Hays Travel is the UK’s largest independent travel agent with nearly 500 high street branches. The family owned agency has been in operation for more than 40 years, providing excellent value, service and choice to British travellers.

CHALLENGE

In 2023, Hays Travel had a business goal to increase exposure with tourism partner marketing. The business’ partnerships had traditionally focused on print and in store activity. Whilst the Hays Travel team knew they wanted to present a clear marketing proposition to tourist boards, they also knew their current ways of working would need addressing to achieve this. 

“Having been so reliant on print, we were still in our digital infancy. We knew how we wanted to position Hays Travel but we’d never worked in that space before, we knew what we wanted to do, but we didn’t know how,” says Lisa.  

SOLUTION

Confident that they were the right people to help her, Lisa engaged Platform 195 to  develop a Hays Travel tourism board partnership strategy.

“Platform 195 are leaders in their field for what they do because their proposition is so compelling. And then when you meet them, you buy into them as individuals too. They are likeable and easy to do business with,” explains Lisa. 

With a large piece of work around change management the Hays team knew that there was a knowledge gap on the Hays Travel side. As part of their strategic consulting phase, Platform 195 recruited a Partner Marketing Manager to support Lisa with a go to market proposition. 

Meanwhile the technology side focused on implementing Platform 195’s travel retail media solution Uplift Hub, Uplift Ads, and Uplift Ads+ for end to end campaign management. The implementation roadmap allowed for additional complexities, such as the replatforming of the Hays Travel website which was happening concurrently. 

OUTCOMES

Once the website project was complete, Uplift was implemented and staff were trained on how to use the comprehensive campaign management solution. As staff became more comfortable with Uplift, the real impact of the project started to become clear.

Presented with a powerful proposition, tourist boards were keen to engage Hays as a partner. The interest has continued to grow as Hays has grown its campaign volume significantly over 12 months. 

“The response has been excellent, the technology and expertise we now have inhouse sets us apart from most travel agents. Tourist boards now see Hays Travel as a real contender for national coverage. Platform 195 opened the door for us to start the conversation,” says Lisa.

According to Lisa the technology and expertise provided by Platform 195 has helped Hays to establish a new and profitable revenue stream. The campaigns are made effective through the use of first-party data and the Uplift Ads+ media network.  

“You need someone who speaks the same language as you so experience in travel is critical. There are people who understand the tech but not the travel or vice versa, but Platform 195 know both, they’ve been there and got the t-shirt. They speak our language. It provides needed familiarity when you are talking about new ways of working,” concludes Lisa.

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