Celebrating 36 years in the travel industry this month, Maguire says one of the biggest changes has been the sheer volume of travel information available with customers increasingly overwhelmed and turning to consultants for reassurance and confidence in their booking decisions.
‘Customers used to come into our store to tap into our expert knowledge but now they arrive with all the information. They’ve been on Facebook, they’ve read thousands of reviews about a hotel, and they’re more confused than ever,’ Maguire explains.
‘What they actually want these days is an expert to guide them, and that’s where our judgement comes in and our value as consultants.’
Maguire’s career began at 17, when he was first interviewed by House of Travel founder Chris Paulsen.
Rather than asking why Maquire why he wanted a job as a travel consultant, Paulsen told him to close his eyes and imagine arriving in Fiji, describing the warmth, the people playing guitar as you walked across the tarmac, the welcome drinks and the holiday experience that would unfold. Maguire, having never travelled internationally at that point, was then asked to sell his home city, Nelson, in the same way.
‘Chris told me travel is about being able to sell a dream and I’ve been doing that every day since.’
Thirty-six years on, and with 80 countries ticked off his bucket list, Maquire has seen travel fads and booking trends come and go, but his reason for getting out of bed each morning remains the same.
‘Sometimes my customers travel for the hardest reasons, sometimes the best. Either way, you’re in it with them, and that’s our value. It hasn’t changed in 36 years.’