
Chris Storey
Training & Development Executive
This is perhaps one of the most common phrases uttered in homes and businesses over the last 18 months as the world and his wife/granny/grandpa/uncle have turned digital in order to communicate with the outside world.
My god, how I wish I had bought shares in Zoom…
At the Holiday Franchise Company, we have always tried to offer our franchisees as much flexibility as possible. The pandemic, however, has meant that more recently, nearly all our training has been delivered over video.
Somewhat a traditionalist, in my 12 plus years of travel sales coaching, I have always preferred face-to-face, in-person training over remotely. I have to say, however, the past few months, I have really enjoyed talking to people from my dining room or home office, which 99% of the time looks like a nuclear bomb were dropped on it (just off shot of course!).
With every interaction, our aim is to reinforce to our franchisees that they’ve made the right decision to join us. As such, we are constantly seeking ways to improve and offer an industry-leading experience for them. Not content at just holding Zoom sessions, late last year we embarked on a journey that was perhaps our most ambitious project yet – to launch a brand-new e-learning site.
After many months of hard work, I am delighted to announce the launch of our Journey to Success Portal.

The tagline on our homepage is ‘Knowledge on Demand’, and on the Journey to Success portal, this really is the case. We have thousands of videos, training documents, guides, hotel fact sheets, brochures, and images that users can access whenever (and wherever) they want.
The portal is designed – as an addition and a complement to our one-to-one training and to enhance the franchisee experience. As a result, more than ever, franchisees will efficiently equip themselves and their businesses with expert knowledge and tools. This will not only result in more enquiries but also turning more of those enquiries into bookings.
Should you want to learn Google Ads from scratch or if you have lots of enquiries and want to brush up on the sales process, there are webinars available to you at the touch of a button. Should you be about to call a customer regarding a destination you have never visited – you can attain a good understanding of where to stay, where to go, and other essential information in a matter of minutes.
Our core modules consist of:
- Operations
- Sales Through Service
- Systems
- Marketing
- Creating and Maintaining Your Website
- Google Ads
All of these are housed here in bite-sized videos and guides. Refreshing your memory on a subject or even learning something new for the first time has never been easier.



The portal is also where all our fantastic supplier webinars are hosted. At present, there are 60 and growing. Should you miss a webinar, you can simply log in and catch up when and where it is convenient for you.



In addition to all this, we have 60 courses on various destinations worldwide, including presentations, links, external training courses, guides, cheat sheets, images, and videos.



There is also content from 38 of our trusted tour operators as well as from hundreds of our preferred hotels, cruises, airports and airlines. There really is training for just about every aspect of the travel industry.
The Holiday Franchise Company has even embraced virtual reality. Fancy swimming with whale sharks, riding the world’s fastest roller coaster, embarking on a guided tour of Rome, or experiencing a flight on an aircraft before you fly?
You can experience all this and more without ever leaving your keyboard.



And the best part? All of this can be shared with your customers to help you bring their holidays to life.
I am so proud of the portal, and I cannot wait for franchisees to benefit from it.
As one industry expert said to us this week:
“you have not just embraced e-learning. You have changed the game!”