TravelTime World marks 30 years of ‘punching above its weight’
Harry KembleTravelTime World director Ashley Quint has spent the past few weeks poring over press cuttings assessing the progress travel has made since the Berkhamsted agency opened its doors 30 years ago.
Recalling a few seismic moments, Quint tells TTG: “It’s good to look back – there have been a lot changes. The internet has certainly played its part – but I don’t think the impact was anything like what people imagined."
With the wind in his sails, he points to low-cost airlines: “You can now fly to most places in Europe at any time of the day.” He also notes how the number of villa specialists has dipped and ski prices have soared.
One of the main differences, though, is how far people are prepared to travel in search of adventure, he says.
“We’ve certainly seen people become more adventurous,” explains Quint. “That’s across all age groups. Previously, adventurous people would go to the US or the Caribbean, or possibly Australia and New Zealand.
“Next week, we’ve got a female client who is going to Bangladesh. She has already been to Suriname and Ghana.”
Unsurprisingly, when an agency like TravelTime World sends customers all over the globe, staff occasionally have to work round-the-clock to bring them back at short notice.
“The lady going to Bangladesh once had altitude sickness in Tibet,” adds Quint. “She was in hospital – but she didn’t have a Chinese visa. We needed to get her out of there, and lower down the mountain, even though she didn’t have the right documents. With the help of Regent Holidays, we got her out. We were in contact with her the whole time.”
In 2004, Quint – then a new member of the team – remembers working all hours to help customers whose hotel in Thailand had been “completely demolished” in the tsunami.
“We managed to get them out via Hong Kong – even though they did not have their passports,” continues Quint. “We got them home in three or four days.”
When asked whether these stories have been shared with the wider industry before, Quint says: “When we do awards submissions, we consider these things as normal, everyday occurrences, so we don’t mention them.”
It’s not just TravelTime World customers who have benefitted from the agency’s expertise and know-how.
The team at TravelTime World managed to get agency founder Jackie Steadman’s brother, James, home at short notice after their dad Arthur was taken ill suddenly over August bank holiday.
“James was working for Neilson Holidays as a watersports instructor in Turkey at the time,” says Quint. “Arthur had been rushed to hospital with pneumonia.
“Holidaymakers were coming home from Turkey as it was August bank holiday so there were no available seats.”
TravelTime World’s staff decided to ring Carolyn McCall, then easyJet chief executive, in a desperate bid to get James back to see his ailing dad.
“She said she wasn’t sure that she could do anything to help us,” says Quint. “She then said ‘tell him to go the airport in Izmir and we’ll see what we can do’.
“It was not like James was in Dalaman or Bodrum, where there are lots of flights. But she managed to get him home." Arthur, though, sadly died a few days later.
This year will be the first time in years that TravelTime World can celebrate a key milestone in its history – and Quint is understandably keen to seize the moment.
The one-branch agency business did not mark its 20th anniversary, and five years later the celebrations were pulled at the last-minute due to the pandemic.
On its website, the agency insists it has “punched well above its weight thanks to its ethos and understanding of industry”.
Quint explains the agency has “contributed” to the travel industry in ways that other businesses of TravelTime World’s size have not. “There are not many one-branch agencies that do the work that Jackie and I have done for Abta, for instance,” says Quint.
Steadman is currently a regional council member for Abta, while Quint is part of the trade body’s policy advisory group. “We both do a lot for the industry,” he muses.
So, how will TravelTiime World celebrate its eagerly anticipated anniversary? Quint says plans are still being finalised, but hinted at a series of events throughout the year, including a dinner with up to 100 customers and a handful of suppliers in the summer.
If the lengths that TravelTime World goes for its customers are anything to go by then guests are set to have a memorable time.
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Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
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