After 46 years in travel, Graham Brooks has retired from his role as Business Development Manager, following 11 years promoting Hard Rock Hotels.
Graham left last Friday (30 October), but says people ‘probably haven’t seen the last’ of him, as he plans to take on occasional travel-related work in the new year, rather than retire completely.
Graham began his career in 1980, working at a travel agency in WH Smiths. He went on to work in retail and tour operating, including a spell with Kuoni, before setting up his own agency, Graham Brooks Travel, in Stockport, which he ran for 18 years.
Since 2015, he has been promoting Hard Rock Hotels, specifically for hotels in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Some of his favourite memories came from the many fam trips he took, including 16 visits to Mexico.
“I’ve never touched tequila since the first trip,” he said.
Looking back on his time with the brand, he said he ‘enjoyed working with some fantastic travel agents’ and is ‘really proud of how we’ve brought the brand on, and sort of taken it from strength to strength’.
He said one of the biggest challenges had been building awareness of UNICO 20°87° Riviera Maya and AVA Resort Cancun (both owned by Hard Rock parent PAM Hotels), which were new brands to the UK market.
Graham said he had enjoyed working with agents and the people he met through the job.
“It’s a fun brand. You know the old saying, if you enjoy what you do, you never work a day in your life. I can honestly say that about my whole career. I’ve been very fortunate.”
In his four and a half decades in the industry, Graham said it had changed entirely.
“I think things have changed, but what a resilient industry,” he said, “I can remember for years, people saying, oh, the travel agent’s days are numbered and what have you. Well, how false was that, because here they are still strong.”
Despite running his own agency for 18 years, Graham said he wouldn’t go back to being a travel agent.
“I couldn’t do it now. I wouldn’t have the patience to deal with the public. I think travel agents really do an incredible job dealing with that,” he said.
For now, he plans to ‘take a breather’ and spend more time at home in Stockport and at his new static caravan in Lancashire.
“My plan is, absolutely nothing til at least the new year,” he said. “I’ve spent my entire working life in the travel business. I’ve done the travelling. I actually want to stay at home more.”
His only trip currently booked is a three-night visit to Oslo next month for the Christmas market. “Other than that, I’ve got nothing booked at all. And that’s not like me,” he said.
“Sounds boring, but when you’ve worked in travel, you’ve been fortunate enough to do the business class flights and stay hotels that you couldn’t necessarily afford. It’s a huge privilege.”
Graham said it was the people he would miss most, admitting: “It sounds really cliché, but I’ll miss the people the most, and the events.”
He said his job had become a big part of his social life because he was working alongside people he genuinely wanted to spend time with.
“I always used to say that going on a conference or a fam trip was like going to work with like 10 of your best mates.”
He added: “Very often I prefer going on a fam trip to going on holiday because you do more.”
He said he would miss the people he had worked with, particularly Janice Adey (pictured below), with whom he has worked for around nine years. The pair have become good friends and often go to the theatre together, a tradition they plan to continue after he leaves.
