{"id":17795,"date":"2023-02-23T18:00:12","date_gmt":"2023-02-23T18:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=17795"},"modified":"2023-02-23T13:48:22","modified_gmt":"2023-02-23T13:48:22","slug":"shortlisted-for-another-prestigious-industry-award-the-consultant-who-loves-her-job-and-planning-honeymoons-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/shortlisted-for-another-prestigious-industry-award-the-consultant-who-loves-her-job-and-planning-honeymoons-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Shortlisted for another prestigious industry award\u2026 the consultant who loves her job and planning honeymoons abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p>Some of our top-selling consultants specialise in a niche travel market and a few are so successful they get nominated for prestigious awards\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Just like Rachel.<\/p>\n<p>A finalist for TTG\u2019s New Luxury Designer of the Year 2023 award, she\u2019s gained a reputation for creating dream holidays, particularly for those tying the knot.<\/p>\n<p>Armed with her wand &#8211; and nicknamed the travel fairy godmother &#8211; she is known for her magic touch, and fine tuning every detail, right down to the wedding dress (if a client wanted her to).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOver 65 per cent of my bookings are honeymoons and weddings,\u201d says Rachel, who won a national customer award presented by Guides for Brides in 2022, and is shortlisted again this year.<\/p>\n<p>All this despite only training to become a travel consultant in late 2019 when she ditched her job as a pediatric nurse and then had to nurse her own new-found business through the pandemic when flights &#8211; and her clients &#8211; were grounded. The prognosis? Rapid expansion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was tough but I concentrated on building customers and a niche,\u201d says Rachel, whose determination to provide the ultimate in customer service has seen her win many fans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen my biggest \u00a370k booking was cancelled due to Covid, I kept in touch with the clients and last year they booked \u00a3120k-worth of holidays with me,\u201d says Rachel.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey went to South Africa and after hiring an entire lodge for a private safari they rented a villa in Plettenburg Bay. I checked in with them and discovered they were bothered by building work next door. I could not have their holiday ruined so I spoke to the supplier and the hotel who managed to stop all construction for the remainder of their stay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel\u2019s determination also paid off when a couple were told they could not board their cruise ship to Alaska because they had forgotten to complete their Esta visa forms. After many calls Rachel managed to get them onboard just three days later.<\/p>\n<p>With Rachel\u2019s tenacity and care for her customers, it\u2019s no wonder business is booming.<\/p>\n<p>Last year she sold \u00a3600k-worth of holidays and this year she\u2019s on course to sell \u00a31 million.<\/p>\n<p>While many of Rachel\u2019s wedding and honeymoon bookings are to the Maldives, she\u2019s seen a trend for more adventurous experiences.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCouples don\u2019t just want to fly and flop. They want a bit of adventure which is why many now combine Sri Lanka with the Maldives,\u201d says Rachel who has also crafted a few standalone trips to Japan lately.<\/p>\n<p>She is also selling a lot more to Mauritius after attending our Elite Experience trip on the island last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe training was incredible and being able to experience the destination and get to know the hotels in depth was invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rachel has several trips lined up for 2023 including our charity trek in Peru and our new International Mastery Retreat in Cyprus.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not just the travel that she loves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love the camaraderie you experience in NJT, being able to meet up with colleagues and the head office team on overseas events and the UK summer conference. It\u2019s so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of our top-selling consultants specialise in a niche travel market and a few are so successful they get nominated for prestigious awards\u2026 Just like Rachel. A finalist for TTG\u2019s New Luxury Designer of the Year 2023 award, she\u2019s gained a reputation for creating dream holidays, particularly for those tying the knot. Armed with her [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":17796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1490,223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-travel-franchise","category-leisure-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Rachel-Tredwell-in-Mauritius-scaled.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}