Award-winning homeworker Wendy Veal has set up an office following a rise in enquiries and requests from customers for more face‑to-face meetings.
Veal, who was named leisure agent of the year at Travel Weekly’s Agent Achievement Awards in 2015, opened Wendy Veal Luxury Travel in Cheadle, Cheshire, last week.
She has also taken on two staff: marketing manager Paul Finey and Laura Beesley-Evans, who is training to be a sales consultant.
The office is in a block of “modern suites” and, despite it not having a shopfront, Veal is expecting good footfall.
“It is something I’ve wanted to do for some time so our customers can come and see us,” she said.
“Customers were asking to meet up, but your home has to be your home, not an open office.
“I do home visits but this new space allows me to invite customers in so we can sit down and create their perfect holiday. I’m going to see how this goes, but I’d like to open a second one next year.”
She said her decision to set up an office was also down to a “big increase in enquiries”.
“Over the past two or three months it has gone crazy – the phones haven’t stopped. I’m getting about 30 enquiries a week and the vast majority of them are being converted into bookings.
Lisa Henning, group membership services director at The Travel Network Group, said: “Wendy is the perfect example of a retailer who has great vision. The way she has marketed the Wendy Veal Luxury Travel brand is truly inspirational.”
Veal, who has 20 years’ travel retail experience, took some time out before becoming a homeworker with TTNG’s Independent Travel Experts in April 2014.