Good morning Sutton BNI and visitors. We have really enjoyed working through the passport to success program and getting to know more members of the Sutton BNI chapter.

So we are going to take you through an introduction to Huben Travel and answer some of your questions. By the end of our 10 minutes, you should know more about us and our company and how you can help us to find more business.

So about me. I met Hugh at university in Liverpool and we got married in Scotland in 2017.For 11 years I was a west end stage manager. I really had an amazing time, but trust me, 8 shows a week really starts to take its toll on you after a while and, couple that with the long hours and lack of home life, it was time to make a change.  Hugh and I have always loved to travel. Many years ago we started a little black book of all the hotels we’d travelled to and the good and bad points for each one, building up our knowledge to share with future clients.

• Ben and I met in Liverpool  where I was the year above him on the Theatre and Performance Technology course. After moving to London and working in corporate events lighting, I decided to leave Ben in the crazy world of performance and head back to university to study to be a chartered accountant. I have spent the last 10 years working for companies in Management accountant and Financial management roles.
• My role at Huben Travel is to make sure every holiday is perfect, right down to the last detail. We really care about our customers and their experience, so, while Ben charms and puts the itineraries together, I ensure everything is taken care of from a business perspective. I’m always happy to share my knowledge of the insurance and protections we offer, which is essential for any future travel.

We have been researching and booking travel for our friends and family for years (click) and, at the start of 2020, we launched Huben Travel. Despite tough trading conditions due to Covid-19, we got press coverage in titles including The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Prima and National Geographic.

We offer holidays to everyone but we are also proud to specialize in LGBTQ+ travel advice. We spent much of last year building our holiday collection, (CLICK) finding the very best hotels and making sure we have spoken to a contact in each property. This ensures our guests are warmly welcomed and we can easily call on the contact if there are any special requests or problems. It means you can just text or call us whenever you are away and we will sort everything out for you.

(Click) We’re obsessed by travel, so if you ever want to know the unmissable holiday deals out there or which hotel is best in a city, just ask. We are here to share our recommendations.

The most important thing we will say today is our service is free. We gain a commission from the supplier, so it doesn’t cost you a thing to get our advice and a holiday quote. Finding the perfect holiday and gaining a reputation as a leading travel agency is always our top priority, so you can feel confident to pass your friends and family our way.

(Click) We hold an ATOL licence so all our holidays are financially protected

People always ask if we have ABTA. Well the answer is we have an equivalent. ABTA is just a set of guidelines, rather than financial protection like ATOL. We are part of PTS Services, so abide by its rules and regulations and all guest money gets paid into a trust account that we do not have access to. Just adding that extra layer of protection.

We offer a number of different holiday types.

If you are a wine lover, we can organize wine tours, tastings and stays in some beautiful vineyard locations across France, Italy, South Africa and California. The choice is yours.

Next up (CLICK) is the one we are missing this year, the ski holiday. Whether it’s all about being on the slopes from dawn until dusk or, like me, half ski half spa, we know some great chalets and hotels.

Moving on to (Click) driving holidays. One thing which we love, and actually did for our honeymoon, is a road trip. This shot is from our driving holiday in New England in the USA. If you want to couple a driving holiday with a Safari (Click) South Africa is a great option. Stay in Cape Town for a few nights, then drive onto a game reserve for a great introduction to safari. If you really want to immerse yourself in safari, we can take you to many African game reserves with luxury tented camps, including the Maasai Mara and Serengeti.

Moving away from the real animals to those of make believe! . I love Disney and there is little I don’t know about getting those hotel and ticket bargains and making sure this incredible family experience can fit into any reasonable budget. Sticking with the family theme (Click), We also offer worldwide family holidays, from beach holidays in the Maldives to villa holidays in Spain and Greece.

Another big section of our business is (Cruise). Hugh and I really enjoy a cruise holiday, from big ships with world-class entertainment like onboard ice-skating rinks and fine dining, to yachts and even tall ships with billowing sails.

(Click) We specialise in honeymoons and put many hours into planning the holiday of a lifetime and getting to know the couple, so their trip is perfect.

Finally, (Click) our hosted tours will be introduced next year. We will host three trips a year where we will be on the trip with the guests. We’ll organise dinners and extra trips and, of course, be there to pay for a few rounds of drinks at the bar. We plan to do a cruise, ski holiday and wine tour each year. (Click)

We work with a number of well-known brands (click) and you can get the same price by booking with us, as you would by booking direct. The benefit is we can compare prices between companies to get you the best price and you get our first-class service, too! This comes in handy if anything changes due to Covid, meaning you don’t have to sit on the phone to a large call centre.

We have a Dinner on Us honeymoon promotion at the moment.

We’ll arrange a fun video call to plan their honeymoon and will pay for a takeaway or  bottle of Champagne to make the planning stages extra special. If you know any engaged couples, please do pass on our details.

This offer makes it a real occasion and is valid until the end of 2021.

There are some great reasons to use a travel agent, especially at the moment.

We are a friendly face always at the end of the phone.

You don’t have to deal with an anonymous call centre, where you never speak to the same person twice.

We hold industry protections.

We are a member of Protected Trust Services who provide us with a trust account.

All money paid towards your holiday is held in trust, managed by PTS. This way, your money is safe and we don’t receive our commission until the guest has completed their holiday.

We also hold the most important protection of them all, the ATOL licence. This is effectively an insurance policy operated by the CAA that will get you home in the event of airline or tour operator failure.

By using us, you save time trawling the internet getting bogged down in an overload of information. Which flight, which plane, which country and can you even get there due to Covid restrictions?

We are constantly searching for deals, offers or interesting trip ideas. We come across things all the time, so when people come to us, we know where to go to find the best possible holiday for you.

Not only do you save time, you can save money.

We know the best suppliers and best times of year to travel.

We know how to maximise time in resort by adjusting flight time.

We also have great worldwide knowledge. We spend our time doing research, sitting on tourist board webinars and travelling to hotels all over the world. From travelling around South America to laying on the beach in the Seychelles, we are here to help you make the very best memories.

This is Huben, they are our perfect referral guest.

They value the protection they get by booking with a travel professional,

They know how much they want to spend, with realistic expectations of what they can get for that budget.

They want impartial advice about suppliers, hotels and airlines.

They don’t have time to search for their own holiday. Finally,

They want to be taken care of from start to finish. A familiar voice at the end of the phone no matter what happens. An agent that is genuinely there to make sure our guests have the best experience possible.

Thank you very much for listening. Does anyone have any questions?