Bridget Keevil celebrates 35 ‘wonderful’ years of Travel Stop

She told Travel Weekly about how she started: “I had never been in travel, I was an accountant by trade.

 

“I had always run other people’s businesses for them.”

The railway building was small, with a weekly rent of £25, so she decided to set up her own business.

 

“I thought: ‘What would fit in that space? Ah, a travel agency, as you just need room for brochures and a desk’,” she recalled.

 

“I had a lady working with me who had been a travel agent and knew what she was doing so I learned from her.”

Initially they could only sell ferries, Pontins and Butlins until they got an Abta licence.

 

“We didn’t have a computer, just a terminal with a tiny keyboard to access viewdata – and we made lots of phone calls,” she said.

 

“People didn’t travel so much in those days, and we sold mostly beach holidays – the cruise market was tiny.”

 

Travel Stop now sells a lot of long-haul, tailor-made holidays and Keevil supports Aito members because they are “so caring”.

 

“If you look after customers before, during and after the trip, they will come back to you,” she noted.

 

“We have lovely customers and some of them I’ve had since almost the start.”

The business now also has branches in the Suffolk villages of Claydon and Hadleigh but a shop in Buntingford had to close because of Covid.

 

“I don’t know how we coped with Covid, it nearly sent me over the edge,” she remembered. 

 

“It was far worse than any other crisis.

 

“I was trying to manage on my own as I had furloughed all the staff; we were not earning any money and did not know when it would end.

 

“One rep came in and asked how I was and I could not stop sobbing. I have never done that before or since.

 

“It was one of those things, I was so embarrassed. She said she knew how I felt.”

 

Since Covid, she said the market has been “fickle” and it does not take much to put people off.

 

“With the Middle East situation, people say ‘let’s wait and see’,” she commented.

 

“One week can be busy, one week not. I have seen better days and seen worse.”

 

She said the business is still building back after the pandemic, which saw several long-serving, experienced members of staff retire during furlough.

 

Now Keevil has 12 staff in her three branches and is “always on the lookout” for good employees.

 

“It is hard to recruit, as I am fussy; they need to fit in with our team and ethics. They need to care about what they sell and pay attention to details,” she said.

 

She also paid tribute to the camaraderie of Aito Agents and her consortium, The Travel Network Group.

 

“Being an Aito Agent is lovely – during Covid, they brought everyone together so you can see everyone is in the same boat,” she said.

 

“I am with The Travel Network Group as I was originally a Worldchoice agent.

 

“At conferences, the other agents are so supportive; it is so important to have people who are experiencing the same things.

 

“It is the best industry I have ever been in, it’s lovely.”

Looking back at key events in the past three-and-a-half decades, she recalled taking part in the Clipper Round The World Yacht Race in 2015-16, raising money for Abta LifeLine.

 

Sadly, eight months into the race, she was injured during the sixth leg of eight and had to return home early.

 

“I did finish that yacht race in the end,” she recalled – but noted how AbtaLife continually needs support from industry people.

 

She tries to help out where she can, and the agency recently took part in Wear Yellow Day to support the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.

 

Keevil has also been to many destinations and says first-hand experience is the best way to bring a place to life when selling.

 

“I loved South America – we did a big trip to Argentina, Chile and Brazil, and saw the Perito Moreno glacier, the Atacama desert and took a bus trip over the Andes,” she commented.

 

“I’ve also done safaris and been to Australia – there are not many places I have not visited.”

 

Asked about the future, she said: “If there are challenges, I will always take them on.

 

“If there are opportunities, I will go for them.”