Digging up the croquet pitch to grow vegetables, though, sounds like an appropriately no-nonsense Yorkshire approach from a company whose office is so remote its postal address is simply: Inntravel, near Castle Howard.
It’s quirks like this that leave Karl Watson with plenty to reminisce about following his 21 years with Inntravel. Watson, the operator’s managing director, will leave in April after 17 years steering the brand, with Jet2holidays general manager of product Emma Gray already named as his successor.
“I joined in 2001; back then, we had about 20 staff and the business was family-run out of a couple of houses in a North Yorkshire village,” Watson recalls. “I was at Saga, and they advertised in TTG for a German-speaking short-breaks manager. I didn’t want to be one and didn’t speak German, but I wanted to work for an operator that did walking and cycling.”
Bizarrely, Watson was hired and found himself doing a completely different job.
“They just said, ‘we’ll find stuff for you’,” he says. He was soon tasked with reimagining the business, which then sold short breaks pairing ferries and basic accommodation in northern Europe. However, this being Inntravel, Watson also oversaw the staffing rotas for the village tea shop, which Inntravel’s then owners Richard and Linda Hearn also ran.
Watson tells me about how no-frills airlines opened up new opportunities for Inntravel just as he joined. “We did simple, low revenue product,” he explains. “We then started developing cross-country skiing and walking. At one point, we were in 26 countries. We became quite significant for some rural economies.”
Inntravel became part of Inghams parent Hotelplan in 2008 and at its peak, carried 18,000 passengers, turning over £20 million. “The joy of Hotelplan ownership is that they give us independence, but are really encouraging,” Watson says.
Today, Inntravel offers cycling, walking, touring and mountain holidays with “increasingly complex” itineraries. The business remains “in pretty much the same location”, housed in some former farm buildings, and maintains the same ethos – including the planned allotment. However, Watson acknowledges that with 70-plus staff, the brand needs “more formal structures and processes”.
Shortly before the pandemic, a barn conversion upped staffing capacity to 120. “I can see a time in the not-too-distant future when we fill that," Watson stresses confidently, with "slow travel" brands like Inntravel increasingly finding themselves in vogue.
One popular development has been Inntravel’s Journeys programme for clients not wishing to walk or cycle, with travel generally by rail "Sustainable travel will be more important in the next 10 years," he says. The other big – and welcome – change Watson has seen is in international sales, particularly from North America, with clients typically wanting longer itineraries. “We had a couple that wanted two different 48-night itineraries in the same year.”
Further international expansion is planned, while Watson says the pandemic has boosted interest in walking and cycling breaks, the latter Watson believes will be transformed by electric bikes. "With walking, clients are usually at the same level," he explains. "With cycling, one of the partners is usually keener – the e-bike levels everything up.” He added the idea of self-guided touring is also “really catching the imagination”.
Watson is clearly passionate about his job, so why leave? “It’s been extremely intense for 20 years," he reveals. "At times, it’s felt 24/7. Plus, I think leaders have their time – the business needs new ideas.”
Come April, there is a short-term plan: “I’ve a yearn to get on my bike and disappear around the roads of Europe."
Looks like someone else will have to dig that allotment.
