Tamara Lohan

“Times of crisis can also unearth great innovation and creativity in people”

Tamara Lohan is a businesswoman in the hospitality industry who needs no introduction. For almost two decades now, the brand Mr & Mrs Smith – which she co-founded with her husband James – has been synonymous with bespoke experiences held at some of the world’s most unique hotels. Talking to her is a fantastic opportunity to ask one of the most influential individuals in international tourism about the pandemic’s effects and the sector’s future, the creativity of its people as well as the ways we will be planning our future travels.

KP: It has been more than 500 days since the beginning of the pandemic. How do you see travel  habits change? Do you thing that these changes will have a long term effect or do you expect  that things will soon return to their pre – pandemic status quo? 

TL: Our industry as a whole has been hit so hard by the pandemic, although the outlook is brightening. We’re moving towards some positive easing of restrictions and, as countries enter green or amber lists with double vaccinated travellers not having to book quite so many tests, we do see a big uptick in bookings. The demand for travel is very much still there, especially for our corner of the market in luxury – there is such resilience and people will jump through those hoops to get away. What we have noticed is an increased length of stay; our members are taking the opportunity to stay longer. It could be purely down to the headache of the admin and testing, or the ability to work remotely now, but this is a trend we hope continues through into 2022, not only because it will help our sector get back up on its feet, but it’s also the more sustainable way to travel: fly less, stay longer. 

KP: How is your organisation positioned for the next day of travel? What are the key opportunities  and challenges? 

TL: I think we’re actually quite well set up for these new opportunities. We obviously have popular booking periods in a year but we’ve never been just about one particular time – just great hotels – so as we’re seeing the move away from more typical ‘seasons’, it’s great to be able to highlight the many charms of certain places outside the obvious. We’re really seeing people be more considered with their choices – they want to help kickstart these local economies in a meaningful way and know they can trust our knowledge of the more hidden-away, independent boutique stays such as Naxian on the Beach in Naxos, as part of this. Then we, obviously, want to give our members as much flexibility and peace-of-mind as possible, so we’ve been working on simplifying amendments to bookings and other tech functions to try and take away some of the many added stresses of travel right now. 

KP: As travellers grow more conscious about their hotel selections and destinations become more  relevant than ever, how is Mr. & Mrs. Smith positioned to provide even more value to its  community members? 

TL: We’ve worked hard to keep our customers at the forefront of decision-making throughout the pandemic, and have never lost sight of the fact that their loyalty, and trust in our curation, has always been the most important asset to our company. Very early on, we made the promise to all our members that we would refund or amend their bookings irrespective of cancellation policies. Honouring that meant that we had to nurture our partnerships with hotels in the process – it was effectively a collective effort to look after both sets of customers, members and hoteliers, at the same time. And a number of our key partner hoteliers were particularly above-and-beyond helpful – the Kanava group, for one, deserves a mention – which made things much easier. We hope these strong relationships, and the fact we’re adding new hotels to our collection once more, will make us the first port of call for anyone looking for more than just a pool in the sun (although we know plenty of good ones…)  

KP: What are the key trends that you can identify in the behaviour of Mr. & Mrs. Smith community  members? Does the pent up demand reflect specific destination choices? Is there demand for  traditional hotspots or do you see a shift towards alternative selection paths?  

TL: I mentioned the idea of staying longer, which I think is about reconnecting with old favourites, or really throwing yourself into a new environment, after so long without a change of scene. Also we’re seeing people book much further out – so a lot for 2022 already, when hopefully things will be even steadier and perhaps with fewer restrictions. Places like Greece have been really popular – it has adequate testing set up and its regulations are a lot simpler to navigate than elsewhere. But generally I think we’re seeing a quite open-minded consumer, as keen to revisit places as they are to explore off the beaten track. 

KP: How has the pandemic affected your own personal travel patterns & behaviour? Has your  midterm “bucket list” of destinations & travel experiences changed? 

TL: Business travel has been pretty much non-existent for the past 15 months – it’s the least amount I’ve travelled since founding the business almost 20 years ago, but as most companies have come to realise, they can work in a distributed manner and remotely too – not all business travel is non-essential, but we’ve certainly reevaluated what’s a necessary trip or not. Our curation trips still remain of the highest priority for team travel, but our process has adapted to allow us to be more considerate on our footprint. I think my personal approach to my own holidays is definitely more considered. My last trip was with my family a few weeks ago to the wonderful Domes of Elounda in Crete where I was also able to tack on a few days and work remotely. I still hope to tick-off some further-flung bucket-list trips as soon as its feasible though – Tokyo has tempted me for years! 

KP: Over the past months we have witnessed an amazing level of resilience from the hospitality  industry. Despite the hard hit, hotel brands have showcased unique examples of innovation.  Do you consider 2021 to be the springboard for creativity in our sector? 

TL: There is incredible resilience in our sector and there have been some advantages to the forced downtime that lockdown brought to us all. I truly believe that times of crisis can also unearth great innovation and creativity in people. It’s given us a chance to reflect and reevaluate what’s important for the responsible growth and future of the business. For example, at Mr & Mrs Smith, sustainability is a key emerging pillar that we’re committed to building. We’re very much in the process of finding our way with the help of our conservation partners, but we’re excited to be making strides and involving our members along this journey, too. I guess we’ve had the chance to really focus on our roots, too, as the original hotel lovers – something we’ve enjoyed getting back to. Watch this space!