2022: A high-flying year, and it’s not over yet!

With BTN Europe reporting that international business travel is back to around 50% of 2019 levels (the figures come from the latest GBTA poll), we’re proud to say we’re bucking the trend here at Travel Counsellors.

Our corporate travel sales so far this year average at 118% of 2019. But that’s not it, there’s much more great news to share…

All 160 of our dedicated Corporate Travel Counsellors are trading again and leading the way by leveraging the power of the TC Community: working as teams to better service the client, becoming or upskilling themselves through our TC Mentorship programme or taking advantage of our BDM network to win new clients.

Travel Counsellor, Chris D’Arcy, is one of those.

Chris said: “I work as a team with Gary Fitzgibbon and we ensure that one of us is always around, sometimes both. We speak literally all day as if we were in an office but the key for both of us is flexibility; as this client was new to us, we had to prove to them that we are capable of handling their account. We didn’t quite know at the start how much (and how quickly) this would grow to what it is today, in less than a year. Whilst there have been some VERY long days and nights, the rewards certainly outweigh these.”

What’s the outcome for Chris? Well, he’s fast become our top seller, consistently transacting £1.3m *per month, taking home more commission than ever before, he’s got more flexibility and a greater sense of achievement. Read more in our one-to-one with Chris here.

2022 has also seen the biggest single booking ever made at Travel Counsellors; a whopping £1.4m booking made by Sally Cashman.

“This is an annual event I’ve arranged for over 8 years for a loyal client, who after the pandemic, are travelling again bigger and better. It’s all arranged by me independently, no third parties, but the TC support team of course help with processing payments, ticketing and the general admin needed on a booking of this scale.”

And it’s not just our Travel Counsellors who are thriving: this year over 700 organisations have begun booking their travel with Travel Counsellors, seeking out a corporate travel expert they can rely on to help them get back to business.

Many of these clients are SMEs, who find value in doing things face-to-face.

With each Travel Counsellor free to excel in whatever area they choose, our client base is diverse; from cheerleading squads to TV production crews and energy providers, Travel Counsellors can tailor the service they provide to each clients’ exact requirements.

And it’s working.

In our latest survey, 96% of clients say they’re completely satisfied with the service we provide. Clients rated ‘quick response and efficient service’ highest followed by ‘proactive service and ‘outside the box’ thinking of the Travel Counsellor’ as the best elements of the service we provide.

After a record-breaking year, and more yet to come, we’re proud to have our Managing Director for Corporate Travel, Kieran Hartwell, take up a position on the executive board of the Business Travel Association and to have been recognised as the ‘Top Business Travel Agency’, 'Best Homeworking Agency' and the ‘Best Place to Work in Travel’.

As the only UK travel franchise offering a corporate travel at scale, if you're considering the next move in your corporate travel career, why not take a look at becoming a Corporate Travel Counsellor?