Travel Counsellors chief aims to ‘win...

The acquisition was carried out to capitalise on the strengths and drive the growth of both brands

Travel Counsellors chief executive Steve Byrne says the company is committed to “winning the hearts and minds” of Holidaysplease agents and staff following the acquisition of the Birmingham-based company for an undisclosed sum.

Speaking after the announcement, Byrne said all support staff would be retained following the deal and the acquisition was designed to capitalise on the strengths of both brands to drive growth for both parties.

This includes giving Holidaysplease’s 100 agents and 50 franchisees access to Travel Counsellors in-house technology, marketing and product ranges and exploring opportunities to build on the former’s lead-generation expertise, Byrne added.

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He said: “We want to showcase the benefit of being aligned to and part of the Travel Counsellors community. We want to make sure they feel valued and supported and can keep on doing wonderful things for their customers. Hopefully they will get benefits from the things that we do and we will get benefits from the wonderful things that they do.

“We want to demonstrate all the tools that we’ve got and we’ll be taking a look at what they’ve got, including a really great lead-generation model, and looking at how we can build on that and develop that for the benefit of Holidaysplease and how we can bring that in to the Travel Counsellors. We are looking to bring the best of both businesses for the benefit of everyone within the TC community.”

Byrne confirmed it would be “business as usual” for Holidaysplease agents and franchisees, which will continue to operate under the Holidaysplease and Holiday Franchise Company umbrellas.

He also said Holidaysplease directors Sonia and Richard Dixon and Charles Duncombe would oversee the transition “for the foreseeable future”, with all staff transferring and no positions made redundant.

“We are going to show them the technology and platform we’ve got and hopefully it excites them and they want to use it,” he said. “We want people to see what we’ve got and think it will help them, we don’t want to force them into anything. Our products and services have got to stack up, and we need to win hearts and minds.

“The principles and values we use to run the Travel Counsellors business will be the same for the people at Holidaysplease and we want to show them what we’ve got so they can see they can build even more rewarding businesses and careers for themselves – and that’s all 200 of them; agents, franchisees and support colleagues.”