Dave Allen and Sandra Mutter, Directors, Andara Travel

We got into travel… at different times. Sandra was trained by Thomson, then worked for an independent agency. Before joining travel, Dave ran businesses in the industrial diamond and paper sectors. We have been friends for years and decided to set up a travel business due to our passion for the sector.

We started Andara Travel… just over 10 years ago, with no client base, in a craft centre just south of Solihull. We both have a large social network (church, school and community) and relied on this to start a client base.

The agency grew to employ seven people at its peak. During Covid, we pivoted the business to work from home and the team reduced to the two of us, with a part-time concierge.

We haven’t advertised for years – the business has grown solely by word of mouth and reputation. The move to being home-based has helped with our conversion rates, as only serious clients make the effort to visit us.

Working remotely and by appointment has given us greater flexibility, which has enabled us to travel more and experience new destinations and product for clients.

We have grown the business… through joining the Travel Trust Association, after the Freedom Travel collapse. This has been incredibly powerful in enabling us to use a range of specialist operators to grow our business.

The agency is now larger in terms of turnover than it was at its peak in the shop, as the mix of business has changed increasingly to luxury and we have a lower cost base.

The area of the business growing the most is… luxury and expedition cruising, thanks to our membership of Clia, and tailor-made journeys to Canada, New Zealand and Japan.

The suppliers we have the strongest relationship with include… Carrier; we have been its Agent of the Year for the Midlands for the past two years. We also work closely with other Aito specialist operators such as Anzcro, Lusso, Exsus and Inside Japan Tours.

Our proudest career achievement is… our recent 10-year anniversary. We had a fabulous evening in an artisan bakery with 100 of our most loyal and supportive clients and operators. We funded the event and gave everyone White Company candles as a gift.

We can’t believe we are finally where we have always envisaged our business to be, with our fantastic clients and incredible luxury operator partners.

Our biggest travel bugbear is... The airline experience – from seat selection to schedule changes. It creates anxiety among clients, and many don’t understand it is largely out of our control.