Homeworker Lee Butler is hoping to double his sales within the next six months after opening on the high street in his home town of Aberdeen, which he hopes will bring in more high-end bookings.
Lee, who joined JLT Group in October 2024 and quickly became one of its top sellers, will open Butlers Travel at Rosemount Viaduct on 3 July. An evening launch event for suppliers will take place on 1 July.
He told Travel Gossip he currently takes around 35 to 40 bookings a month. “By this time next year, I would like to see that tripled,” he added.
The 36-year-old has spent the past 18 months building the business alongside partner Callum, who is also a JLT agent, working an average of 14 hours a day. He believes the business will stand out on the high street as the ‘only locally owned travel store’ in the area.
A former taxi driver, Lee still holds a taxi licence and offers customers free transfers to and from Aberdeen Airport. He believes his business has found a good niche focusing on departures from Aberdeen. “Of course, we don’t exclusively offer that, but we focus on being local, and I’m very niched into Aberdeen suppliers.”
Lee always intended to move beyond homeworking, he said, but his decision to open a shop was also driven by a desire to target the ‘higher-end market’ and sell more bespoke holidays, especially as the business is seeing ‘a lot of traction from Newmarket Holidays’, he added.
“I wanted to create a space where we still book the bucket and spade stuff that we rely on heavily and appreciate, but also tap into the other side of travel that’s more lucrative.”
He chose the location of Rosemount Viaduct because of its strong independent retail scene. “It’s really popping and very funky,” he said, adding that customers also benefit from being outside the city’s Low Emission Zone and access to on-street parking.
Lee credits much of his success as a leading JLT seller to his outgoing personality. “Not to blow my own trumpet, but people genuinely like me. I’ve made it my goal on social media to be out there, and I’m open and honest about my life,” he said.
Lee shared that he and his brother were raised by their grandparents after both parents chose the ‘wrong path in life’ and since money was tight, family holidays were typically to Blackpool, caravan parks and Haven Holidays. He lost his mother when he was 26, an experience that sparked his desire to travel ‘because she didn’t see the world’. After taking his first trip to Barcelona, Lee said: “I knew then I really needed to see the world.”
One of the most rewarding moments of his career so far came when he helped a single parent take her two children abroad for the first time, he said. “I literally made no money out of it, but she got to go abroad with her seven and eight-year-olds. I remember the kids saying just how much of an incredible time they had, and it reminded me of me and my brother.
“I knew I had made a difference to them being able to see the world.”
