Welcome to Hays Travel
In 1980, with no industry experience and only a desk at the back of my mum’s children’s
wear shop in Co Durham, I struggled to get my travel business off the ground. But
from the minute we opened that first small retail shop in Seaham, I was hooked –
I fell in love with the travel industry.
And we’ve come a long way since our small beginnings. Today we are the UK’s largest independent travel agent and, while we hear of only doom and gloom in the
industry news these days, we’re still growing all the time. Our turnover last year
was a record £450 million. We’ve broken our own record year on year as we’ve invested
to maintain our enviable position as a frontrunner within the industry.
Here at Hays Travel we are fully ABTA and ATOL bonded, offering our customers complete
financial security. And because of our independent status, we really can offer impartial
advice and find our customers their ideal holiday. We work with hundreds of suppliers
to ensure this.
Thirty years down the line, we employ over 800 people. Ask these people, or the
companies and clients who deal with us, and you’ll find they usually use the same
words to describe us at Hays Travel – professional and friendly.
We’re also a company that cares. We have been regularly awarded Investor in People
accreditation and were selected as one of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies in
the UK to Work For in 2006. We have always engaged with local communities and staff
get involved in charity and fundraising events on a regular basis. I like to think
we’re a company with heart and a company that rewards hard work.
I have also been surprised and delighted to receive some prestigious travel industry
awards over the past few years, picking up a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008
Agent Achievement Awards, an Outstanding Achievement Award at the 2009 Globe Travel
Awards and, most recently, to have been inaugurated into the British Travel Industry
‘Hall of Fame’ in 2010.