Retail director Paul Hardwick confirmed to TTG the Suffolk-based agency had bought Idelo Travel on St Nicholas Street last week. The shop is just 50 yards away from Fred Olsen’s Ipswich branch.
Idelo Travel’s website currently displays the message: “Idelo Travel is now part of Fred Olsen Travel Agents. “After 10 years in the business, Andrea [Powell] and Antony [Powell] are retiring from the travel industry.”
Hardwick said the acquisition had been “on the cards” for “literally a few weeks”, adding: “The owners approached us and said they were looking to retire and asked what their options were.
"They’ve got their database, their staff and their shop. We told them we were keen to take on their customer database and forward bookings, and protect their staff’s jobs.”
He added Idelo Travel’s owners had approached Fred Olsen Travel before and confirmed both businesses were “very similar” in terms of what they sold and their customer base.
Both Idelo Travel staff – Sarah Masuello and Maggie Deer – have started working for their new employers. “It did come as a bit of shock to them that the Idelo Travel owners were selling up,” Hardwick added. “They had been worried about being out of work.
“I had to tell them why they should come across to Fred Olsen after they’d just heard the news from the owners. I talked them through the benefits. We do slightly different hours as well. I then showed them our St Nicholas Street branch.
“It would not have been fair for them to hear the news other than from the Idelo Travel owners. They both were really excited about moving across. Sarah started on Monday, while Maggie begins later this week.”
Masuello, who has been in travel for the past eight years, spent much of her first day calling Idelo Travel’s clients to tell them their bookings were protected. Deer, meanwhile, has been working in the industry for less than year.
Hardwick admitted his primary goal was hiring both Idelo Travel staff due to a current lack of experienced agents within the industry.
“For me, it was about getting their staff,” he explained. “It’s so hard to find experienced staff right now.
“Also, both staff are intrinsically linked to the existing Idelo Travel bookings. Without them, it’s much harder to bring those bookings across.”
Hardwick is currently trying to fill the Fred Olsen branch with another desk for the new staff. “We’re a bigger agency now,” he said. “We’ve had the builders in to quote us for the extra desk.”
The Idelo Travel branch will now be re-let by the letting agent and a poster confirming the acquisition will be displayed in the shop window until the end of October. It is understood the lease runs out at the end of the year.
“We’re trying to do this kind of acquisition in as many places as we can,” Hardwick said. “Anyone looking for an exit strategy should contact us.”
Asked when Fred Olsen Travel will announce another agency acquisition, Hardwick said: “Maybe at the end of this year? I would like to get to 25 shops by 2025. We’re currently on 18.
"We’re definitely on the acquisition trail. We’re looking at more shops in different areas. If there is a gap on the high street in a town where we don’t currently have a shop, we’re not against opening our own shop there.”
