Barrhead and Brilliant Travel top sellers to earn VIP trips

Top sellers at Barrhead Travel and Brilliant Travel are to be taken on special VIP trips as a thank you for their hard work.

Barrhead’s top-20 sellers will be invited on a one-week trip to spend two nights in Miami and five nights on a Virgin Voyages cruise in the Caribbean in November.

The trip will be supported by supplier partners Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Voyages, If Only and Do Something Different.

Brilliant Travel’s eight top performers from its Managed Service Travel Partners (MSTP) stores and four top-selling homeworkers will go to Crete for three nights in September.

Barrhead Travel Group president Jacqueline Dobson said: “This is to recognise the sales staff. It’s a thank you, first and foremost. They will also get to experience the product and hopefully get some learnings from the trips.”

The Brilliant Travel trip will be hosted by Jet2holidays and Grecotel Hotels, with stays at the Amirandes Grecotel Boutique Resort and Grecotel Creta Palace.

The group of MSTP directors and business owners and homeworkers will be joined by Brilliant Travel director Linda Pyle, business development team Daniel Steabler and Rebecca Price and Dobson.

Pyle said the trip marked the start of “a new chapter” for the group following the pandemic: “The launch of our Brilliant Travel VIP trip has been highly anticipated amongst our members.

“Bookings from our members are soaring, up by 56% compared with last year. In particular, many of our top-performing members and sellers are having an extraordinary year with continued growth and success.”

She added that interest in joining Brilliant Travel was also rising.

“The heightened appetite for a reputable travel agent means that we are noticing and increase in enquiries for new membership in the Brilliant Travel group,” she said, adding: “We’re seeing a mix of experienced agents looking to make the move to start their own business as well as entrepreneurs looking to move into the travel space and take advantage of our new-to-travel programmes.”

This year 70% of staff from across the Barrhead Travel group have been or will go on educationals while the group has also given away 200 cabins on Virgin Voyages’ cruises as free holidays to employees for various reasons, including business performance. Just under 100 staff have been on ship visits.

Dobson added: “We have to recognise our workforce, it’s essential, and it has to be across every single department because every department contributes to the success of the business.”

The business already has five full-time mental health first aiders, a wellness hub on the staff intranet offering advice and a monthly newsletter, while staff are rewarded through ‘employee of the month’ awards with £100 shop vouchers.