Hays Travel is to unveil plans to offset credit card costs for Independence Group (IG) members at its annual conference this week, themed Growing Your Business.
BBC broadcast journalist Steph McGovern, from Middlesbrough in Hays Travel’s north east heartlands, will be among the guest speakers at the Tivoli Carvoeiro Algarve Resort.
The conference, which runs from Friday October 5 to Sunday October 8, will also hear from businesses of different sizes to demonstrate how the consortium works for companies in different stages.
They include Hays Travel boss John Hays, Miles Morgan Travel managing director Miles Morgan and Nicola Park, owner of agency Seaside Travel, which opens its third branch this month.
Jonathon Woodall, head of Hays Independence Group, said: “We wanted to tell the whole story, back to when John Hays and his beginnings in business to how he’s become a multi-regional business – and how he got there.
“Miles Morgan is a regional business and is on the same journey, heading in the same direction. Nicola Park managed the IG before she opened her own agency. She really believes in the model, so much so that she owns a growing business of her own.”
Members will learn about Hays’ new technology on offer to members to help mitigate the costs of taking credit card payments since the ban on charging a fee was introduced in January under the Payment Services Directive (PSD2).
More details on the technology, developed by Traveltek, will be revealed at the conference.
Woodall said: “We have looked at some of the ways we can help reduce costs for members when they are taking payments from customers, so they’ll be finding out more about that.”
Hays Travel’s head of retail will also share updates on how Hays sees growth opportunities in investing in three main areas: people, marketing and systems. Around 30 awards will also be given out to members by suppliers at the gala dinner on the Sunday night and conference sessions will include updates on digital marketing and social media under the banner, ‘the web is our friend’.
Hays Travel this year passed the £1 billion turnover milestone, which will be celebrated over the course of the event in Portugal. The Hays IG, which has 115 members with 220 branches between them, contributed to the £1 billion sales figure.
“This year is all about telling our members that we are the platform to take them to the next level,” Woodall added. “We are here to support their growth and show them how it has worked for Hays Travel on the high street, and that we can share that success with them.”