Your Stories: A ‘self-fam’ to Costa Rica boosted Travel Counsellor Sonia Murray-Smith’s bookings

Travel Counsellors agent Sonia Murray-Smith explains how first-hand knowledge of up-and-coming countries has helped her business

Q. What’s your background?
A. I worked at Qantas for 18 years. I had various jobs including in reservations and product. I left to have my children but I always knew as they became more independent I’d come back to travel. I didn’t know what to do and spoke to a friend who suggested homeworking. I’d been a travel agent when I was 18; I worked on the counter for Thomas Cook in Manchester. I joined Travel Counsellors three years ago in February 2019. I’ve always loved travel and I still love it.

During 2021, as the world dropped out of travel, I worked on the 119 vaccine phone line. A lot of companies were approaching travel firms as they knew we had the skillset and worked from home

Q. How did you cope at the height of the pandemic?
A. During 2021, as the world dropped out of travel, I worked on the 119 vaccine phone line. A lot of companies were approaching travel firms as they knew we had the skillset and worked from home. I was getting no travel calls and didn’t want to spend my day looking at an empty screen. I still use some of the information I gained from working on the 119 line now; it’s been really beneficial. Mainly, I was booking vaccinations.

I did my travel work in the morning to make sure clients were getting help on their refunds, and then went on the vaccine line in the afternoons. It gave some structure to my day and made me feel like I was helping the country. As more people became vaccinated the calls started to drop, but I went on to take calls about the Covid pass.

It gave some structure to my day and made me feel like I was helping the country. As more people became vaccinated the calls started to drop, but I went on to take calls about the Covid pass

Q. You went on a cycling holiday in Sri Lanka in 2021. How did you use it to generate business?
A. I had a Cycle Sri Lanka trip booked with Intrepid Travel for November from a year before. I’m a bit of an adventurer and posted on social media what I was doing. People saw the pictures on Facebook and Instagram and thought it looked great. I posted lots of pictures of tea plantations and beaches each day. Within two weeks of arriving back, I’d booked four clients. I then got a new booking from a solo client, who is out there now having an amazing time, and I’ve helped other travel counsellors with enquiries for Sri Lanka.

I also gained two new clients who were on the trip with me and I’ve booked two trips for them. They’ve also referred new clients to me who have just booked to go to Vietnam. The biggest thing I realised after this trip was that people just needed the confidence to know travel was happening and what they needed to get there. They’d heard the nightmares about travel and just needed help. Using social media has worked for me. From my last couple of trips I’ve got bookings on the back of what I’ve posted on Facebook and Instagram.

People saw the pictures on Facebook and Instagram and thought it looked great. Within two weeks of arriving back, I’d booked four clients

Q. Why did you organise a ‘self-fam’ to Costa Rica in January?
A. I didn’t know if peaks would happen this year and I’d never been anywhere in Latin America. I took myself off there because I wanted to learn about it. I felt it was an up-and-coming destination and British Airways did direct flights. Before the pandemic I was starting to get enquiries about Costa Rica. I knew G Adventures offered agents a good deal and flights would be quite empty, so I decided to go on my own, on a self-fam.

G Adventures gave me a discount on the price of the nine-day trip. I took my laptop and made about 10 bookings while I was away. There were six of us on the tour. When I was in Costa Rica I posted pictures on social media of the sloths, zipline, toucans and the beaches. Photography pulls people in and you can sell a destination if you’ve been there because you’ve got all the knowledge and are more confident, enthusiastic and excited about it.

I didn’t know if peaks would happen this year and I’d never been anywhere in Latin America. I took myself off [to Costa Rica] because I wanted to learn about it. I felt it was an up-and-coming destination

Q. What’s your secret to getting useful information from a trip to use in your job as an agent?
A. When I go on these trips, I always ask the guide to spend an hour with me at the end of the tour. I ask them where I should go if I am travelling as a family of four or where to go if I like diving, for example. The guides are really useful and it helps to sit down with them and pick through it all. I buy a map and write all the information on there. I ask them for their mobile number and check if I can text them if I have further questions.

How has your trip to Costa Rica boosted business? 

Since I got back, I‘ve booked six new and four existing clients on trips to Costa Rica and there are more bookings I’m still working on. One booking is for parents whose daughter is in Costa Rica doing voluntary work; another is a family with teenage sons. Costa Rica offers something for every age group: biodiversity, zipwire, canyons and hiking. One of the bookings will now be a four-week trip as the family wants a tailor-made itinerary to include various other central American itineraries. I mention Costa Rica on every conversation at the moment.

What’s helped me to sell more holidays is my first-hand knowledge of up-and-coming countries, driven by a direct flight and my enthusiasm for the destination

The only limiting factor is most people want to go away in the summer. What’s helped me to sell more holidays is my first-hand knowledge of up-and-coming countries, driven by a direct flight and my enthusiasm for the destination. I absolutely loved Costa Rica and I can talk about it with such passion, so all of a sudden customers feel like they are in safe hands because I am confident and excited for them.