NEWS SPECIAL REPORT


‘It was brilliant – we worked hard and played hard’


Thomas Cook’s decision to wind down Club 18-30 triggered a wave of nostalgia for many in the trade. Juliet Dennis takes a trip down memory lane


DEBORAH POTTS (pictured), director of business consultancy Summit Advisory, part of accountancy firm Elman Wall, met her husband working for Club 18-30 I joined straight out of Cambridge University in the early 80s thinking I


would just do a summer season, but ended up ski repping as I had language skills – although I’d never skied until my first day. I progressed to regional manager


for France and Spain, and overseas personnel manager, giving travel industry veterans like Denis Wormwell (chairman of VisitEngland) his first rep job. I even ended up marrying a fellow 18-30 manager, Alan Potts, and am still friends with many colleagues from those days. I remember being asked at interview


what I would do if a customer tried to rip my bikini top off at a party. I think I answered “Kick him in the b*****ks!” It must have been the right answer as I was on the coach to the south of France the next day. I had a brilliant time working at the


Club. We worked incredibly hard, played hard and there was an unforgettable team spirit that has led to lifetime friendships. I’m sad to see its demise but there is still demand from young people for fantastic holidays away from parents and new companies are reinventing the concept.


Paul Riches, left, and his now wife Helen (in blue top)


It’s the end of the pa


Mention Club 18-30 to many leading figures in the industry and their eyes will sparkle.


Former employees of the iconic brand, due to


be shelved at the end of this month after more than 50 years, have fond memories of the “good old days in travel”. But they also remember the hard graft. Club 18-30 was founded by Horizon Holidays under the slogan “Your granny wouldn’t like it”. From its early days as part of Horizon, and eventually under the helm of Thomas Cook, it built a reputation as the party holiday brand. It thrived at a time when reps were a vital


part of a tour operator’s business. In effect, reps and managers ran mini businesses in resort, from organising excursions, signing hotel contracts and writing hotel descriptions that ended up in brochures, to daily “meet and greets” and client entertainment. In the pre-internet days, reps recall the “company mail”, a box containing passenger


“People now want cool beach bars not organised trips. Tastes have changed and Club 18-30 is no longer relevant”


information, arriving on the airport’s baggage carousel. Without it, reps had no idea who they would greet the next week. Reps were known for being “creative”, whether


it was solving the overbooking problem by taking wardrobes out of rooms or bribing lads to sleep on the hotel roof in return for a free bar. At Club 18-30, employees could also rise


through the ranks without qualifications. Former rep Danny Talbot, now chief operating


officer of Tourvest’s global sports division, said: “It was the commerciality of the holiday business that was taught to us and made us all mini managing directors at a far earlier stage than you


1965: Club 18-30 is founded by Horizon Holidays to fill unused seats on night flights. In its first year it took 580 youngsters to Spain’s Costa Brava.


1972: Former Horizon employee David Heard buys Club 18-30. It is snapped up by ILG in the early 1980s.


1970s-80s: The brand expands rapidly across Europe and becomes known for beach parties and bar crawls.


1991-94: ILG goes bust, taking Club 18-30 with it. A management buyout from administrators ensures the brand’s survival, briefly as The Club. It reverts to Club 18-30 in 1994.


14 travelweekly.co.uk 18 October 2018


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