Peakes Travel Elite's Claire Moore reflects on the highs and lows of January
Claire Moore of Peakes Travel Elite looks back on last month and discusses her wins, from virtual events to government support
My January 2021
I decided to launch a series of virtual coffee mornings in 2021, each with a different focus and supplier partner. They’re a chance for us to catch up with clients and engage with them, and for us to be a bit sensitive with our marketing by inspiring people with armchair travel rather than posting lots of offers that would alienate our audience.
I planned for the virtual coffee mornings before we knew that there was going to be another national lockdown. Actually, I think having the lockdown helped us achieve more attendees, (not that it’s helped us in any other way at all!) as everyone is fed up, stuck at home and dreaming of holidays.
Our first coffee morning was with Explore, and we had 12 couples attend, so 24 people in total. We discussed Explore’s product, ethos and safety protocols, and we didn’t shy away from the “R” word – refunds – explaining that clients would get their money back if things went wrong. It certainly reassured them, and we ended up getting two bookings off the back of it, which was great.
We held a second virtual coffee morning two weeks later with Railbookers, focusing on their top five rail tours and their USPs. We had 22 attendees this time and off the back of it I had a great chat with a client who is hoping to at least get something booked for the UK this year. She was particularly reassured by the flexible booking terms, in case she needs to change her plans.
We’re planning two more virtual coffee mornings in February – an ocean cruise morning with Celebrity Cruises and a river cruise focus with Riviera Travel.
SHOWCASING PRODUCT
We’re aiming to demonstrate the breadth of product we sell through the virtual coffee mornings, and we’ve asked clients what they wanted to hear about too. We’re steering away from destination-specific sessions at the moment as travel restrictions change so often, and we’re only working with a select few trusted suppliers.
Each of the mornings are recorded. I email the recording out to attendees first, and then on to the rest of our database, also informing them about the next one coming up and asking them to register their interest. We also promote each virtual coffee morning on social media.
We planned to do four originally but I think we’ll keep doing them until at least April now, depending on demand.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Another recent win was being accepted for a government-funded local authority grant, which I applied for back in October. It’s an initiative whereby I have to employ a local business to work on a project for me, and then I’m reimbursed with the grant money. It’s a clever way of double-supporting local businesses.
The company I’m working with is Shropshire Festivals, and they’re helping me with PR, social media and sending out some mail chimps, which is great as I wouldn’t be able to afford to take them on myself, and I’m on my own at the moment as my staff are on furlough. I’m so grateful for the extra support.
ADVENTURE APPETITE
In the third week of January we made £25,000 worth of sales, which was great, especially as I lost around £20,000 of income due to cancellations of February and March departures.
Most clients have booked long-haul touring and adventure destinations such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Costa Rica, which was great to see.
Our client base is generally 50-plus, or more accurately 70-plus. One of the clients who booked recently had already had their vaccination. Most clients are booking holidays for next year anyway, so they’re confident their vaccine will be sorted by then.
While the current situation meant we were never going to get the peaks we wanted this year, the vaccination roll-out will just continue to be good news, and whenever there is that little bit of good news, we always see more bookings coming in.
I’m still feeling nervous about my full filing cabinets of May and June departures and I wish I had more certainty about the future. For now, though, we’ve just got to tighten our belts and keep on going.
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