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Aaron Petty has left Hays Travel’s Personal Travel Consultants to become Seaside Travel’s first homeworker.
The 23-year-old has started at Seaside at Home today (August 4), describing it as a “natural move” after five years as a PTC and two years in retail.
His first booking under Seaside will be a £5,295 holiday to The Royal Suites Yucatan in Mexico for a couple next summer.
Petty, who won Young Leisure Agent of the Year at the Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards at the age of 20, said one of the main reasons for the switch was being able to use a desk at Seaside Travel’s shops to enjoy social interaction with other staff and customers.
He is based close to the agency’s Bishop Auckland branch and will continue to work as a self-employed homeworker, bringing in his own sales leads.
Up to now he has consistently been one of Hays’ top-performing PTCs, with the bulk of his business comprising five-star properties in long-haul destinations such as Sri Lanka, Mexico, Thailand and Mexico, as well as short-haul and cruise sales.
He said: “I don’t get out of the house and this will allow me to go into the office sometimes to get some office ‘crack’. It can be hard to motivate yourself when you work from home 100% of the time and when there are booking lulls it can be hard sat by yourself at home.
“I need a bit of a social life and so if I want a day in the office then I can work at one of their branches as part of the Seaside family. It is an incentive and motivation, just being able to see and speak to people.”
Petty previously worked under John Milburn, former Hays Travel marketing and homeworking director, who has joined Seaside to run the new homeworking division.
“He is one of those characters who will go out of his way to protect his staff,” said Petty, who added: “I feel like now is the right time to join and a natural move. The company has a real family feel.”
Petty is also optimistic about growing his business under Seaside. “I don’t expect to see a decline in business,” he said.
Seaside Travel falls under Hays Travel’s Independence Group.