The UK boss of Kuoni was never supposed to have a career in travel. If all had gone to plan, Derek Jones should right now be busy finishing a long career in the civil service, having possibly served in the Foreign Office, or even MI5. Or he might have been bellowing at junior reporters as a hack on Fleet Street.
Instead, he is sitting in the UK head office of Switzerland’s biggest travel company, busy explaining how a chance flick through the Liverpool Echo one evening led him into the world of travel.
“I was 23 and had spent five years working for the civil service. I could see my whole career mapped out in front of me,” he explains. “I felt I had missed out on something. And then I saw an advert requesting applications to be a Thomson rep.”
"I was asked if I could start that afternoon. So I did - and worked in reservations, selling worldwide"
Jones filled in the form that night, secured a six-month sabbatical from the civil service, had two interviews, and within a week was on a plane to Ibiza, where he worked for three years, alternating with the Canaries before blagging his way into working ski seasons in Salzberg - despite not being able either to ski or speak German.
By the age of 28, ready for a change, Jones handed in his notice and arrived back in London with grand designs of becoming a journalist. However, fate once again intervened, and a chance walk brought him face to face with the HQ of Thomson Worldwide. “I went in, and was asked if I could start that afternoon. So I did - and worked in reservations, selling worldwide.”
Switch in direction
It was to be the start of a new career in travel, beginning with 20 years at Tui alone, where Jones worked alongside the likes of Ronnie Findlay (later the owner of Enjoy Holidays) and eventually became responsible for bringing the businesses of Thomson and First Choice together. “It was like having Manchester United and Liverpool,” he says. “Both want to play football and win the league, but they’re just very different sides.”
In 2008, Jones again attempted to move on, leaving Tui to explore other options. But as before, it seemed that the industry wasn’t prepared to let him go. “I wasn’t looking for a job in travel, but I had conversations with [then managing director of Kuoni] Nick Hughes, and he presented this opportunity to start a retail estate from scratch. I was immediately excited.
“I found a team of two others, and within six months we had three shops open and trading. Bluewater was the first one we opened, and our first sale was a £17,000 booking from a man who had just come in to browse. I thought, ‘This project actually has legs - let’s do another six.’ And before we knew it, we had 20 shops.”
Now Kuoni has 26 stores, aided by its rapid expansion with John Lewis - a partnership which has continued to strengthen since it was first announced last May, with, Jones says, the potential to have a Kuoni shop inside every John Lewis store in the UK. “They have 30 stores, so we could have 30 eventually.”
"The high street is under serious pressure. There are retail wastelands in the north which are reduced to charity and betting shops"
But what if there are John Lewis stores in cities which also already have Kuoni shops, such as Solihull and Milton Keynes? “We’ll have to look at that,” Jones concedes. “That hasn’t happened yet, but I don’t know if we can justify having two - we’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Jones insists that there could also still be room for more Kuoni shops aside from the John Lewis stores. “The stores have absolutely flourished - we’re not proactively looking, but if someone put something in front of us and we like the look of it, then we wouldn’t rule it out.”
However, despite Kuoni’s success from its shops, Jones admits he is uncertain about the future of the high street. “It is under serious pressure. There are retail wastelands in the north which are reduced to charity and betting shops. It’s partly down to the recession and partly terrible planning from the councils. But out-of-town centres are doing well - people still want to shop.”
Same but different
Elsewhere, Kuoni has also seen some key organisational changes, namely the move to bring the company’s specialist brands Kirker Holidays, Carrier, Voyages Jules Verne, CV Travel and Journeys of Distinction under Jones’ watch. However, he insists the businesses will see little change.
“These are businesses which are already well run,” he says. “They already have strong management teams who run their businesses very successfully. They are strong, independent-minded teams driven by like-minded people. My approach is very hands off - these people will be left to run their businesses how they want to. I’m privileged to be involved in these brands, and I can probably learn more from them than vice versa.”
And what of Jones’ relationship with agents now, as the man who was once responsible for cutting commission at Tui? “There is an understandable but frustrating tendency in travel to confuse the jobs that people do with the company,” he admits. “At Tui, I was responsible for cutting commission, but it was the job I was doing at the time.
"We never knowingly undercut an agent. Any discounting that is done totals less than 1%"
“When I arrived at Kuoni, I decided we needed to divide our distribution into three channels - direct, independent and multiples. Kuoni became the first company to introduce price parity across all channels, and we’ve stuck to it. And we never knowingly undercut an agent. Any discounting that is done totals less than 1%.
“I’ve always tried to be genuine and not to bullshit. I want to build long-term relationships built on trust.”
This ethos also translates into Jones’ relationships with staff. On a tour of the UK HQ, he casually points out his desk, which lies alongside other employees’. “I don’t want to be shut off from the rest of the team - a company should be all about the people,” he says.
As if to prove his point, he gestures towards the windows, which look out on to two lines of individually planted trees. “A tree is planted for a member of staff when they reach 20 years of service with the Kuoni family, to recognise long service,” Jones explains. Kuoni must be a popular company to work for - there are more than 70 trees lining the area. So is Jones aiming for one?
“Well that would make me 60,” he grins, “so I hope not.” Judging from his past attempts at leaving the industry, however, it looks like Jones will remain in travel for a while yet.
