Top 50 2024 - North East - Now Lets Travel, Peterlee

Manager Bethany Martindale and her experienced team are a savvy outfit with a firm eye on the future, and their togetherness shines. Opened in December 2021, this agency – based in Peterlee’s Castle Dene shopping precinct – has quickly become a pillar of the local business community, and the team clearly all care about ensuring its vitality. They have forged a handy partnership with Ramsdens just across the way where clients can get their travel money, while their in-store ‘meet the experts’ events with the industry suppliers have been a hit with customers and helped get people into the town centre.

Deputy team leader Jess is passionate about inspiring the next generation of travel agents, heading back to her old college to encourage youngsters to consider a career in travel. The team also take part in apprenticeship events and offer work experience openings.

This agency has made good use of its strong relationship with Jet2holidays, becoming one of the first to get one of the operator’s swish digital window displays. They’ve also been successful in tapping Jet2’s apprenticeship scheme and will be taking on a new recruit soon. With a five-star Trustpilot rating and a repeat booking rate of more than two-thirds, you can be assured this store’s customer service is absolutely top-notch from start to finish. And if they can’t quite find exactly what their customers are after, they can tailor-make trips to suit. Bethany holds monthly catch-ups with everyone to identify any training and development needs to ensure the team are constantly building product knowledge to best serve clients, while keeping up too with key trends – such as around sustainability. Be sure to join the nearly 3,000 people following the store on Facebook for all the latest offers, as well as personal recommendations and insights from the team. They’re on Instagram too, and have recently started working with a local influencer.

nowletstravel.co.uk