Dan Salmon talks to Josie Klein about a decade running a luxury firm and plans for the future
Q. What is your background in travel?
A. When I left school, I didn’t want to go to university so I worked for Mark Warner doing summer lifeguarding in Greece and Corsica and ski hosting during the winter. I dislocated my shoulder skiing so I had to stop, and wondered what I could do next. I’d picked up the travel bug working abroad so I saved up and, aged 19, set off on a gap year through Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Fiji and China.
When I got back all I wanted to do was work in travel, so I got a job with Kuoni on the high street in Kensington, which opened my eyes to the luxury sector. I worked there for three years and then joined the travel side of concierge service company Ten Lifestyle Management. After three years, I was ready to move on. I’d gained sales skills from Kuoni and service skills from Ten Lifestyle Management, so I decided to set up my own business. It’s 10 years since I launched Never a Wasted Journey and I’ve loved it since day one.
Aged 19 I set off on a gap year through Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Fiji and China. When I got back all I wanted to do was work in travel
Q. Who are your clients?
A. I worked with a lot of high-net-worth clients at Ten Lifestyle Management, so when I began my own business I wanted to stay in that luxury side of the market. My clients are a mixture of celebrities, sports personalities and luxury travellers and about 70% are repeat customers, which is amazing. I offer a personalised bespoke service so it really suits that luxury clientele, some of whom book up to £250,000 worth of holidays with me each year. I also cater for some friendship groups and younger couples who might spend up to £6,000 on a summer holiday in Europe or Dubai.
Q. What are your top-selling destinations?
A. The Maldives is always my number-one destination because I sell a lot of honeymoons. It’s such a popular choice. Dubai is also popular year-round so I sell a lot of that. Now that Covid is behind us, I’m finding people are keen to venture farther afield and are becoming more confident with travelling to long-haul destinations. Africa has been a big seller for me recently, which I wasn’t expecting – a lot of people want to go on safari and then head to Indian Ocean destinations.
I offer a personalised bespoke service so it really suits that luxury clientele, some of whom book up to £250,000 worth of holidays with me each year
Q. How do you use social media to boost sales?
A. I have a following of around 50,000 people across my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, which gives me a lot of reach. Every morning I wake up, put the kettle on and think about what I can post, then I get all my content together and share it throughout the day. I’ve never been offer-driven on my socials – freebies don’t really interest my clients, they prefer to see inspirational and aspirational content. They respond well to that and often decide to book. They also post pictures while they’re on holiday and tag me in them, thanking me for booking it. I share these posts on my own pages, which makes other customers want to do the same. Social media has been a brilliant tool for me to keep on people’s radars, especially throughout Covid-19. Everyone has a phone in their pocket and that is how I reach people.
I’ve never been offer-driven on my socials – freebies don’t really interest my clients, they prefer to see inspirational and aspirational content
Q. Do you have expansion plans for your business?
A. My business has always been just me, but I have had aspirations of taking on staff. When I launched, I didn’t want to join a consortium because I wanted to make a go of things on my own. It worked out, but meant that the first few years were tough and I didn’t see bringing anyone else on board as a possibility. After a while, I had grown my client list sufficiently and got my name out there, so I considered taking on a couple of people to do sales and social media content. But then the pandemic hit so those plans stalled. I haven’t put any new plans into action to take anyone on, but if work stays busy I will look into it.
Q. What are your plans for 2023?
A. I’m going to get my website redone because I want it to be as luxurious and as smooth as possible, to match the service I offer. The website is the face of my company and I haven’t given it enough attention, so there is a lot that needs to be freshened up to make it more appealing. Besides that, my plan is just to keep selling!
I’m going to get my website redone because I want it to be as luxurious and as smooth as possible, to match the service I offer
What are your proudest achievements?
I’ve won quite a few awards over the past 10 years, which have all been incredible, especially the Aspire awards I won in 2018 and 2021. I was also named one of the top 100 companies in the UK in 2017 by Small Business Saturday, which meant a visit to Parliament to meet some MPs. Theo Paphitis from BBC’s Dragons’ Den was there and he chose my company as one of his favourite small businesses, so to meet him in person was incredible. But what makes me most proud is the book I wrote recently, titled Never a Wasted Life.
I was also named one of the top 100 companies in the UK in 2017 by Small Business Saturday, which meant a visit to Parliament to meet some MPs
The autobiography is for potential customers and explains how I got into the travel industry, along with stories from my career. People regularly come to me and ask why they should use me, so I wanted to be able to give them a copy of my book and say ‘This is why’. I hope that when they’ve read it they won’t want to arrange a holiday with anyone else. I started writing it in 2020 and then had my daughter, which put the book on hold, but it’s now published and I’m over the moon with it.