Q: Tell us about your journey and why you chose the travel industry?
A: I’m from the UK and for me everything always came back to travel. I would get a job and work, quit, travel, then run out of money and go back into work again.
It’s what I did for years and years, climbing Kilimanjaro, Machu Picchu, spending three months in South America. From 10-day treks in Nepal to Mount Kinabalu in Borneo, I did it all.
I’ve always wanted to work in the travel industry and although it seemed like a pipe dream at the time, it’s clearly all worked out.
Q: Was it easy to get into the travel industry in Australia?
A: I applied for countless jobs at Flight Centre and never got an interview! But I did get my start at TripADeal in 2011 as their second-ever employee, putting deals together like kayak trips in Byron Bay when they were a ‘daily deal’ website.
It wasn’t quite the glamorous travel industry I had dreamed of, but I was with them until the end of 2016 and during that time I led them into overseas packages, which is what they are known for today. I was with them as they grew and became a national name, and then I moved to Townsville and decided I wanted to work for myself.
I wanted to start my own company, run it how I wanted to, work with small, local suppliers and build sustainable itineraries like I had always done for myself, friends and family. That’s when MyHoliday2 started nine years ago.
Q: What did the early stages of MyHoliday2 look like?
A: When I moved to Townsville, I built a website on Wix and started working out of the spare room with about $2,000 of savings and no aircon, which was unbearable in the NQ heat!
Prior to the launch of the business, my husband I spent a few months travelling Asia to meet suppliers, inspect hotels, make connections and build itineraries to showcase on the website.
By starting off this way, we chose who we wanted to work with and developed our relationships.
Our operators are mainly small, family run companies so we knew they were sustainable and the money was going straight back into the community.
We’ve never had any business loans or external investment; but I had a basic business plan and a bucket load of enthusiasm.
My plan was to build the company slowly while starting a family at the same time, so it’s all grown gradually and organically and over the years.
Q: You’re currently hiring. How important are the people in the team to the success of your business when you make 100% of your bookings online?
A: My mission is to provide exceptional customer service. For on OTA, having a team of dedicated, passionate people on the phones, assisting customers and providing that professional service is the reason for our success.
My aim is to bridge the gap between traditional travel agency service and an OTA.
While 100% of bookings remain online, my staff are more than happy to spend the time over the phone to assist customers through their booking, if they are a bit nervous about booking online.
Our dedicated, friendly team and ATIA accreditation really help build confidence in our brand for our customer base.
Although we have AI chat options which plenty of customers use to get helpful information, customers love it when they can speak to someone directly in our Townsville office, it makes a big difference.
Q: You’re branching into the B2B and cruising sector. What triggered this addition?
A: Quite simply, demand. We’ve always had agents reach out and ask if we’re B2B, but after winning at the National Travel Industry Awards last year, the demand from agents went sky-high, so we decided to make it official.
Over the last six months we built a back-end especially for agents and a commission structure that is adaptable. This was launched in May 2026 and has been very popular so far.
Q: Why do you think MyHoliday2 is so competitive compared to other OTAs?
A: The personal connection. Having staff be able to pick up the phone and speak to someone locally is invaluable.
We still maintain those traditional touchpoints and make sure the same consultant talks through with our client from start to finish, but everything is booked online.
We’ve grown a loyal following this way with many customers doing multiple trips a year with us. We’ve had plenty of people come to us from competitors and I believe the reason they stay is that personal connection.
The other thing is that we are very sustainable and we don’t want to contribute to mass tourism, so most of our tours are a maximum of 10 people. And we’ve found people really respond to this intimate travel group size.
Q: You mentioned the NTIA’s and you’re a finalist in two categories this year. What does this mean to you?
A: It’s an honour to be nominated again this year. I’ve progressed to a finalist for ‘Most Outstanding Travel Agency Manager’, which is a huge privilege, and the business is a finalist for ‘Most Outstanding Online Travel Agency’.
Our staff member, Letishia, was nominated for ‘Most Outstanding New Talent’ and I’m not surprised as she has almost a 100% conversion rate.
One of the other categories we were nominated for was the ‘Sustainability Award – ATIA Accredited Agency’. Sustainability is very important to us. We have our own initiative where every person we send to Borneo plants a tree in the rainforest – we’re at more than 3,000 trees and counting.
MyHoliday2 Awarded for Outstanding Travel Agency. (back) Denie Fernandez, John Dale, Andrew Grace and Ann Corpus with (front) Cheryl Lowe, Gemma Giandomenico and Letishia Creighton. Picture: Evan Morgan
Q: Finally, what does the future look like for MyHoliday2?
A: For the next couple of years, we want to concentrate heavily on building our agent portfolio in our B2B division, bring on more staff and expand further into both B2B and cruise markets, as well as expanding into new destinations for our small group tours.
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For agents looking to be part of MyHoliday2’s next chapter, the company is welcoming new trade partners to its growing B2B network.
Current agent incentives include an additional 10% bonus commission on The Stans tours for 2026/27 and an additional 5% bonus commission on the Gallipoli ANZAC Dawn Service & Türkiye Tour 2027, on top of base commission.
