A Blue Bay Travel homeworker has been recognised by My Booking Rewards as the top performer during peaks, making more than £1 million in sales for the scheme’s suppliers.
David Coulter received his award, a reward card from My Booking Rewards, during the scheme’s eighth Peaks Performance Awards event.
More than 100 agents attended the ceremony, held at the Impossible Manchester nightspot, as My Booking Rewards celebrated a record peaks period.
Coulter logged more than 200 bookings for My Booking Rewards suppliers during the peaks period from January to April, with more than 2,100 room nights sold.
“I did not think I would be the top performer – I could not believe it when my name was announced, I was really surprised,” he told Travel Weekly.
“It was a record peaks for me too. And I made more than that £1 million-plus figure as I sold holidays for other suppliers [who are not in the MBR programme].”
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The Portrush-based agent joined Blue Bay Travel’s homeworking division as a self-employed Personal Travel Consultant when it launched in 2021.
Before Blue Bay, he was a homeworker with Hays Travel for three years, having previously worked for a Worldchoice agency in Portrush for 13 years.
“This was the third time I’ve been to the My Booking Rewards awards – the other two that I attended were in London,” he said.
“I chatted to lots of people from Blue Bay at the awards.
“And I go to a lot of supplier events in Northern Ireland where I see lots of new and familiar faces.”
Commenting on his peaks sales, he said: “You get adrenaline working long hours – not making bookings is stressful and frustrating.”
On one day he made two bumper bookings – one was a £30k booking to Mauritius for four people, then a £38k sale to Beaches Turks and Caicos – then the next day saw him seal at £30k booking to Excellence Riviera in Cancun.
Despite living in Northern Ireland, most of his clients are in England – and the majority are repeat customers.
“It is about providing good service; I try to help them as much as possible,” he added.
“I take every booking I can but I am trying to move away from short-haul a bit; long-haul is where you can show your value as an agent.
“I sell about 90% beach holidays, plus a mix of cruise, multi-centres and touring.”
He was speaking to Travel Weekly as he prepared to fly to the Maldives on a Sun Siyam fam trip.
“I have never been to the Maldives but I sell lots; and once you’ve been to a place, it really helps you to recommend it,” he added.
Pictured at the awards ceremony: David Coulter (centre) collects his award from Darren Pearson (left), chief executive at My Booking Rewards, and Babs, the night’s compere.