Hi, I’m Gilly Bachelor, an award-winning independent travel agent based in Brewood, South Staffordshire.

I operate differently from an online holiday provider, or a high street travel agent, as together with my team, we offer a highly personalised service.

As an independent travel agent we are not owned by a major tour company, which means that we can always put our customers first, finding the perfect holiday for you combined with our award-winning 24/7 personal service.

However, you can be assured you’re in safe hands as we work under the umbrella of Hays Travel as part of Not Just Travel, so everything I book is ABTA and ATOL protected.

Please call 01902 288104 or book your appointment online here – face-to-face and video appointment are available.

‘My mission, from the start was to offer competitively priced holidays - protected under ABTA guidelines, the Travel Package Regulations and ATOL - tailormade to my clients’ unique requirements, all underpinned by a personal service.’

Gilly Bachelor

I’ve always had a passion for travel, and before I set up my travel business I had travelled extensively, though I did find the booking process a bit of a minefield, and this was before Covid!

I had booked holidays using online travel agencies (including Expedia, booking.com and lastminute.com), online package holiday companies (Jet2 Holidays and Tui), tailor-made specialists, for trips to Africa, Morocco, and Italy, and by compiling my own itineraries, with all the elements – i.e., the flights, hotels, car hire and transfers – all booked separately. It was clear to me that each of these different ways to book a holiday had pros and cons.

Typically (though not always!) the online travel agencies will be cheaper, but there’s no advice or customer service, and when something goes wrong, in my experience there’s no support, as so many people have found out in the past two years. And booking separate elements can be problematic too when the flight is cancelled (or rescheduled), or the hotel you’ve booked is unexpectedly unavailable. Find out here why our clients book with us!

Our Admin Whizz!

Stephanie Minton is our ‘Holiday Admin Whizz’. Stephanie leads our Holiday Concierge Service, making sure you receive our Gold Standard Service after you have booked your holiday, including:

  • Assistance with airline seat and meal selection. This is an important service particularly for our clients who are not confident with the airlines’ online systems.
  • Reminder of all travel rules and entry requirements for your cruise or destination. Whilst covid restrictions have all but disappeared there’s still a lot to be mindful of, and those pesky new rules for travel to the EU are confusing so many people!
  • Liaising with the airline and hotel to ensure they are aware of your accessibility requirements, special requests, or celebrations.
  • Recommendations for local tours, restaurant reservations etc.
  • A ‘travel ready’ video call or face to face meeting to answer any of your pre-travel questions. This is such an important part of our service, at this meeting we will go through our ‘travel ready’ check-list to ensure you can travel with confidence.
  • Airline check-in and printing of board passes *subject to airline rules.

It was devastating in March 2020 when the impact of covid started to be felt with mass holiday cancellations, as going on holiday abroad was banned. However, unlike many travel agencies who closed, or mothballed their businesses, we decided to be proactive. We worked hard to secure amendments and refunds for our clients, whilst we also became a ‘customer-champion’ within our local community, for anyone that had a holiday-related question or concern. We offered a helpline, online holiday surgeries (and face-to-face meetings when it was allowed), and responded to hundreds of Facebook enquiries, as people were struggling to get hold of the holiday company they had booked with, and needed advice and reassurance, which we were able to provide, and continue to offer today.

Taking a holiday abroad expands our world view and takes us out of our comfort zone. It can inspire creativity and can help to build confidence; it’s also a lovely way to meet new people, or simply to relax. With so many benefits, it’s our joy to support our clients’ travel dreams, and those of the people within our local community in general. Particularly those people who are finding themselves ‘digitally-excluded’ as having an email address and smartphone are more essential than ever when taking a holiday.

If you’ve already booked your holiday and you’re looking for independent holiday advice as you have a question or concern, we will do our very best to assist you, as we understand just how challenging things can be right now. You can get in touch here.

Professional travel advice is as important as ever as we emerge from the impacts of covid, and whilst in general we’re seeing the simplification of destination entry requirements, and improvements in travel insurance policies, they are still difficult to navigate.

Our clients all want a level of personal service, and to book their holiday with someone that really cares that they have the very best possible travel experience. Whilst we book a complete range of holidays, we specialise in tailor-made itineraries, bucket-list trips and honeymoons.