Celestyal Travel launches flagship Guildford store with agent training excellence centre

 

Celestyal Travel has opened its first UK retail store. Situated on Guildford High Street, it marks a major milestone in the tour operator’s expansion in the market.

 

The new experiential store, which opened on September 6, 2025, combines consumer-facing retail with dedicated trade training and product immersion facilities. A key feature is the agent training excellence centre, designed to host workshops, product training and networking sessions for travel trade partners from across the UK. The store also houses Celestyal Travel’s recently announced dedicated UK-based call centre, offering agents direct support.

 

Celestyal has employed five new agents in store, reporting into Janet Parton, managing director of Celestyal Travel UK. They will be responsible for managing bookings, travel and brand education for both trade and retail customers, as well as staffing the new call centre.

 

The launch event was attended Celestyal’s senior leadership team, VIP guests and the Mayor of Guildford, and included entertainment, giveaways and refreshments.

 

Janet Parton said: “This new store is much more than a retail outlet – it’s a hub for inspiration, education and support. Alongside welcoming customers, it gives us a dedicated space to work more closely with our agent partners, offering training and hosting events that help them feel confident in selling Celestyal Travel. Coupled with our new UK call centre, it underlines our long-term investment in the UK trade.”

 

Celestyal Travel is an extension of the award-winning and year-round cruise company, Celestyal, which specialises in cruises to the Greek Islands, Mediterranean, the Adriatic and the Arabian Gulf. It offers fully commissionable packages that are dynamically priced and fully customisable to each guest. All holiday options include return flights from the UK, pre- and post-hotel stays on a bed and breakfast basis, a cruise, transfers, all meals, soft drinks with meals, WiFi, port fees and gratuities on the ship.  In addition, a complimentary bonus of €50 of onboard food and beverage spend in the form of a CelestyalPay preloaded onboard tab for each travelling adult. Bespoke ‘tailor-made’ options include all of the above as well as curated onboard and ashore experiences.

 

Each tailormade travel package booked will also provide guests with access to the Celestyal Travel VIP scheme, which includes a host of at-sea benefits such as priority cruise embarkation, a daily barista poured coffee from Café Nation and priority disembarkation for shore excursions.

 

Celestyal Travel is a new member of Hays Independent Group and is fully ATOL-licensed and ABTA bonded.

Learn more about Celestyal Cruises

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