A Travel Counsellor has revealed she’s “twice as likely” to convert bookings since making a deal with her husband – and now, she is helping other agents to follow suit.

Jess Masters joined the homeworking franchise in early 2025 with a commercial edge, having previously served as Finance Director for Jacada and Wilderness Safaris.

A self confessed ‘nerd’, she immediately began tracking her stats at Travel Counsellors  – recording everything from her top-selling hotels to her margin per destination.

It didn’t take long for one key takeaway to emerge: fam trips were the most effective tool of conversion.

After analysing the numbers, Jess calculated she was ‘100% more likely” to make a booking if she’d been to the location.

The Bristol-based advisor, who was recently invited to a client’s wedding after saving their dream trip, also found that she earns 89% more on commission by visiting the place.

The results confirmed what she’d already suspected – and provided the hard proof to convince her husband they needed to travel more.

“It’s hilarious, but I actually just wanted to show him we needed to go on more trips,” Jess said. “He’s an accountant so I knew if I came at him with numbers, he’d understand.”

Of the many work trips Jess has taken since this agreement, one in particular demonstrates her point more than any other.

Last October, she completed a seven-night fam trip with Travel Counsellors to Sri Lanka after realising she’d never sold the destination before. 

Jess Masters

Designed as a comprehensive introduction to the country, the itinerary included stays in luxury hotels like The Kingsbury, Colombo as well boutique guest houses such as The Fort Bazaar in Gale.

It also brought the agents to Sri Lanka’s most iconic attractions, including the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, the Dambulla cave temple and Yala National Park.

Agents were required to put £500 towards the trip, with the guarantee they’d be reimbursed £250 if they made a booking. 

Though Jess admits it was an “intense” week, it was also game-changing for selling Sri Lanka. She has since made a 10.4x ROI [return on investment] from the trip, having booked three honeymoons of varying price points in the past 10 months alone.

“It’s always beneficial to have visited a place before you sell it, but this is especially true for Sri Lanka,” Jess explained.

“The style of the trip is so different, because you’re on the move every couple of days and it’s not always relaxing. Yes, it might feel like a slog waking up early to hike the Sigiriya rock fortress. But having done it myself, I can tell you: ‘It’s 100% worth it.’”  

Now, Jess is determined to turn every trip – both private and professional – into a sales opportunity.

“Every time I spend money on travel, I ask myself: ‘What can I sell and how do I make that money back?’” she said. “Even for personal trips, I will reverse engineer them into a business decision.”

Jess attributes her financial background to this profit-focused mindset, having always understood the importance of knowing your numbers.

“I get so frustrated when people can’t tell me how they convert different destinations and what their top performing destinations are,” she admitted. “After 15 years of working in finance, spreadsheets are my comfort zone!”

Find out more about Travel Counsellors in the TTG Homeworking Hub, packed with advice for existing and would-be homeworkers, and a Matchmaker tool to help you find the right homeworking company for you.