'To be an agent is something to be proud of'
Jo Shayler of Holidaysplease was recently crowned UK & Ireland Agent of the Year at the Travel Industry Awards by TTG. She tells Abra Dunsby what the award means to her
Whether she’s fighting tirelessly for customer refunds and inspiring other agents to do the same, ploughing energy into her new website or launching a local pop-up shop to secure new business, Holidaysplease homeworker Jo Shayler’s steely determination and innovative approach to surviving the pandemic makes her a worthy winner of the UK & Ireland Agent of the Year award.
Shayler, who also scooped the Home-Based Agent of the Year award at The Travel Industry Awards by TTG on 30 September, ponders: “Who knows if I would have done it all with such vigour if I hadn’t been battling [the pandemic] at the same time?”
That strong-willed and positive attitude saw Shayler being invited to speak to other Holidaysplease agents on a webinar during lockdown, at the request of company director Richard Dixon.
Shayler explains: “I wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer from suppliers and kept pushing to ask for the same prices for holidays moved to next year. It started working and I told others on the webinar.
“Within days, we had comments on our internal forum saying, ‘I can’t believe this is working’, and agents were able to move bookings for the exact same price for the next year.
“It was a positive way to do things and gave agents hope that they wouldn’t just haemorrhage every booking they’d made in the past two years.”
Shayler says fighting for clients’ rights successfully in this way boosted her self-belief, and she hopes it has done the same for other agents.
“We’re so used to being told ‘no’. I think agents are not respected in the travel industry and that made me fight for it. Hopefully we can expect more from our industry colleagues now.”
CONSISTENT HARD WORK
Shayler’s dedication to her customers has clearly paid off, with a 100% retention rate during the pandemic and countless glowing testimonials.
“It’s about working your client database and consistently providing great service over the past 10 years, so that when the terrible stuff kicked in, most of my clients, who are people I’ve been working with for years, trusted me to do everything I could for them,” she explains.
The two awards mean a great deal to her, she says. “I was shocked [to win]. It means that you look back on the work you’ve done, trying to save your business, and it was worth it.
“With the UK and Ireland award, I can’t even put into words what that means. It’s a brilliant recognition. I’m aware that there are thousands of other agents out there who have given their time. I like to think of this as ‘taking one for the team for all agents’,” she says.
Shayler adds that, just like her, many other agents around the country will have been “tearing [their] hair out and waking up with massive anxiety” since March 2020, but she hopes they have all discovered their resilience.
“Something I’ve learnt – and that all agents would say – is there is no situation in travel that I cannot handle and resolve. Whatever is thrown at us, although we might cry or scream initially, we can do it.
“I totally believe in the value of a travel agent now. I feel that to be a travel agent is something to be proud of.”
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TTG Top 50 Travel Agencies 2025
Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
Registered address: 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU
