Non-Executive Chairman for Holiday Extras Holdings Limited Gerry Pack had been working for the same company, for 14 years - since leaving school.
In the course of his work Gerry was asked to look into how the company handled customers who needed an overnight stay at an airport hotel. He discovered that the existing system was clumsy and unproductive.
He found out that the agents all hated booking airport hotels for their clients. There was no easy system in place. Agents telephoned airport hotels to find out if they had availability - this took a great deal of time and they were unlikely to find the right room at the right price on the first call! Often bookings went wrong because the prices were always different. To add to the frustration they hardly ever received any commission for the booking.. Here was an opportunity...
Gerry became a hotel-room wholesaler, getting advance allocations of hotel rooms and selling them to agents at a discounted rate that still offered a profit. The hotels got new business, the travel agent saved time with a new, easy booking system that was free and paid commission. The customer benefited by getting cheaper airport hotel accommodation.
Established in 1983 as Apple Booking Company, Holiday Extras now deals with airport parking, airport hotels and much more. The company continues to develop and expand. We have grown rapidly and employ over 400 staff who supply 7,000 travel agents and take 5.5 million bookings each year.
Gerry says that the secret of his success has been finding something that he really enjoys doing. He says: "When you have a mortgage and children you are driven by money in a sense that you must have a job. But if all you think about is money, your business is never going to work. You have to be passionate about what you are doing and you have to want to win."
Gerry and his wife Carol have four grown up children. Both enjoy horse riding, skiing and sailing in their spare time.
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