Luxury tour operator Elegant Resorts has recruited Danielle Walker as a private travel designer as the company further expands its team of homeworkers throughout the UK. 

Cheshire-based Walker has more than 25 years of travel experience, 18 of which have been within the luxury sector working for tour operators including Carrier, Lusso and Exsus Travel. She is a long-haul expert and has extensive knowledge of the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, south-east Asia, North America and South Africa.

Walker commenced the role on April 1 and is working under the company name Cheshire Private Travel in partnership with Elegant Resorts.

“Having worked in travel for so long, I felt like it was a great opportunity and the next step for me to build my own business in partnership with a fantastic luxury brand,” she told Aspire.

“It felt like it was the right time. We’re post Covid now and I’ve been working with lots of fantastic agents for a long time, I’ve built up amazing relationships and I want to continue to strengthen those as well as create new ones.”

She added: “I’ve had amazing feedback and support from agents and suppliers [since announcing the new role]. It’s like that push of encouragement. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing this job for, you’re still apprehensive and it’s a big move becoming self-employed and working for yourself.”

Elegant Resorts unveiled its private travel designer programme in 2018 and currently has seven self-employed members within the team. 

The operator said the programme offers a “fully flexible working environment” alongside uncapped commission with a “generous split” and no set-up fees.  

Private travel designers get access to the operator’s training programme and white label marketing, and are given an induction with assistance from a dedicated private travel designer support manager. 

Elegant Resorts also organises an annual team building event exclusively for its private travel designer team. Last year, the group visited Jumeriah Port Soller in Majorca, while this year the group is set to go to Marbella. 

Elegant Resorts’ managing director Lisa Fitzell said: “We are delighted to welcome Danielle Walker to our team of homeworking private travel designers. With her extensive luxury travel experience she will be a real asset to the team. Now a team of seven, we are looking at growing our network of designers further this year as the appetite for luxury holidays is stronger than ever.”