STRICTLY BUSINESS


Lesley-Ann Birley OWNER, LA CONCORDIA PERSONAL TRAVEL


I got into travel… after escaping Ìhi ÜoÀl` ov wn>nVi° ½` ëinÌ £n years forging a career as a chartered accountant only to realise the corporate life wasn’t for me. I had always wanted to start my own business and decided it had to be based around my passion for travel. I wanted to offer a truly personalised and independent service, something I thought was lacking at the time.


I set up my business… in Óään° I knew nothing about how the travel industry worked, but I learnt very quickly, networked a lot and attended all the trade shows I could.


MY INDUSTRY BUGBEAR IS . . .


Slow response times. It really irks me when people don’t get back to your email or calls for days. Offering a personal service to my clients means timely turnarounds, so it’s really important to get responses on quotes or from hotel concierges within 24 hours. I think that is totally doable, even if it’s just a quick response to say your email has been received and it’s being dealt with. Having to chase people for a response is so time-consuming.


I have grown my business… «ÕÀilÞ LÞ ÜoÀ` ov moÕÌh° Þ wÀÃÌ clients were those I had worked with previously – partners in law, accountancy and venture capital wÀmð /hiÞ Ìhin ÀiVommin`i` mi to family and friends and now my bookings come entirely from repeat or referred clients.


The area of the business growing the most is… long-haul, multi-centre trips. Finally, after clients travelling closer to home over the last two years, I am now inundated with v>À-yÕn} ÀiµÕiÃÌà voÀ `iÃÌin>Ìionà such as India, Peru, the Galápagos


Islands, Japan and Chile. It’s great to see clients wanting to travel vÕÀÌhiÀ >wil` >n` `o moÀi bucket-list type trips.


The supplier I have the strongest relationship with is… Lusso. I work with Sophie Wormald a lot and she is excellent. With overseas trade «>ÀÌniÀÃ] ÜoÕl` Ã>Þ >nÞ>n /oÕÀÃ as I do a lot of complex bookings to India and they are creative and super helpful. Since all my bookings are different and all over the world, I work with lots of suppliers who I have built strong relationships with.


My proudest career achievement is… starting a business from scratch with no prior knowledge of the industry – just an idea that I was passionate about – and building a loyal client base that keeps coming back. It makes all the hard work worthwhile when I read my client testimonials and see what a difference I have made to their experience of the world.


aspiretravelclub.co.uk SEPTEMBER 2022 ASPIRE 89


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