A homeworking travel agent has described winning a brand-new electric car at the Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards as “completely life-changing”, having sold her old vehicle to help launch her business.
Lucy Taylor, a Buckinghamshire-based personal travel consultant for Hays Travel, took home the keys to a £25,000 Renault 5 E-Tech following an on-stage reveal at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge hotel in London.
The five travel agent finalists were brought on stage where each was handed a giant gold balloon. In front of an audience of more than 650, they popped their balloons simultaneously, with a burst of confetti revealing Taylor as the winner.
The month-long booking incentive, run by Newmarket Holidays in partnership with Travel Weekly, received nearly 2,000 entries from agents across the country.
More: Agent Achievement Awards 2026 winners unveiled
To qualify, partners earned one entry for every booking made between May 13 and June 20. The prize vehicle was parked outside the venue to greet guests arriving for the annual gala evening on Thursday, July 9.
Taylor revealed that the prize solves a long-standing personal challenge.
She said: “When I started three years ago, I sold my car to pay for the fees to start up as a travel agent. Three years later, I’m still car-sharing with my husband – so he is going to be delighted when I tell him no more airport drops! I didn’t think this was going to happen.”
She added: “I’m a big supporter of Newmarket Holidays. I sell a lot of their tours and I’m constantly posting and sharing deals. Newmarket’s India tours sell really well and are incredibly popular, followed by their safaris. All their tours are full of bucket-list destinations, so I’m not surprised my clients want to book them.”
Newmarket Holidays chief commercial officer, David Sharman, said the incentive had delivered exactly the results the operator intended while supporting the trade through a challenging booking cycle.
“It’s been fantastic. We achieved what we wanted,” Sharman said. “We talked about doing something different, having fun, and celebrating the fact that agents have been brilliant again this year throughout the Middle East crisis. We had the exact outcome we were hoping we would get.”
The Finalists
The five finalists, who were chosen at random from the thousands of qualifying entries and hosted by Newmarket Holidays at the awards ceremony, were:
Lucy Taylor, Hays Travel (Winner)
George Triggs, Travel Counsellors
Ryan Mitchell, Barrhead Travel (Beverley)
Natasha Woodley, Hays Travel (Garforth)
Melanie Sheppard, Premier Travel
