Hays Travel branch managers from across the North East region, and head office colleagues, are in Turkey for Hays Travel’s annual Overseas Retail Conference in Antalya this week. Their travel was supported by headline sponsor and long-term partner Jet2holidays. The flight was one of four specially chartered planes heading to the destination for the conference taking place until 15 November. Flights also departed from Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol airports. “Our overseas conference is a highlight of the year – it’s when we can connect with our branch managers from across the UK all under one roof, to thank them for their excellent work,” said Dame Irene Hays. “I am very grateful to Jet2holidays for their amazing support, and to the whole team at Newcastle International Airport – as well as Birmingham, Bristol, and Manchester.” Alan Cross, Director of Travel Agent Relationships at Jet2holidays said: “We are delighted to help our partner, Hays Travel Group, get their conference off to the best of starts.” Hays Travel will welcome over 700 delegates to the Ela Excellence Resort Belek, Turkiye, for its annual Overseas Retail Conference. The full schedule features guest speakers, expert panel discussions, supplier showcases, and networking events. The event is themed: ‘In it for the Long Haul’ – spanning not just the growth in travel to far-off destinations, but also building loyalty in colleagues, customers, and partners. Headline and gold sponsors supporting the conferences are  Holiday Extras, Jet2holidays, Mastercard, Princess, Silversea, Attraction World and Universal Parks and Resorts. 

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Hays Travel is gearing up to welcome over 1,100 delegates to the Ela Excellence Resort Belek, Turkiye, for its annual overseas conferences this month. It has a packed schedule featuring guest speakers, expert panel discussions, supplier showcases, and networking events. It will explore the theme ‘In it for the Long Haul’ – spanning not just the growth in long haul travel, but also building loyalty in colleagues, customers, and partners. Dame Irene Hays: said “It is the highlight of the year, where we connect with colleagues and members across our group. It’s an opportunity to spend quality time engaging with our brilliant retail team, Independence Group, and Homeworker members.” Anticipated to be the UK’s largest overseas travel event of its kind this year, Hays Travel’s retail conference (11-15 November) will host 700 managers and employees from its branches across the UK, colleagues from recently acquired Miles Morgan Travel, and Travel House, as well as sponsors, suppliers, and support staff. As the retail agents fly home, 450 members of Hays Travel Independence Group and Homeworking division will head to the 4* Ela Excellence for their annual overseas conferences (15 – 18 November). This ensures members of the whole group receive business updates and sector insight in time for January peaks. Headline and gold sponsors supporting the conferences are Holiday Extras, Jet2holidays, Mastercard, Princess, Silversea, Attraction World and Universal Parks and Resorts. Chief Operating Officer, Jonathon Woodall-Johnston said: “A lot of planning goes into arranging an event of this scale and I am grateful to our all of our sponsors and partners for their valued support.” 

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Hays Travel has developed a bespoke app to further improve its service to customers. Launched this month via the App Store and Google Play, the Hays Travel app will allow customers to keep their travel documents in one place, settle balances with secure payments, and add holiday extras such as airport parking and car rental. Customers can view a countdown to travel, access games, and earn badges via the app. Hays Travel appointed travel technology experts digitaltravel.io to build the app, following a competitive procurement process. Dame Irene Hays: “We are delighted to reach the launch stage of this important output in our tech transformation programme.” “Our app’s interactive features that will further improve our customers’ experience and complement the service our agents provide. Peter Whittle, digitaltravel.io CEO, co-founded the business in 2021 when he spotted a gap in the market. He brings 20 years’ experience in travel tech. “This is a landmark project for digitaltravel.io. The bespoke app we have developed for Hays Travel will offer customers an even better experience and further grow Hays’ brand loyalty,” Whittle said. During the app’s trial phase, Hays Travel colleagues in retail branches and at its Sunderland Head Office put the new app through its paces, giving the development team valuable feedback Then followed a successful customer trial phase that involved the app being rolled out across Hays Tavel’s retail divisions. Branch staff encouraged customers to download and use the app and give feedback on their experience. 

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Wales based agency group Travel House has created its first TV ad using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). It worked with ITV to create a GenAI advert, which will air on ITV1 and ITVX in Wales. The Hays Travel owned unit has 16 travel agency stores in South Wales. GenAI production makes advertising more accessible to small businesses by using licenced Generative AI image and video tools. It also used ITV’s voice over artists. Katie Davies, Travel House Marketing Executive, said: “We are excited to see our advert on TV and are confident this innovative production approach will be a significant benefit and revenue driver.” “We look forward to seeing the positive impact it brings to our business.” Jason Spencer, ITV Business Development Director, added: “Too often the cost of making an advert is a barrier for brands looking to expand their visibility on TV.” "By including GenAI, we can make the power of TV advertising accessible to all. We are constantly innovating to find better ways to help brands grow.” 

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Hays Travel teams from across Northern Ireland have been fundraising for a leading autism charity. Travel agents at its 24 branches in Northern Ireland have donated over £18,000 to chosen charity partner, Autism NI. Each Hays Travel branch is provided with a £500 budget to use for fundraising and charity work in their local area; £200 of this is to be used to fundraise for charities which support young people’s mental health, and the other £300 can be used for charities chosen by the branch. This year Hays Travel agent teams in Northern Ireland chose to join forces and all fundraise for Autism NI. They held activities from cake sales to abseiling to raise a total of £9,594.55. Much of this was then match funded by the Hays Travel Foundation, resulting in a total donation of £18,666.67. Nicola Allison, Hays Travel regional sales manager, said: “I’m so proud of our amazing teams across Northern Ireland who have rallied together and worked so hard to raise as much money as possible.” The fundraising activities included the team at Hays Travel Coleraine making over £1,000 at a pub quiz, while foreign exchange sales consultant from Belfast Park Centre, Noeleen McKay, abseiled down Belfast Castle. Hays Travel staff have also completed training with Autism NI so that every branch has a dedicated member of the team to support autistic travellers. Sorcha Mathews, corporate fundraising manager at Autism NI, said: “Autism NI is delighted to have partnered with the incredible team at Hays Travel. This fundraising donation will continue to support the ongoing and evolving needs of 35,000 autistic people.” In the last year, Hays Travel’s Local Community Partnership initiative across its retail network has donated over £142,642 to local charities. 

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Hays Travel Group has invested in the first dedicated cruise booking app My Kind of Cruise – the world's first cruise booking app, created by CEO Sefton Monk. Dame Irene Hays said: "When we first met, we were so impressed by Sefton and his innovative approach – making the decision to invest in his growing business was the obvious next step." The app launches in 2022, and My Kind of Cruise has attracted over 300,000 users across mobile app, tablet, and web platforms. It says over half are Millennials or Gen Z with repeat bookings averaging at 46%. It streamlines the often complicated direct booking process enabling easy search and compare of big-name cruise operators. Sefton Monk, founder and CEO of My Kind of Cruise, said: "As a tech consultant and cruise fan, I had seen a gap for an app that would simplify and modernise booking a cruise for young people, who are used to doing pretty much everything on their phone.” Two Hays Travel directors – COO, Jonathon Woodall-Johnston, and Finance Director, Ken Campling – will join the My Kind of Cruise board to support their business growth ambitions. "Our ambition is to move beyond the UK cruise marketplace and diversify our product offering to appeal to all sectors of the public, including those new to cruise,” Sefton added. He says it is the world's first fully bookable cruise app. 

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Hays Travel has just announced a new travel acquisition, adding Miles Morgan Travel - a member of its Independence Group consortium since 2006. Hays Travel said it has no plans to rebrand the 19 Miles Morgan Travel branches, which operate in the South West and South Wales. Miles Morgan began his career as a trainee at Pickfords Travel, before moving into the corporate world as Thomson’s Sales and Marketing Director. He said: “This has been a difficult decision and there is naturally an element of sadness that my travel journey has come to an end. The final part of that journey has been to find a suitable new owner for Miles Morgan Travel.” “I cannot think of a better place for my business to go. It gives me great comfort that my team have found a good home with our partners for over 18 years.” Morgan said all jobs are safe, and the Miles Morgan team now have more opportunities for career progression. Dame Irene Hays said: “Miles Morgan is a legend in travel for a reason; he and his team have created an exceptional business that they can be very proud of.” “Miles, as a member of our group’s board for many years has been instrumental in Hays Travel’s growth and success.” “We are all excited about this latest travel acquisition and look forward to welcoming the Miles Morgan Travel team.” 

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Hays Travel’s dedicated team of cruise specialists is celebrating a stellar first quarter of 2024. The new rebranded Vista team of 14 specialists exceeded their own targets for support offered to agents, cruise bookings made, and cruise launches delivered for operators. Vista – the B2B-only tour operator - has a dedicated in-house product team to support Hays Travel’s agents in branches, personal travel consultants and Independence Group members. Kathleen Molloy, Vista’s Head of Sales, said: “Cruise is a priority area for Vista, so as well as improving our product offer, we also invested in a dedicated cruise sales team.” “They are equipped with the expertise to support the agents working with us, so that they in turn can meet their customers’ needs.” Since the start of 2024 there are 32 cruise lines available to sell and package through Vista. The cruise specialists attended dedicated training and worked with cruise line partners to fully understand their product. “The team made full use of newly integrated TProfile quote platform to offer bespoke and interactive quotes for our customers.” The Vista Cruise team are based around the UK. They gathered at Hays Travel’s head office for a cruise training session that was specially prepared by Catriona Parsons, Hays Travel’s Head Of Cruise, and facilitated by Cruise Engagement manager, Julie Simpson. “The impact of Vista’s new specialist cruise team has been huge. Sales during the first three months of this year were meteoric,” Parsons said. 

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Hays Travel Independence Group members will gather in Leeds next week, for the independent consortia’s annual UK Conference. Hays Travel is gearing up for ithe annual UK Conference, which takes place in Leeds next week. It is hosted at the Queen’s Hotel, and independent travel agency members will hear insights from keynote speakers and panelists on the ‘Year of Two Peaks’ theme. The conference is supported by Jet2holidays and Norwegian Cruise Line. Head of Hays Travel Independence Group, Harriet Thompson, said: “Through our UK conference we want to support all our IG members’ businesses to thrive. We are excited to welcome our consortia to Leeds. Nothing beats getting together in person.” Jonathon Woodall-Johnston, Hays Travel’s COO, said: “Business is buoyant for our Independence Group members, who work hard to understand their customers and exceed their requirements.” "For some of our consortia, this was their first experience of January peaks and they have seen phenomenal success.”

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Hays Travel plans to recruit hundreds of seasonal foreign exchange consultants. It wants to ensure all 470 branches have a dedicated cashier over the peak summer holiday period. It follows a successful foreign exchange pilot scheme last year. No experience is required, as successful applicants will complete a comprehensive three-week training programme including two weeks in-branch. They can choose the hours and days they work, with the option to work part-time. The announcement follows a successful January. Jonathon Woodall-Johnston Hays Travel COO, said: “We have to keep up with what our customers want, not least because they voted us the nation’s favourite foreign exchange provider.” 

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The Hays Travel January Payday campaign drove its best ever trading weekend on 27-28 January. It rounded off consecutive record trading throughout January for retail branches and Hays Travel Independence Group. Cruise and long-haul bookings particularly strong over the Payday campaign period. Jane Schumm, Retail Director, said: “We are delighted with our Payday campaign, which we shared to reassure people that there are still plenty of great holidays to be had.” “Many are making the most of low deposit and direct debit options to spread the cost of their holiday.” Hays travel will finish this month ahead of target with record sales across all areas of our business in January, said Dame Irene Hays. “Despite the squeeze on personal finances, we are seeing people continue to prioritise their holiday plans, with increasing numbers planning to venture further afield or try a cruise.”   

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Hays Travel just had the best day in the company’s history on Saturday.  It topped the record trading Hays Travel reported for 6 January. Dame Irene Hays said: “Saturday was the best trading day in history and a record day for our Hays Travel Independence Group members too.” “Despite the ongoing cost of living challenges, we know that people are willing to prioritise their annual holiday.” “Booking now means that our customers can access great deals from operators and secure their chosen destination.”  To meet additional demand, approximately 90% of Hays Travel branches are open on Sundays, with many opening for extended hours during January. Popular destinations such as Spain, Portugal, and Turkey continued to be top sellers for summer 2024. Branches are also reporting increased interest in holidays to North America, particularly New York and Orlando. For long haul holidays, Hays Travel has seen increased bookings for luxury hotels in the Far East, namely Thailand, Bali, and Singapore. 

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