More than 200 franchisees heard latest developments on the new Package Travel Regulations at a mid-year conference held by franchise firm Not Just Travel in Birmingham at the weekend.
Details of the newly announced PTRs coming into force on July 1 were unveiled on Friday.
Not Just Travel has been planning for the new regulations for several months, with updates to products and services, training, a new website and better customer service and support, enabling a seamless transition for franchisees and customers into the new PTRs.
Company co-founder Paul Harrison said: “The conference also gave us a timely opportunity to discuss the upcoming Package Travel Regulations.
“Although the details were only just announced on Friday, we’ve actually been working on plans for it for the last few months, and we believe we are ahead of many of our competitors in updating our travel consultants.
“In fact, we’re confident we were the first travel franchise to update our travel consultants with all the necessary details and make sure they are well prepared.
“The regulations will actually only affect a very small percentage of our bookings, but nevertheless, it’s important that our franchisees are able to give the best service to their customers and be aware of the changes coming into force from July.”
Two new support initiatives – Super Hero Support and The Star Council – were also outlined at the event.
Having recently bolstered its support team with several new recruits, Super Hero Support will build on the existing one-on-one support provided from head office.
Features include a new helpdesk, live chat and WhatsApp messaging for real-time responses, a new online training centre, as well as scheduled telephone calls with the head office team.
The Star Council will see six franchisees chosen to represent their fellow franchisees, helping to ensure any issues or updates are shared with head office.
Members of the Star Council will also be able to make suggestions and recommendations to direct future investment to where franchisees feel it is most needed.
Harrison said: “Due to our rapid growth, we felt it necessary to have the opportunity to meet with more of our franchisees and update them on company developments sooner than our annual conference later in the year.
“We’re constantly looking for new ways we can help our travel consultants grow their businesses and make them even more successful, so we were delighted to reveal details of our new support initiatives, Super Hero Support and The Star Council.”
A sales incentive for franchisees to win a chance to drive a Mini Cooper for three months was also detailed.
Two new websites were announced – an investment to enable faster and easier booking, while a new range of marketing material is being made available.