South Austraiian Personal Travel Managers Have Plenty to Celebrate
TravelManagers second bi-annual state meeting was held in Adelaide last week and South Australian personal travel managers (PTM) had much to celebrate.
First on the list of celebrations was a record attendance for the region. Fifteen out the 19 current PTM’s participated in the state meeting, held last Wednesday 16 November at Adelaide’s Mayfair Hotel.
“It would have almost been a perfect attendance, however two personal travel manager’s were late withdrawals coming down with the flu and a new recruit was on an induction course in Sydney,” says TravelManagers’ Executive General Manager Michael Gazal.
Gazal highlights the benefit of working regionally with the PTM’s provides the ability to cater for their local and individual requirements.
”By individually tailor making meetings by state it allows for the meeting to be personal and relevant, which ensures strong attendance and high engagement. The feedback from our personal travel managers is consistently positive so we know it’s a winning formula.”
The second reason for celebration is the growth of PTM’s in the South Australia region. TravelManagers has experienced a 45% increase in new recruits in the last twelve months.
“TravelManagers in South Australia is really going from strength to strength and our personal travel managers are experienced, knowledgeable, proactive and very generous in sharing their strengths with each other. This camaraderie is typical and represents the true community spirit that TravelManagers prides itself on. It really comes as no surprise that 60% of these new recruits have been referrals from existing personal travel managers,” says Gazal.
For new recruit PTM Philippa Williams, the state meeting was filled with friendship and support.
“It was a lovely way to learn what is happening with the business and I felt so supported and welcomed by the personal travel managers and the national support office tam. I really feel that I am part of a family and I have no doubts I’ve made the right decision in joining TravelManagers.”
Following the morning’s business sessions, the personal travel managers along with nine national partnership office staff and three partner suppliers (Shaona Bannister from Wendy Wu, Regan Grainer from Trafalgar and Stephen York from Albatross Travel) enjoyed a Christmas lunch at The Little Hunter, a popular local steak restaurant.
For personal travel manager Neil Saunders his Christmas lunch was interrupted by the need to attend to an urgent client request.
“TravelManagers technology is second to none. I was able to issue an urgent ticket in-between my entrée and main and still enjoy lunch. My clients’ always come first. All in a day’s work,” laughs Saunders.
As 2016 comes to a close, Gazal reflects on the importance of the personal travel manager and national partnership office relationship.
“We know a big factor in our success is the strong relationships between our personal travel managers and our national partnership office support teams. An overriding objective of the national partnership office is to create a sense of family and strong community spirit amongst our personal travel managers. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to collectively celebrate what has been a fantastic year for TravelManagers regionally with our personal travel managers. Plus, we know how to have fun!”
TravelManagers will continue their personal travel manager state meetings around Australia with Perth, Melbourne, Hobart and Brisbane meetings scheduled throughout November and early December.
For more information or to speak to someone confidentially about TravelManagers please contact Suzanne Laister on 1800 019 599.
