Building a team of people who all have the same values, never saying no to a customer, and always looking at innovations—that’s the secret to success, says Quay Travel which won Retail Travel Agency of the Year, sponsored by Air New Zealand, at the TAANZ NTIA25s on Sat.
Agency md Michelle Malcolm says the win was a shock—in fact after battling an illness earlier that week she almost wasn’t able to make it. “I’m absolutely thrilled,” she says. “I think also winning an award like that when you’re surrounded by amazing industry colleagues is pretty special.” Malcolm highlights the agency’s use of innovation as one of its strengths in the market. The agency is using artificial intelligence for an array of aspects now, including the creation of a marketing bot within ChatGPT, says Malcolm. “We have almost like an extension of us, of a person, in the office that we can plug all our marketing kind of stuff into and it comes up with, our annual plan and our monthly posts and all of that sort of thing.” Malcom adds that the agency also never says no to clients, something that she carried with her after her 18 years at Atlantic & Pacific, where the owner Neil Tolich had the same outlook. “We work so tirelessly for our clients; nothing is ever too much.”And then, of course, there’s the team at Quay Travel, she adds. “It’s really important to have a team that’s built around the values you have at the company…you’ve all got the same focus on the client and on being the best.” As for what’s next for the agency, Malcolm quips that the champagne is in the fridge, ready for a celebration later.
