Q1 2021

128 | Q1 2021 Sep20854 Bespoke and Luxury Holiday Design Marshall Travel is a small yet ambitious company, a one-person team that works to create personally designed and unforgettable holidaymaking experiences for the busy individual. Marshall Travel is a company that prides itself on not being ‘your standard travel agent’. With service based upon experience not a brochure, it acts as its client’s holiday concierge, offering a bespoke and tailored service that works to curate the most perfect and personalised holiday possible. It is an independent agency that is part of The Travel Network Group, offering a worldwide list of destinations including the Caribbean, Spain, Florida, and Greece. The idea for Marshall Travel was created by the founder, Geraldine Marshall, in 2019 after suffering three strokes which gave her new perspective on what she wanted to do in life – specifically, to use her many years of experience in the travel industry to fill a gap in the market. Marshall Travel’s clientele are individuals at the tops of their fields and running their own businesses, people who find it hard to set aside time to book and create their own plans for holidaymaking. This is where Marshall Travel steps in, offering personally developed getaways that offer everything from tropical paradises to urban luxury breaks. It charges an upfront fee of £50 as a one-off charge for new customers so that it can do the initial research and legwork, but should that client go on to become a regular, they are not charged it again. Its dedication to perfect service is shown in its attitude towards its clients, giving them a 24 hour mobile number for support once their booking is confirmed, and sending them a thank you gift such as Hotel Chocolat products or a free excursion. Unfortunately, on the road to success, there have also been significant challenges for this small yet dedicated business. Over the past year, the impact of Covid-19 has been felt across the board in the tourism and luxury travel industry as border restrictions shut down many of the usual routes. Furthermore, due to social distancing measures and advanced rigor in hygiene and social space management, many of the usual destinations and activities that tourists and holidaymakers would indulge in have suffered closures. Many of these have been temporary – however, some of them have been sadly permanent. Marshall Travel saw no bookings after April of last year due to the lockdowns and responded by developing a petition that called for aid. It beseeched the Government on behalf of itself and other small business like it to call for ‘a fully-regionalised quarantine policy, the introduction of Covid-19 testing at airports, and a review of the chancellor’s Job Support Scheme.’ Through this and a letter writing campaign to the local MP, Marshall Travel hoped to bring to light the struggles that enterprises like itself were facing without appropriate grant support. It wishes to see such grants be put in place for small and medium sized travel businesses, as well as aid for those that missed previous state-given support and Air Passenger relief for the summer of 2021. In another response from Marshall Travel, it has been developing its Virtual Concierge Service to pivot to remote methods of working. This is a unique service that allows it to continue to offer its highly personalised holiday creation service in the ever-shifting paradigm of a mid- pandemic world. Through a video consultation that lasts about an hour, it will talk a client through what to pack and what not to pack, the important elements of the holiday, and the nitty gritty details of the itinerary so that every element is perfect. In the future, it will be working on diversifying the locations that it offers its clients. In this way, it will be able to broaden its customer base even further. In the meantime, however, Marshall Travel will be offering more in the way of staycations such as white-water rafting, driving a Porsche, and bespoke retreats. Company: Marshall Travel Contact: Geraldine Marshall Website: www.marshalltravel.co.uk