Strictly Business: Travel Counsellors' Bob Peters

I got into travel… more than 20 years ago. The first half of my career was spent running restaurants in London but I became disillusioned by the long hours and zero social life. A friend suggested I look at Trailfinders, and in 2001 I took a 75% pay cut and started my career there. Within two years I’d managed to break into the First & Business department and my love affair with luxury travel began.

I started at Travel Counsellors… 15 years later in 2016. It was a huge leap of faith as I couldn’t bring any clients with me, although many later found me through social media. I still remember walking into Travel Counsellors’ head office in Manchester for my initial meeting – everyone was so lovely and welcoming and I signed up straight away.

I have grown the business… by building a solid team. Initially I worked alone while developing my client portfolio. I’ve always been good at getting referrals, and it soon became apparent I would need help to service them. I began building a small team of trusted fellow TCs, all of whom I’d worked with at Trailfinders. Covid stopped sales, but I showed my value in helping clients make alternative arrangements and get refunds. Not one was left out of pocket, which was the reason for rapid growth post-Covid. As such, within two years of the pandemic I had a further six TCs join my team. Along with a full-time admin assistant and Mice specialist, we total eight and turn over £3.5 million a year.

The area of the business growing the most is… large group bookings. Now I have a Mice specialist I can target this market more effectively. Last year we did our first large inbound Mice booking with Brand USA/Hills Balfour, and it’s just the start of what I hope will be a new direction in growth sales. I’m also looking to get into the school travel/sports tours market this year with some exciting propositions.

The suppliers I have the strongest relationships with include… Worldwide DMC, Africa Collection and CV Villas. I also work closely with some great representation companies in promoting hotels.

My proudest career achievement is… winning the best newcomer award at Travel Counsellors’ annual conference within my first eight months, and getting gold status at the same time.

My biggest travel bugbear is... The time wasted preparing detailed itineraries for clients, only for them to book directly with a supplier. All enquiries get a premium service whether they’re spending £1,000 or £100,000. It’s made me question introducing service fees for new enquiries to cover the time spent servicing quotes.