A Hays Travel agent has hailed the importance of social media after she secured a safari booking for a customer while on a Newmarket Holidays fam trip.
Homeworker Natalie Taylor joined an eight-day educational to South Africa in April, where she and 10 other Hays agents stayed at the Elephant Lodge on the Sebatana Private Reserve in the Limpopo province.
Three days into her stay, Taylor received an enquiry from one of her regular customers who had seen her Facebook posts from the trip. After a day of messaging to confirm the dates and room types, Taylor secured the customer’s holiday.
The booking, worth £12,500, was for a family of four in August 2026 and required two interconnecting rooms for parents and children.
“I was over the moon and really proud to secure the booking so quickly for the Newmarket Holidays team, who were so helpful and supportive,” said Taylor. “They were absolutely buzzing when I closed the sale, which was a great feeling.
“My customer had seen all the posts I’d done in the first few days of the trip and thought it looked amazing. Even though she normally books cruises, after seeing my content she wanted to go on safari.
“I wasn’t anticipating getting business that quickly, but I’d posted saying there was limited availability over the next two years, with the prices for each available departure, which helped create some urgency.”
Taylor went on to urge other homeworkers to be “original” when posting on social media, adding that copying other agents’ posts does not result in as much interaction.
She emphasised the “vitality” of social media, saying: “My whole business is online and my Facebook page is my shop window, so it’s fundamentally important that I keep it exciting and different.
“So much of what I see on Facebook is content that is copied and pasted, which is boring for customers, so I work really hard to make mine unique and personal.”
Claire Hodgkin, regional account manager for Newmarket Holidays, added: “We are so thrilled Natalie secured a booking while we were away. All the agents on the trip were posting loads on social media and lots of them had enquiries, so it really shows how valuable fam trips are.”