Luxury homeworking agency Wonderluxe Travel has expanded after recruiting a new marketing manager and two self-employed agents.

Sarah Ebden joined the company at the start of September with more than 14 years’ marketing experience. 

In her role as marketing manager, she will be responsible for enhancing the website, growing the database, and updating the agency’s social media and PR strategies to allow for more collaborations with influencers and brands.

Ebden worked in the luxury travel sector for nearly seven years at Destinology before taking a three-year break from the industry.

“I feel like I've just sort of slipped back into it - coming back, I feel at home,” she said.

Founder and managing director Sheena Sumner, who started the business in 2019, added: “We've outsourced for multiple services for a couple of years and I've been wearing all these hats, like head of marketing, head of communications, head of operations and head of sales - and you can only do so much.

“I've got quite rapid growth incentives for where we want to take the business over the next 12 to 36 months. I looked at our expenditure and we were spending on marketing but didn’t have that dedicated internal person. I was still so involved in the day-to-day, so it seemed like the right time. 

“It's the most important part of the business, besides the operations, in terms of how we market ourselves to continue to grow.”

Sumner has also recently hired two self-employed agents under the company’s affiliate scheme.

Eva Kokoszynska and Dagmar Kibble are the first two agents to join the programme, with Sumner aiming to have “between three and five” affiliates by the end of the year. 

The affiliate scheme allows agents to access Wonderluxe’s list of suppliers, back office system and marketing services, and be able to work from home or from the company’s offices. Agents pay a monthly fee, and commission earnings are split with Wonderluxe.

Kibble balances her travel consultant role while still practising law, while Kokoszynska recently relocated to Dubai following 16 years at independent agency Colletts Travel. 

Kokoszynska’s first booking for Wonderluxe Travel was a family holiday to Thailand and Singapore over Christmas worth £52,000.

“Dagmar travels extensively and has a portfolio of extremely wealthy people that she's affiliated with,” Sumner said.

“She's come in and is already working on some fantastic opportunities. In her first week, Eva closed a booking with us at the grand total of £52k, which is an amazing feat for her first booking. She's going to be a great addition.”

Sumner added: “Rolling out the affiliate scheme is something that I have been talking about for a while, but it wasn't until March, April time [this year] that I really had the chance to look at it. 

“I did a little bit of advertisement, but not a massive amount. I guess we've been in the luxury side of the industry for a few years now and I'd like to think that we're starting to build a little bit of a reputation and a name for ourselves so people have come to us.”

Sumner said Wonderluxe Travel would aim to onboard another five affiliates next year, as well as a commercial manager by the end of quarter one.