An InteleTravel homeworker has established a website called Find Your Resort to help other agents search for accommodation according to a wide range of criteria.
Mimi Gee began creating the site earlier this year after joining InteleTravel to help her with booking travel for friends and family.
The married mother-of-two also wanted a new project after completing her master’s degree alongside her role as a senior executive in the defence industry.
The idea developed from her own search for accommodation, after finding her ideal hotel in Turkey and wanting a similar property with the same facilities in Mexico.
More: Comment: Incidents like wildfires show the value of high street agents
EasyJet holidays to host 20 agents at Travel Convention
She also found her first booking with InteleTravel was a tricky enquiry with “a big set of wants and wishlists”.
“I realised that there was something I could build that helped people like me…to quickly find results and then look through your partners and suppliers to work out the best deal,” she said.
“I love my day job but I also love looking at holiday resorts – I wanted to put that passion to good use,” she said.
She created a spreadsheet and worked with a local website expert in her home town of Barrow-in-Furness to build the “one-of-a-kind” search engine using her data.
Agents can opt to pay £3.99 per month or £39 a year to be members, enabling them to search and filter for resorts that match their client needs.
There are currently 29 filters for criteria such as transfer time, sleeping arrangements, proximity to the beach and types of pool – and plans to add even more options.
There are 820 resorts on the website and her next target is to reach 1,000.
Gee said 45 agents joined within the first few weeks after it launched in March and she now has 66 from a variety of groups, including InteleTravel, Hays Travel and Travel Counsellors.
She said feedback from agents was “incredible” with several describing it as a “game changer”.
Gee also has two affiliated travel agents featured on the site so consumers can go on to book a holiday – and says she hasn’t featured herself as she is focused on building the Find Your Resort brand.
“I’d love to be in a position where I could take on some help with uploading to the site and some of the admin that I have to do,” she added.
“I’m happy that people see the value in it…people are saying that it’s just saving them so much time.”
More: Comment: Incidents like wildfires show the value of high street agents