Barrhead recruiting for new ‘Brilliant’ brand

Barrhead Travel today launches a new consortium for independent agents and homeworkers called Brilliant Travel.

The newly created group, which already consists of 15 agencies and 15 homeworkers from Barrhead’s consortium, plans to recruit more ‘Brilliant Travel Partners’ and ‘Brilliant Travel Creators’

Agents can benefit from the group’s technology, commercial deals and Barrhead’s own tailormade itineraries and holidays.

The branding can also be adopted by agents who are interested.

The group will be led by Trevor Davis, who joined the Barrhead Travel board from the Thomas Cook Co-operative Travel joint venture in June 2013.

In addition to a joining fee, agents and homeworkers will have to present a business plan and prove that they are capable of delivering sales.

Davis said: "I don’t want to be the biggest, I want to be the best. I’d rather have 50 top quality agents than 500 agents plus the issues that will be generated from them.

"They need to be experienced in travel retailing and have at least three years travel experience in the last five years."

Brilliant Travel already has two former Co-op travel managers joining who plan to set up an agency together.

The Brilliant Travel umbrella brand will also include Barrhead’s affinity business which deals with holidays and promotions for large organisations. This will be called Brilliant Travel Rewards.

The launch of Brilliant Travel creates a more generic name for Barrhead’s consortium to expand into England although the support will still be provided by the head office in Glasgow.

This includes initial training in the technology and the exclusive product.

Davis added: "Before the consortium didn’t have an identity. Brilliant Travel is a generic name and a fun brand. It suggests this is a high quality, experienced agent."

"Because of our competitive terms, we have had a lot of interest, particularly from a number of former Thomas Cook & Co-Operative Travel branch managers.

"There’s a real appetite for new managed branches across the country at the moment and Brilliant Travel will have a revolutionary impact in the industry."

Sharon Munro, chief executive at Barrhead Travel, said: "As a business we are continually looking at ways to evolve and diversify our offering and the launch of Brilliant Travel is a natural extension.

"We have a wealth of experience and insight in the travel sector and can go straight to the heart of the matter when it comes to creating business solutions for our partners."