The Luxury Travel Lounge Team

Our Luxury Travel Lounge team at the Holiday With Us Group are experts in the luxury travel and luxury holidays industry. Our group boasts over 250 years of staff experience in the travel industry, and our team have travelled the entire globe. Our Luxury Travel Lounge is based at the Spalding branch of the Holiday With Us Group, whilst we also have branches in the Cambridgeshire towns of Wisbech and March.

Christina Purcell, Managing Director

Christina is the Managing Director of the Holiday With Us Group. She began her career in the travel industry in 1998, and during this time she has gained a great deal of experience. Christina has worked in management for high street travel agencies, tour operators and major online travel companies. She founded the Holiday With Us Group in 2009, as she has always believed it is important to have independent travel agencies on the high-street as they can offer, choice, flexibility and competitive pricing.

In her spare time, Christina enjoys spending time with her husband Steve and their family. Christina also loves her animals; she owns a dog called Marley and several horses.

Lisa Shepherd, Supervisor

Since leaving school , Lisa has always worked in the Travel Industry. She studied Travel & Tourism at Stamford College and on completing her course, she started a job as a Travel Consultant and has been doing this ever since for the past 7 years.

Lisa says that she has been very lucky in her career to have had the opportunity to visit some amazing countries throughout the Caribbean, America and Europe - her personal highlight was climbing the Great Wall of China!

Her most recent holiday was to the Dominican Republic, with family and close friends for a special occasion…her wedding day! If anyone is considering getting married abroad, Lisa would certainly recommend it. She felt it was the best day of her life, because it was so laid back and relaxing, which everyone should experience on their wedding day.

Suzy Bulmer, Assistant Manager

Suzy's entire career has been devoted to the travel industry. She initially spent ten years working in the business sector arranging worldwide itineraries for corporate businesses. Moving on from this, she returned to the industry this time on the retail side, where she has since always worked for independent travel agents. Suzy has always highlighted the importance of independent travel agents as she believes they can be everything to everyone, with wide boundaries and little restrictions on the products available. She believes this allows independent agents to go that extra mile and show they are completely unbiased, professional and truly passionate about their staff, their clients and the industry as a whole.

Suzy is still as passionate today as she was at the beginning of her career. She has always prided herself on her ability to find the perfect destination, wherever that may be. Suzy's specialist area is pure luxury and she has extensive knowledge in this area having specialised in it for many years

Donna Woodthorpe, Senior Travel Consultant

Donna has recently returned to travel after a few years away and she is so pleased to be back! Her love for the industry is as great now as it was when she first started back in 2003.

Donna thinks that travel is an industry which constantly changes and evolves and subsequently is always new and exciting. She is particularly passionate about the cruise sector and loves keeping up to date with the latest news and offers. She enjoys the amazing innovation and design on cruise ships that is unrivalled within the rest of the industry and the fantastic value for money it offers.

Lisa Broderick, Senior Travel Consultant

Lisa, known as Lil in the office, has worked in travel since 2001. She started her career as a Modern Apprentice and has worked in various Travel Agencies within different roles. Currently she works three days a week in the Spalding office and spends the rest of her time looking after her son William. She believes she is lucky to have travelled to a variety of unique destinations and loves to share her knowledge and experience with others.

Lil enjoys working for an independent agency as there is a huge choice to suit clients' personal needs. She believes there is always something new to learn and obstacles to overcome with the ever changing world in travel and relishes the opportunity to do so.

Tara Palmer, Trainee Travel Consultant

Tara has recently started her Travel career in the Spalding Travel Branch of the Holiday With Us Group. She originally spent 2 weeks on work experience with the team, which made her realise that she was interested in working in the Travel Industry. Tara followed this up by applying for a part time job at the branch whilst she completed her GCSEs, and was then offered a full time apprenticeship position. Already Tara has picked up skills and knowledge and she says she can't wait to keep learning.

Tara has visited a variety of destinations, including Mexico, Florida and Gran Canaria with her family during her childhood and definitely feels this has had an impact on her desire to work in the travel industry. She believes this career will help her broaden her knowledge of different countries across the world and allow her to experience new things in the future.

As Tara begins her training, she is looking forward to her holiday to Portugal, a new destination to add to her growing list!

Ellie Cuthbert, Marketing & Admin Assistant

Ellie has recently started working in the travel industry with the Holiday With Us Group, after finishing her studies at sixth form. She has always loved travelling to new destinations with family and friends, taking trips to France, Italy and Canada.

Ellie states that she feels privileged to be able to work within the travel industry, helping as many people as possible to be aware of the best deals that Holiday With Us has to offer, and contributing to the furthering of a company that strives to offer holidays to clients tailored to their individual needs. She enjoys organising events for the Luxury Travel Lounge, allowing clients to gain a deeper insight into some of the most incredible destinations around the world, offering once in a lifetime experiences.