Homeworking agent to open ‘Aberdeen’s only locally-owned travel shop’

Janine Loves Travel agent Lee Butler is preparing to open Aberdeen’s only locally-owned retail agency less than two years after joining the industry.

 

Butler, who is set to launch Butlers Travel on Rosemount Viaduct next month, started as a JLT member in October 2024, finishing his training two months later.

 

On the back of a successful peaks, he is aiming to further grow the business through the shift to a brick-and-mortar model.

 

“January was an incredible month for us and I knew then that I couldn’t stay working from home,” he said.

 

“I also started to realise Aberdeen didn’t have a local place to go, so I realised if I don’t do this, someone else will.”

The city, which has a population of about 230,000, counts Hays Travel, Barrhead Travel, Ramsay World Travel and Trailfinders among the travel businesses with a high street presence.

 

But Butler said he was having success by promoting his business’ Aberdeen roots.

 

“We’re Aberdeen’s only independent-owned travel agency,” he said. “That’s how I sell it to people, the fact we’re local.”

 

When he was growing up in the city, he saw travel branches “everywhere” and he now wants to capitalise on renewed interest in local shops.

 

“You see the rise of butchers and bakers coming back and I also see local travel agencies coming back in,” he said.

 

Butler revealed he is currently handling about 35-40 bookings a month from home, with his partner increasingly helping with the business. 

 

The couple largely focus on departures from Aberdeen International Airport, offering taxi transfers as part of the price for such bookings.

 

Butler, a taxi driver himself before deciding to work full-time in travel, contributes to the taxi service at the moment but intends to phase out his role.

 

“Moving forward, we’re looking at bringing on a driver as our first member of staff,” he said, adding the taxi service has delivered positive customer feedback.

 

“There are costs involved [for the agency], but it’s given me a great rate of repeat business,” he said.

 

“I would say about 70%-75% of our customers book again as soon as they get back from holiday.”

 

The new shop, set to welcome customers from July 3, will be the first opened by a homeworker outside the JLT management team.

 

The premises, formerly occupied by a charity shop, is currently undergoing a £35,000 refurbishment.

 

“The building is 230 years old, so it needed a lot of work,” said Butler, who is introducing “booth-style areas” with sofas as well as a bar.

 

“It’s not your traditional shop where you just have desks,” he said. “I hated that when I worked in car sales.”

 

Butler previously worked in the police, from which he retired through injury, before working in sales for Kia.

 

However, he has a long-standing interest in the travel sector, he said, stretching back to his school days when he won a national award for travel and tourism. 

 

January was his business’ “biggest booking month” to date.

 

“In the six weeks of peaks from Christmas to the end January, we did 72 bookings and just shy of £200,000 in sales,” he said.

 

He believes further growth can be achieved when the retail outlet opens, which he hopes will boost high-value bookings.

 

“We don’t tend to sell a lot of that through social media,” he said.

 

Outlining the scale of his ambitions, he revealed he wants to double the agency’s sales “pretty much instantly”.

 

“I want to be in a position to be able to bring on staff and to do that I need the numbers to double pretty quickly,” he added.

 

Asked about the prospect of a second shop, he said: “If an opportunity arises, I wouldn’t be one to say no.”