Luxury tailormade specialist agency Club Voyages has launched a training scheme and enhanced commission structure for its team of 18 homeworkers.
The business was launched online by former travel trade journalist Sam Ballard in 2022 and opened its first shop in Clarendon Park, Leicester, in September 2024.
The new commission structure aims to reward loyalty, said Ballard.
“We’re constantly looking for ways in which to improve the value of our homeworker offering – and rewarding loyalty seemed like a natural next step,” he said.
“We want to grow with our homeworkers and support them with their businesses, hence the commission uplift based on a year’s service and a pretty low profit target (£12,000).
“From now on, our homeworkers will earn a base level of 65% commission rather than 60%.”
More: Club Voyages opens first high street shop
He is also investing in a development scheme for his agents, called C.L.U.B, which is being run by Debbee Dale, founder of Debbee Dale Development.
“The new training programme is another part of that value offering. We’ve partnered with the brilliant Debbee Dale to create a four-part C.L.U.B. training programme that helps our agents – many of whom don’t necessarily come from a sales background – with those fundamental core skills,” he explained.
“They will be able to revisit the training at any time and our new recruits will have access to it too, further enhancing the value of being a Club Voyages agent.”
He said the initials CLUB stand for Confident, Loyal, Understanding and Bold, reflecting the agency’s ethos around service, helpfulness, respect and experience.
“Now that we’re a couple of years in, it’s great that we’re on the radars of more suppliers, too,” said Ballard, whose agency is a member of Hays Travel Independence Group.
“Over the coming weeks we’ve got a number of agents attending fam trips with suppliers including Norwegian Cruise Line, Classic Collection and Kuoni.
“We’ll also be bringing a few to the Hays IG Conference later this month.
“Events and conferences are a fundamental part of the agent experience and I’m glad ours are embracing them in such a big way.”
Commenting on current sales, he said: “We are definitely seeing more value in long-haul bookings right now.
“Europe is incredibly expensive, especially for families during summer.
“We tend to skew towards the luxury end of the market and for those customers, we’re seeing a real mix, lots of southeast Asia, US road trips and, of course, Japan.
“It helps that we have our own tour operator, giving us added flexibility.”
Asked about the progress of his shop, he said: “The shop is coming along really well and reflects where we’re going as a business: lots of luxury and plenty of tailor-made, which is our sweet spot.
“I love the variety of our enquiries. Yesterday I had someone pop in asking about Grand Prix tickets followed by someone asking about Bhutan.
“It’s early days but I’d love to have a second shop. I’m really enjoying retail.
“I love chatting with customers and seeing our brand have a physical manifestation.”