How Hannah built a booming travel business for free in just 11 months and supported nine charities along the way

The Travel Franchise offers aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to start a travel agency from home — regardless of prior travel experience. By following its award-winning business model and receiving ongoing support from the head office, you’ll have all the tools you need to become the go-to travel agent for your clients. And the best bit? You’ll be your own boss and get to choose the hours you work. You don’t have to work full time and you run the business alongside another job too.

Whether you're looking to escape the 9-to-5 grind, travel the world while booking holidays, earn extra income or boost your pension; this could be the perfect opportunity for you with packages from just £2,995 + vat.

How does it work?

Take our “excellent” five-day, small group, online, live, training course
Start selling trips and holidays earning commission from our ABTA/ATOL bonded travel partners (more than 450 travel suppliers)
Promote our exclusive deals from 40+ key trade suppliers with a WOW travel app to help you spread the good news
Get free support and mentoring from a personal Business Development Manager
Get head office support six days a week and all ticketing done for you
Earn while you learn more about travel via free webinars
Attend our free trips abroad to learn how to skyrocket your business
Train to become an expert in cruise holidays and join our company cruise, a Seminar at Sea, to experience what you can sell
Use our free social media and marketing tools to promote your business - you’ll have your own website too
Use our Partner in Travel scheme to find new customers

Voted the World’s Best Lifestyle Franchise

We’ve fine-tuned our proven business model over the last 20 years and now our agents are so successful they are winning industry awards. In 2025, The Travel Franchise was named the Best Lifestyle Franchise in the World and Best European Franchise at the International Franchise Association’s Global Franchise Awards. We have also been recognised as Britain’s Best Home-Based Franchise and our customer-facing brand Not Just Travel won Best Luxury Homeworking Agency of the Year (large) in March 2025.

No wonder famous brand ambassadors such as TV broadcaster Eamonn Holmes OBE and TV presenter Hayley Sparkes (pictured below with our co-founders Paul Harrison and Steve Witt) are backing our company!

And there’s real money to be made…

Our most successful franchisees aren’t rare cases: they’re earning £40k part time and over £100k full time.

Some – five in January 2025 - are even winning their Elite franchise fee back with our unique Money-Back Challenge. Simply earn a set amount of commission in your first year and you’ll get £14,995 returned.

Ready to follow your dream?

Despite the exclusive treatment, our doors are wide open to newcomers: almost none of our members have a background in this business, just a passion for travel and good customer service.

You’ll be in the business of making dreams come true. You’ll take away the stress of booking a holiday, so that your clients can enjoy everything about their trip from the minute they contact you. And you’ll get to choose your own hours and travel the world, too.

The Travel Franchise Financial Data

The following financial information was provided by The Travel Franchise to give you more information about the costs associated with a The Travel Franchise opportunity

The Lite Package

£2,995 + MONTHLY FEES £299

The Elite Package

£14,995 + MONTHLY FEES £99

The Travel Franchise News

How Hannah built a booming travel business for free in just 11 months and supported nine charities along the way

September 05, 2025

Hannah is proof that it’s possible to start a new business, make an impact and win back your investment in under a year.

Within 11 months of joining The Travel Franchise, she hit a set commission target and beat the company’s Money Back Challenge which means she gets the £14,995 Elite franchise fee refunded.

What makes her achievement stand out even more is that she chose to build her business through the company’s unique Partner in Travel scheme, pledging a percentage of her commission from every booking to charitable organisations.

So far, nine charities have benefited, including Brain Tumour Research, Breakthrough T1D, Bedford Blues Foundation, Alder Hey Children's Charity, Willen Hospice, Papyrus Prevention of Young Suicide, NSPCC, Al’s Pals and FACES.

A purpose-driven travel business

Hannah’s passion for travel began decades ago when she trained with Lunn Poly, but it was her father’s illness in 2019 that gave her the drive to combine business with philanthropy.

After years of family fundraising and following her father’s wish for her to continue “giving back,” she and her husband, Jonathan, decided to research franchise options.

The Travel Franchise stood out thanks to its high level of support and its standout Partner in Travel scheme which enables franchisees to partner with a charity, local business or sports club.

Hannah allows customers to pick their chosen charity but she also visits each one and makes a difference.

“We didn’t want to simply donate to charities, but to work with them too. That’s really important. I work very closely with every single charity partner.”

Her ambition now is to grow her travel agency, partner with even more charities, and eventually open high-street shops dedicated to raising funds and awareness.

The journey hasn’t been one she’s taken alone. Hannah praises the expert guidance of The Travel Franchise and its customer-facing brand Not Just Travel which provides every franchisee with a personal Business Development Manager for support and mentoring.

She also found the company’s overseas mentorship retreats - included in the Elite franchise package - invaluable as she got to meet co-founder Steve Witt and received one-to-one advice.

Looking ahead, Hannah plans to use part of her franchise refund for a family safari. More importantly, she remains motivated by the legacy she’s creating:

“I’m never going to be the richest person in the graveyard, but I am going to be the one that has the memory that I helped as many people as I can – dad would be proud.”