whichfranchise logo

Supported by

Posted:01-November-2022

How you can beat the Money-Back Challenge (and get your travel business for free))

travel-money-back.jpg

Find out how this unique-to-franchising opportunity could create a business that costs you nothing to start.

Setting up your own business costs money, time and effort. And a travel agency can be one of the more complicated ones to start, for something that initially looks quite simple. At the very least, you’ll need:

  • Customer protection, such as ABTA bonding
  • Branding and marketing material
  • A website to show you’re professional
  • Insurances and compliance
  • Travel agent tools, technology and software

Then, aside from all that, you’ll need the most crucial elements:

  • Holidays you’re allowed to sell and
  • Lots of people to buy them 

It can easily take years to build up your commercial relationships with holiday providers and cost you well over six figures in investment for your first year alone.

That’s why a travel franchise is such a great option. 

With an instant travel agency from The Travel Franchise, you get all the above (and a whole lot more), so all you have to focus on is getting customers. And you’ll be shown exactly what to do to find them too. And we don’t stop there.

We’re unique in Britain as the only company you can get your travel franchise fee back from, if you’re good at it, with the Money-Back Challenge.

All you have to do is sell enough holidays inside an agreed time and your business start-up costs will be refunded.

Your target depends on the type of franchise you buy. And, while it’s not easy – it is a challenge (the clue is in the name) – people are constantly hitting their Challenge target and getting their business for free.

These people all got a free travel business

David Walker

David was our first Elite consultant and beat the Challenge quickly. He’d had a highly successful 22 year career working abroad in HR. But, on returning to the UK, he discovered that path was something he was no longer interested in pursuing.

After much deliberation, he decided he’d love to open his own travel agency. There were just a few problems. Despite being well travelled, he’d never sold a holiday in his life. He had few contacts in the UK after so long living abroad.

Partnering with us allowed David to create a life-changing travel business. One that’s now generated over £10m in sales, £1m+ in commissions and – crucially – given him a renewed sense of purpose and passion.

Natasha and James Oliphant

This dynamic duo beat their Challenge in just 8 months, despite being part time.  The couple didn’t wait to start promoting their new business, even though they hadn’t officially started it.

“The moment we signed up for the business after speaking to Paul, we immediately started networking around the pool, as we were actually on holiday in Barbados.

We created a Facebook group and invited everyone we knew to it. It meant we went into training as prepared as we could be.

Training finished at 3pm on the Friday and by 4.30pm on the same day we had our first booking. And it was from a complete stranger!”

Natasha has a beauty business that also helps find customers.

“The enquiry initially came via my beauty business from a lady who had just booked in an eyebrow wax with me for £10. It was a holiday to the Maldives.

Initially for 2 people, it turned into a group holiday worth over £20,000. What an amazing feeling!”

Suzy Blyth

Suzy beat the Challenge inside her first year of business. She loves the support she got that helped her on the journey.

“The experience since joining has been incredible, the support has been out of this world. It’s been phenomenal, in a word.

I’ve run a business before and it’s quite lonely. It‘s not like that here. You have weekly team meetings and a Partnership Manager who is always by your side.

There’s no boss barking in your ear, but you have all the support of a great community. If more businesses were run this way, there would probably be more successful start-ups out there!”

Ross Murphy

Money-back challenge winner Ross joined us in December 2020. He shares why “It’s 100% what you of make it”, whether you do it part-time or full-time and why he was set on joining as a Lite, but then decided to upgrade to the Elite package.

Lindsay and Tom Coulter

Despite joining mid-pandemic (in October 2020), they secured enough future holiday bookings to make their new travel business totally free within 8 months. When she found out the news, Lindsay said:

“I am unbelievably grateful to the whole NJT team for their support, including my amazing Partnership Managers Ben, Emma & Dave.”

And there are many more…

We love it when people beat the Challenge – but it’s not easy

Not everyone can beat the Money-Back Challenge.  The targets aren’t so high as to feel impossible – but it will take hard work, ambition and momentum to reach them.

We have to invest the initial franchise fees back into you and your business through training, technology, Partnership Managers and a huge trade, marketing and operations team.

So why do we give them back at all?

Well, as painful as refunding franchise fees might seem, it’s the best conversation we can have with someone. As the franchisor, we share some of the commission you generate selling holidays. So, if someone beats the Challenge, it means they’re being very successful, very fast – which is great for both of us.

Here’s how you can beat the Money-Back Challenge

When you join, you’re given full training and ongoing support to help you find, service and retain customers. There are also lots of ways you can really bump up your commissions quickly – including some unique programmes we offer free with your franchise. Here are 5 of them.

1/ Go for group bookings

You could decide to follow the lead of franchisees like Illesh. He recently made a booking worth over £65k for 116 passengers to Turkey. That’s more than ½ a plane of passengers, just through one booking!

Smaller numbers of passengers can also be lucrative. Travel Consultant Louise is sending 11 people to Singapore for £84k. And Michelle just booked 21 passengers to Las Vegas on a holiday for over £42k.

With the average commission generated worth over 10% of the holiday sale, groups are an excellent way to boost revenue from one booking at a time.

2/ Leverage the Partners In Travel programme

Very simply put, Partners In Travel is our exclusive referral programme. It enables others to make money simply by referring a traveller to you.

A Partner can be anyone who has a group of people or network they know that go away on holiday… which is pretty much everyone. The idea is that, instead of you having to spend lots of time and effort finding customers 1:1, you can build the relationship with a few Partners, who introduce & market you to their whole network. 

One franchisee’s partners include a large hospice (with over 1,200 staff and volunteers), an ex-travel agent (who’s created over £20,000 in commissions alone) and a taxi driver who always has a stack of their business cards to hand.

3/ Work with high-ticket clients

You might decide to focus on high net worth clients. You may not think you know people who’ll spend £50k, £100k or more on a holiday. But there are far more out there than you might think. Here, it’s all about exclusivity, attention to detail and amazing levels of service.

Recently these bookings all came through:

  • £143k on a luxury trip to Antigua
  • £126k on an 80 night cruise
  • £122k to South Africa
  • £140k to Dubai 
  • £90k on a single cruise

We’ll teach you how to introduce yourself and your business so that you can be making these kinds of bookings too.

4/ Become a specialist that people turn to

Consultant Raine makes her business work around her family – and makes family holidays her business. That specialism is something that has organically grown. As a mother with 4 children herself, she understands better than anyone the needs and wants a family typically has on a holiday.

With 25 different families travelling during half term, October was one of the busiest periods she’s ever seen in her travel business, making her a fantastic £25k commission in just a single month. That’s around the average annual salary for people in the UK.

“Before starting my travel business nearly 4 years ago, I’d been a stay home mum for 12 years. I’d always loved travel, I’d always wanted my own business so that’s why I started.

I wanted something to call my own. I wanted to prove to people I could be successful and that I was capable of so much more.

Fast forward 4 years, a typical day for me is: cooking a bolognese for the family with one hand, whilst being on hold with a holiday supplier and doing the ironing!“

You don’t need to be an expert to be seen as a specialist

With our specialist marketing packages, you can also have dedicated landing pages for your website (that we provide). These let you target customers who already know what they want and show that you can offer exactly what they need.

From cruises to villas, honeymoons to UK Staycations, there’s a huge choice (and no limit) to the amount of ‘specialisms’ you can show people.

You’ll also have access to our Climate Hero program which is included in every franchise. It lets your customers make a voluntary climate contribution to their booking. They’ll be supporting vital environmental projects in the UK and around the globe. Without having to lift a finger, your travel business will be future-ready. And it’ll be immediately more attractive to customers.

Travel Consultant Mark McCardie owns his business with his wife Isobel. Together, they’ve done over £5m in sales. In a clear show of support, over 90% of their customers are choosing to contribute to the Climate Hero initiative. He says not having to worry about any of the set-up is a massive bonus.

“All the heavy lifting, all that research. Having people with so much expertise makes it so much easier.”

5/ Do the basics well, consistently

When it comes down to it, beating the Money-Back Challenge is all down to you. We provide customer acquisition and retention training, plus programmes like Partners In Travel and specialist marketing help. But it won’t be of any use without these 2 key things.

  • Your effort and commitment

Building any business is hard work and you need to be willing to put in the effort to make it grow. Consultant Lloydie attends regular BNI networking meetings that have created over £900k in sales alone. He also has WhatsApp and Facebook groups where can constantly keep people updated.

  • Great customer service

Over time the bulk of your business should become repeat bookings and referrals. But getting these relies on really going the extra mile for your customers.

Our franchisees are there to help customers from the quote until they return home, handling any issues that arise and making sure the trips are stress free.

Consultant Illesh met his 116 passenger group flying to Turkey at the airport at 2.30am to ensure they all made it onto the flight easily. He even provided custom lanyards for everyone, as many had never met in real life before.

And consultant Sue recently arranged for her client to get a pampering session in Miami after a 2 week busy family trip to Disneyland.

These little touches can really set you apart from faceless online sites and show the pride you have in your business.

Interested and want to know more about The Travel Franchise?

The The Travel Franchise profile outlines all aspects of their franchise opportunity and allows you to contact them for further information or to ask a question.

Our Newsletter

Receive FREE updates on the latest franchise opportunities, news and advice
Top