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Colletts Travel


Colletts Travel has a 33-year pedigree and has just put on its biggest consumer travel show to date, as well as completing the acquisition of another travel agency. But it could have been a very different story for founder Roy Collett


Show must go on R


author: April Hutchinson


oy Collett says he must have been destined to work in the travel industry, given his photo appeared in a tour operator’s brochure at the age of eight.


He was snapped having a great time on a boat during a family holiday to Riccione on the Adriatic coast of Italy in 1964 and the picture was used in a brochure for Riviera Sunshine Holidays. His mother kept the brochure for years, he recalls, and now he keeps it proudly in his office, faded and threadbare though it is. He headed into travel straight after school, so


it’s no wonder that with more than 40 years’ experience, he is one of the most well-known and respected agents in the industry and among his well-heeled north-London clientele, which includes wealthy businesspeople and even a lord. One of Collett’s many career highlights was a


recent visit to 10 Downing Street for a reception hosted by Samantha Cameron. The event was arranged by water-aid charity Just a Drop, which is supported by many in the travel industry, including TTG, whose managing director Dan Pearce also entered through the famous black door. “Next stop the palace!” Roy and I joke.


fairly nondescript high street in Hendon, it’s not really a shop as such. Colletts Travel moved into these premises in 1998 and given the founder’s great collection of memorabilia, it’s no surprise he has black and white photographs of the office then. But this Tardis-like business has always been beyond a typical retail agency. Yes, there are racks of brochures, but imagine the buzz of a typical high-street shop and then quadruple it. All sales staff are clustered in the store, headsets on and glued to their screens – it’s more like an office environment, but Collett says it’s “not a call centre”, and people do sometimes pop in off the street with enquiries. The office is full of staff and independent


contractors who all have extensive and loyal client databases and are busy booking some of the most incredible bespoke luxury holidays out there – “we regularly book £20-25,000 holidays”, Collett says – and there is also a number of homeworkers connected into Colletts remotely, all benefitting from the deals the firm strikes with some of the world’s best hotels and airlines. Colletts is part of the agent recognition


programmes of many of the world’s best luxury


“I’d describe us as travel brokers who aim to get the best trips for our clients” Roy Collett


He got to know Just A Drop founder Fiona


Jeffery five years ago and decided to support the charity by highlighting its work at his Luxury Travel Show, an event he and his team organise every couple of years, including the most recent one in March. It was Colletts’ biggest yet, taking place at


RAF Museum Hendon, with more than 65 luxury suppliers dotted among the vintage aircraft and over 500 clients expected to attend. Also included was a kids club set up in partnership with Four Seasons to ensure families would also find it a conducive way to spend a few hours.


Above and beyond Collett admits that what his business does is beyond most people’s idea of a travel agent. “I think when people come and see us here, they’re surprised at our size and the mix of things we do,” he says. While Colletts may have a storefront on a


hotel groups – Mandarin Oriental’s Fan Club, The Peninsula Pen Club, Ritz-Carlton’s Stars, Starwood’s Luxury Privileges, Belmond’s Bellini Club and Four Seasons Preferred Partner, with a framed letter of thanks from the latter proudly displayed on the reception desk in the office. Next to it is a Virtuoso sign, Colletts being


one of the first UK agencies to be accepted as a member last year, becoming a part of the huge global luxury network.


Lifelong career Maybe Colletts is a business beyond a typical high street agent because Roy’s background was in tour operating. His first job at 17 was with Peltours and various companies, including Americana Holidays, where he worked with his now business partner Michael Berlin. “I set up Colletts Travel after Americana


went into liquidation in 1983,” he says. “In 1986, I formed Key To America with Peter Hilton, who


22  TTGLUXURY.COM  SPRING 2016  BUSINESS OF TRAVEL


is now at Cox & Kings, and we became a major tour operator to the US.” Key to America


was sold to rival North America Travel Services in 1999, but he kept Colletts Travel, which by then was a successful retail and corporate travel agent and Berlin came to join him, becoming a business partner in 1997. “Together with excellent staff, the company


has grown enormously over the last 17 years and is still thriving today,” says Collett. The portfolio is predominantly luxury


leisure focused, but also includes a sizeable corporate division, including a northern office in Rossendale, run by Daniel Fletcher with 10 staff. But a big focus is also on the firm’s own tour


operation, Colletts Collection, which publishes its magazine-cum-brochure Escape every quarter to send to about 5,000 customers. “This is a direct-to-consumer brand we


have created and we feel we’re well respected and known by all the hoteliers,” says Collett. “It’s not a national brand – it’s something we have built up to serve our customers. We wouldn’t sell it through other agents. Of course, at the same time, as agents ourselves we are booking all sorts of things through all the leading tour operators as well. I guess I’d describe us as travel brokers who aim to get the best trips for our clients. We convert very well – we won’t waste the time of operators when we’re looking for a quote.”


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