An agent in Liverpool is continuing to bag bookings using traditional high street methods during lockdown by advertising deals in the front window – of his house.
Michael Blackburn, of Perfect Getaways, has had many knocks on his front door since he used the agency’s window posters to promote the offers, which range from a five‑star all-inclusive week in Turkey to three weeks at a beachfront Riu hotel in Mexico.
He made one booking worth more than £3,000 to the Maldives for a week’s all-inclusive stay in a water villa property he’d advertised on the window cards.
Blackburn’s approach has helped him hit his target every month since he joined Perfect Getaways from Tui in July, four months into the pandemic.
“I just thought it would be funny,” said Blackburn. “I had the window cards with me and thought ‘why not?’. People stop all the time and laugh, and it plants the seed in their mind that they want a holiday.
“There are loads of good deals at the moment. It’s what we would have done in the shop.”
Despite England having been in a second lockdown since November 5, Blackburn said he had had his “best month for a long time” in terms of bookings, with the window cards helping to boost sales.
Blackburn, who describes himself as “never serious”, was furloughed by Tui from March to July before joining Perfect Getaways, adding that manager Louise Shelbourne had “heard about me”.
He’s also taken to dressing in drag for work during lockdown.
“I put it on all the time and then book loads of holidays,” he said.
“We can wear what we like working from home, and I like dressing up, it makes people laugh.”
