Total Travel visit Jet2holidays’ head office

The last time I visited Holiday House was around eight years ago and we all know how much the Leeds based company has grown since then.

On arrival at Holiday House, which was around lunchtime, the scale of Jet2holidays growth was instantly apparent, compared to my last visit.

The entrance was bustling with staff members scanning in and out of the building (it was lunchtime after all).

We were asked to sign in and then took a seat in the reception area which boasts a trophy cabinet full to the brim with awards, including Exceptional Service awards and Best Airline and Industry Trade awards. It was an impressive display.

Nikki, the national sales manager for Trade, treated us to a tour of the different departments (of which there are many).

Our first port of call, was of course the travel trade department, where it was good for us to put a name to the faces of the team we speak to on a regular basis.

Alongside the sales executives on the road who we are in touch with almost weekly, these behind the scene team members look after our joint marketing ventures and creatives, and any issues we may have with software and systems etc.

We also bumped into Zoe Towers who is the Head of Product at Jet2holidays, and spent a while understanding the amount of work that goes into finding new hotels and destinations, and of course viable routes.

t was at this point we learnt of the new destination that was to be launched at 4pm that very same day but of course we were sworn to secrecy until the official launch time.

I am of course able to talk about this now and I am delighted to see the traditional Greek Island of Samos added to the portfolio.

We were also told that there were more exciting new things to come in the very near future, so definitely watch this space.

Following our tour, it was then time for our meeting with Alan Cross the director of Travel Agent Relationships.

As a tour operator, Jet2holidays’ support to independent travel agencies is unrivalled.

They really do get behind us and help us to grow and develop our Jet2holiday sales, discussing different initiatives and ways of working together, and improving our partnership.

Total Travel is delighted to be a key account for the UK’s number one tour operator, not bad at all for a small independent West Yorkshire travel agency.

May remained the top selling month for new bookings last week – with a 16 per cent share and June was second with an 11 per cent share.

Late bookings increased to a 37 per cent share of the total bookings with so many of you opting to travel within the next few days.

Top selling destinations were Turkey, Greece and Lanzarote.

Long Haul holidays were also particularly popular bookings last week with Thailand taking top destination for those wanting to venture further afield.