Mel White of White's Travel on the highs and lows of the month of June

30 Jun 2021

Mel White of White’s Travel is looking ahead with optimism despite the challenges that travel is facing

Mel White, White's Travel

A good word for the month of June was “transition”. We are in a transitional period of moving forward as an industry and we all have to remain optimistic.

Good things are coming, and we must sit tight and hang in there as bestwe can. We are also in a transitional period as an agency. Having joined Advantage Managed Services (AMS) in April, we have had plenty to do, learning the new systems and setting things in motion. The financial support and marketing opportunities are really helpful and we’re now part of a massive family, which gives us the confidence to move forward.

TURBULENT TIMES

On 17 May, we were filled with expectation and excited to hear details of the government’s traffic light system.

Then the announcement came and was a bit of a damp squib! However, it did send a sliver of optimism that the world is finally starting to open up.

Since then we’ve been taking bookings every day to countries including Spain, France and Italy, as some clients can self-isolate and want to travel. We’d also been taking Portugal bookings until it fell off the green list.

This week, I made an Orlando booking for October 2022 worth £40,000, as well as a Jet2 break to Lanzarote for October half-term this year. We need more people travelling this summer and paying upfront, though, to help cash flow.

White’s Travel organises travel for pro squash athletes

SMART THINKING

My husband and work partner, Ian, and I are keen squash players and have ingrained ourselves in the squash world, and part of our work at White’s Travel is organising travel for pro squash athletes travelling to tournaments. This has kept us busy and above water during the lockdowns and in recent months, as players have continued to travel to Egypt, and we have Washington and Chicago bookings on the horizon this month too.

We recently negotiated a special rate of £75 for PCR testing at a local testing centre. It gives us a definite edge offering this service to our clients and it has been well received, with every single person who has booked with us taking us up on the offer.

We are totally against the postal test kits as we used them last summer and were plagued with problems and found the whole system stressful and unreliable, and we want to be able to offer our customers the best service possible.

INSTILLING CONFIDENCE

I think any client – as long as they are given the correct information regarding arrival restrictions for the UK and abroad and any PCR testing, and they know their money is protected in case they are unable to travel – can make an informed decision. It is our job to ensure they are getting this information, and it is a great opportunity for us as an industry to jump on this and sing from the rooftops about how great we are at our jobs, and to prove our worth. This is a lifelong career for many of us, and I think this is often overlooked.

We have spent recent months being an information service too, but this is a good thing as, again, it proves our worth as a travel agency. It is good to instil confidence in the travelling public by saying “yes, the way forward and the new way of travelling will be a littledifferent for a while, but that’s OK, we have got your back”.

In addition to that, nearly every single customer we’re dealing with at the moment is a new client. It’s brilliant, as we need new business and it fills me with confidence for the future.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

Two years ago we moved from working from home to Ellerker Lodge Garden Centre in East Yorkshire and have amazing footfall due to the restaurant and coffee shop there being so popular. There’s also a gift shop and free parking.

We have postcards in there with our information and what we sell. If bookings slow down over winter, we plan on putting out more postcards that say if people book a holiday with us, they get a free tea, coffee or lunch at the coffee shop, depending on the price of the holiday.

We also use our 19 shop windows (we’re in a conservatory!) to inspire people to travel with us. We’re not a hard-sell agency. Clients buy into us as people and they build relationships with us – that’s how we sell.

I am a hopeful person, so always look for the silver lining. We have seen an uptake in business with every positive announcement that comes out of government; this keeps us going, knowing that business is out there.

How we've endeavoured to be a Smarter, Better, Fairer agency this year…

Smarter: Our monthly newsletter is packed with useful information, from offers to travel updates, and has led to enquiries.

Better: As the team are on flexi-furlough, during the hours when they are not in the office we have asked them to take on the training exercises available to us through cruise companies and tour operators. It’s been a very useful tool. We have also taken part in training evenings with the likes of Classic Collection, Celebrity Cruises and Silversea, which have also been great team-bonding sessions with the odd glass of prosecco involved!

Fairer: In the office, we do keep paper waste to a minimum and recycle everything possible, as we do at home.