LAH Travel and its team became part of Hays Travel on Monday (10 August) – Hays Travel's first acquisition of the year.

Hill founded LAH Travel more than 22 years ago and the agency has been a member of the Hays Travel Independence Group for more than 20 years. The business will now join Hays Travel's retail network, which includes branches in nearby Largs and Irvine.

Hays Travel Chair Dame Irene Hays said the long-standing relationship between the two businesses had made the acquisition an "easy decision".

"I wish Linda every success in whatever she plans next and offer her our assurance that we will take good care of their team and support them as they transition over to us," she added.

Hill said the decision to step away from the business had been "an emotional one", but that the decision to choose Hays had also been easy. 

She explained: "Their values mirror ours and I know they will look after our people and customers."

The deal is the latest in a notable series of acquisitions by Hays Travel. Its purchases last year of Polka Dot Travel, which had 15 branches, and Millington Travel, which had 14, followed moves for Spear Travels Group and its 12 shops and Cruise.co.uk parent Victoria Travel Group.

Hays has also recently acquired Independence Group members Travel House, which had 16 shops, and Miles Morgan Travel, which had 19.

The LAH acquisition is Hays Travel's first since the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigated its acquisitions of Polka Dot Travel and Millington Travel.

The CMA issued an initial enforcement order in December, telling Hays to pause efforts to further integrate the two businesses while it considered concerns that Polka Dot and Millington could cease to be distinct from Hays and that the acquisitions represented a wider competition concern.

However, in April, the CMA cleared both acquisitions following an initial two-month investigation.