| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 10/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 63 |
| Copyright: Other |
meetthe
MD
This week: Jim Southern, Unicorn Holidays Ltd
Age: 59
WHEN I started in the travel trade – please note grey hair in the photo – it was so long ago there were no inclusive tour companies and no European Union, almost a golden age.Having decided a career in quantity surveying was going to be just too boring, in 1960 I walked into the Thomas Cook head office in Berkeley Square, London and asked for a job. Yes, I admit it, I started as a travel agent.
This was an excellent start for me. I also worked for another multiple travel agent, Havas Travel, the London branch of the French agent chain, before landing my dream job.
Where would everyone like to work? Why, the Bahamas of course. I landed the job of sales manager for the Bahamas Tourist Board for the UK and part of Europe.
This was for a 10-year period during which time the Bahamas went from being a British colony, through an interesting period as a newly independent country and finally emerged as a stable and economically viable nation. It was here I learned about sales technique.
It was a US-based training which, at that time, was unknown in the UK, especially among tourist offices.
The defining moment was sitting in a training centre in Miami being told by a lecturer that my role as a tourist board representative was “not to hand out pretty pictures but to close the sale”. This we did – and for a while we sent more people to the Bahamas than any other Caribbean tourist board. Until, that is, they caught up with our techniques.
This CV is getting long, so let’s just say I have also worked for other tourist boards and many luxury hotels on a contract basis.
By a strange quirk of fate I ended up as sales manager for the tour operator Falcon, which was owned by Owners Abroad before being bought out and, after much renaming, eventually became First Choice.
Finally, after a couple more “interesting” jobs, my wife Sue and I decided we had had enough of deferring to others and we started Unicorn Holidays in 1988.
From the start we did not want to be a normal tour operator and decided that selling on price alone was a mug’s game.
We could not understand why most tour operators seemed to sell the cheapest, most basic accommodation.
We still don’t understand the mentality of those who promote as ideal, accommodation they would never wish to stay in.
The success of our two brochures, The Best of Spain and Portugal and The Best of France, which feature paradores, pousadas, chateaux hotels and other properties at the top end of the market, has proved there are many clients who want the best and are willing to pay for it.
We take the rather unfashionable view that near enough OK is a recipe for disaster.
We therefore do not make compromises, we pride ourselves on the detailed attention we give to each individual holiday.
Our repeat business is 40%, with many of our clients only wanting the best superior rooms or suites and refusing to travel unless they can stay in accommodation of excellence.
Such a holiday for say, 10 days in Spain on a room and breakfast basis, could cost more than £1,700 per person, a concept sometimes difficult for a younger travel agent to grasp.
More important than high price is the fact many clients return to us year after year and we hardly ever get a complaint.
This could be because we have an obsession about getting every detail exactly right.
We are different. For example, we have itineraries called let someone else do the driving, which use a tailor-made service offering individual private car transfers between the main towns of interest in Spain and Portugal.
When I am not at the office I lead a lifestyle dedicated to being non-PC.
Daily exercise is, however, important and I ensure I spend an hour a day slowly demolishing a Cuban cigar, after which I have to lie down.
CURRICULUM VITAE
1960: left college having discovered the laws of property, contract and tort meant I would never be a happy quantity surveyor. Joined Thomas Cook to work in their business house department.
MY TOP TIPS
l Deal with clients’ complaints immediately and fairly. Always imagine how you would feel if you were in the client’s position, almost always you would be really upset and irritated. Always make clients aware that someone cares about their problem and is doing everything possible to solve it.
* Follow the wise path of my all-time hero, Winnie the Pooh. Never get angry, puzzle over things that vex you, do stoutness exercises, have an air of wonder about life and always look forward to a little something in an hour or two