Admiral Travel praises customer loyalty as Altrincham shop turns 25

Admiral Travel praised the loyalty of its long-standing clients as its Altrincham branch celebrated 25 years in business last week.

The Greater Manchester store, which first opened its doors on February 11, 2001, enjoyed a busy day while marking its quarter-century.

Agency director Craig Weatherill said: “We kept things low-key, but our BDM from the Hays Travel Independence Group, Helen Williamson, came along with some balloons and a cake and some long-term customers came in to book with us.”

He added: “Our social media posts [about the anniversary] went sort of viral locally, so people decided to pop in. It’s been really busy recently anyway but it was busier than usual.”

The agency group, which operates six shops in total, also unveiled a revamped website to coincide with the milestone.

“We’ve made it compatible for all of the shops to use at the same time,” said Weatherill.

“It’s not bookable, but we wanted something that the customers could look at for up-to-date offers and we also wanted to let them read a bit about our team.”

When the Altrincham branch opened in February 2001, it was run by director Andrew Nelson alongside two members of staff.

Weatherill joined six months later, progressing to a manager role before taking a share of ownership five years ago.

He cited the internet, rather than Covid, as the greatest challenge faced by the business in the last 25 years.

“I think the pandemic made us step up our game and we realised how important the industry is to us and our clients and we’ve come back even stronger,” he said. “The loyalty we’ve seen from our customers has made us grow and grow.”

Recalling the early impact of the internet, he said: “Initially, we couldn’t meet a lot of the deals and our margins were very low. But we’ve built strong relationships with tour operators and suppliers so we can now beat the internet prices.”

He added: “The biggest thing is customer loyalty – clients want to book with someone over the desk or over the phone.”

Outlining his hopes for the coming years, he said: “We’re looking to become more efficient and better. The key thing is looking after the people we employ, as well as keeping our clients and gaining more through the quality of service we provide.”

More than 30 members of staff are employed across the six branches, which include Craig Travel shops.