The creation of the Family Holidays Franchise, which was officially launched last week, follows Holidaysplease’s acquisition of Quo Vadis in April last year, which trades under online brand familyholidayscompany.com.

Director Richard Dixon told TTG he was hoping to recruit “hundreds” of agents to become franchisees with the new brand. He added that they could either work from home or establish a retail presence or office should they wish.

Like its sister firms, the Family Holidays Franchise, which has already received a number of registrations and enquiries from agents, is a member of the Hays Travel Independence Group (Hays Travel IG).

Joanne Aldridge, formerly of Tui and Staysure, joined the business as head of franchise in April to help oversee the new venture.

“We have spent about 14 years building Holidaysplease – which now has about 60 homeworkers – and that has always focused on upmarket long-haul and honeymoons,” said Dixon. “We want Family Holidays to be nationally recognised as the company to book your family holiday with.

“People market well to their communities and the aim is that they become known locally as a specialist in their field.

“That person will be a key part of how we market the franchise.”

Dixon said the franchisees would focus on four-star hotels and upwards, offering customers “really exciting options”. They will also be able to sell outside of the family segment should they wish.

“We are going out to market to people with and without a travel background, to give them the opportunity to build themselves under our umbrella,” he said.

Each new franchisee will undertake a week’s intensive training at Holidaysplease’ head office in Birmingham, and “will be supported throughout”. Agents joining will have access to the business’ technology, intranet, commercial support and customer relationship management systems, and will receive social media training. They can choose whether to have a presence on the Family Holidays Company website or have their own individual website.

Meanwhile, Dixon said Holidaysplease and the Family Holidays Franchise could be brought together for the same conference in the future. He added that the new franchise was not “out to approach other firms’ agents”, but would talk to anyone who believed the model could work for them.