counsellors all
have on average 18 years of experience and are supported by over 150 staff at the
company’s head office in Bolton, providing agents with a dedicated programme of
support covering all areas including administration, marketing and technology.
One of the highlights of the conference was a question and answer session with one of
the company’s top Business Travel Counsellors Neil Mewes, who joined Travel
Counsellors two years ago and has since grown his business to over £1.25m annual
“It was a real honour to be asked to appear at the conference and I hope I imparted some
useful information to others,” says Neil. “Business Travel is such a specialised field within
the industry that I feel has been overlooked for too long. The Conference reinforces the
company’s commitment to this field and to its Business Travel Counsellors, who are all
committed to providing their corporate clients with a unique travel service. It was a
fantastic opportunity to meet like minded people and exchange ideas, and I gained some
useful knowledge that I know will help me improve my business further.”
The company is the world’s largest home-based company, with over 780 Travel
Counsellors, working from home throughout the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany
and the USA. The company has also recently expanded into South Africa and Australia
with further overseas expansion planned.
Travel Counsellors has been listed in the Financial Times/Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100
list of companies on four consecutive occasions and was listed in Business Travel World
as one of the top 50 TMC's in the UK for 2006. The company is the only travel agency to
be the winner of the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2003-2008. Readers of
the Guardian, Observer and Guardian Unlimited recently voted Travel Counsellors 2006
Travel Agent of the Year.
Commenting on the conference, Travel Counsellors Managing Director Steve Byrne said;
“Travel Counsellors is extremely proud of the service we provide businesses. We feel it
was important to provide our Business Travel Counsellors with their own conference that
specifically catered to their knowledge and skills, so they can continue to provide
companies with a dedicated personal service to cater to all their business travel needs. It
is a very exciting time for our business travel sector and we look forward to continued
taken from www.travelcounsellors.co.uk