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Trailfinders is the largest independently owned travel company in the United Kingdom [7] and employs over 1000 staff. [8] It has made travel arrangements for over 15 million clients and has 36 travel centres in the UK and 3 in Ireland.
Trailfinders was founded in 1970 by former SAS officer Sir Mike Gooley CBE with a staff of four. Today the company remains privately owned but has a staff of over 1000 and has made travel arrangements for over 16 million clients.
Mike Gooley is Chairman/Founder at Trailfinders Ltd. See Mike Gooley's compensation, career history, education, & memberships.
- Chairman/Founder
- Trailfinders Ltd
Jun 12, 2021 · Trailfinders was founded in 1970 by former SAS officer Gooley with a staff of four. The company remains privately owned but has a staff of more than 1,000 at 39 travel centres and has made travel arrangements for over 16 million clients.
- Consumer Protection
- Rule Changes
- Business Model
- Trust Accounts
- Gooley’s Views
Gooley has decided to give a rare interview because he is angry at the state of holidaymakers’ financial protection and the failures, in his eyes, of the Civil Aviation Authority. Companies continue to go bust and consumers lose money and holidays even when a business holds an Atol (as Omega Travel did) or claims to protect payments by some other m...
To be fair to the CAA, EU rules left it powerless to prevent Lowcost relocating and it warned of the consequences. But Gooley’s point remains valid. Failures “are not just about money; you are talking about terrible emotional damage”, he says. “It should be abundantly clear to someone when they are not getting Atol protection.” He adds: “It does no...
It is the model that Trailfinders, which was founded in 1970, has followed since 1993. Gooley explains: “We set up a trust account out of our own volition. It was the right thing to do. We pay our suppliers out of the office account and reimburse the account when we take our commission. We may take a booking 14 months in advance. That money goes in...
Trailfinders joined the Travel Trust Association last September – and left Abta. “It was the only way the CAA would agree to recognise the Trailfinders trust account of 25 years.” Now he proposes the CAA makes trust arrangements compulsory. He says: “They have said some operators could not function without treating pipeline funds as their [own] and...
On Atol… “We’ve paid APC [Atol Protection Contributions] of £5 million – for what? To fund failures by irresponsible [businesses]. People who manage their affairs properly have to pay out for the sins of others.” On the CAA allowing cut-rate APCs… “There were nine companies paying a cut-rate APC. It was covert. The good news is two of them have gon...
May 5, 2020 · M ike Gooley launched Trailfinders in 1970 with the aim of bringing professionalism to the overland hippy trail to Nepal. Expanding into flights, especially to Australia, Trailfinders rapidly...
Jul 25, 2021 · Trailfinders, which trades solely through advisers in its stores and call centre, has had to fight the rise of holidaymakers opting for direct online booking over the past two decades.