Read - David Maida

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Keeping the
dream
COVER
STORY
that took off
Ten years ago, naysayers told Paul Aston that he couldn't run
a nationally successful travel services company
Waiheke Island. He's since proved them wrong.
TEXT DAVID MAIDA
from
Proving that in
the Internet
PHOTOGRAPHY NIELS SCHIPPER
age you can
literally
work
anywhere,
Paul
done face to face." "It's got to be retailed through a
and Shannon
shop." Paul Aston knows all the arguments and a
CAN'T
IT." "You're
too remote."
"It's got
to all
be
decade
laterDO
takes
a quiet pleasure
in seeing
them
Aston run their
YOU
national business
overturned. With his wife Shannon, he runs a steadily growing
from Waiheke
stable of travel services companies from Waiheke Island, 35
Island.
minutes out into the Hauraki Gulf by high speed ferry.
Of course he has all the technology: email, 0800 numbers
and a website - but they weren't really around when he started
out. The story of the success of his companies CheapSeats
and Offshore Travel is partly one of keeping an eye on
unfolding technologies and making clever use of them.
and was looking to retire. The timing was perfect, so he
bought her company. "Working and living on the island was a
bit of an experiment to begin with," he says, "but we're still
here ten years later. It's the old story of: 'We came here for
six months and stayed.'"
A change from city life
At the beginning, the travel agency was not exactly state-
In 1992, Paul started work as a travel agent for Jet Save Travel
of-the-art and was still using handwritten tickets. "It was only
in Auckland, processing and issuing tickets. He soon moved
a two-person
up through the ranks and became manager two years later.
computer. They had no nothing."
But he and his wife wanted a change from city life and taking
office with a manual system. They had no
Paul and Shannon were operating as Offshore Travel with the
advantage of lower house prices on Waiheke Island at the
catch phrase of "Buy travel offshore and save." But the island
time, they made the move.
location and the play on words had at least one major obstacle
The Jet Save office was in downtown Auckland and it was
to overcome: in 1998, people didn't buy travel offshore. "Travel
simple enough to take the ferry back and forth to work. But
was still only being sold face to face in New Zealand," Paul
Paul was overseeing 60 people and feeling the need for a
says. "No one was doing it via the phone and certainly not via
change. "After about six months it was kind of like: 'We've had
the Web. So I thought: 'Well, there's a big opportunity. We've
enough of this. What are the options?'"
got an agency out here on Waiheke. Our overheads are low.
His mother ran a small travel agency on Waiheke Island
Summer
2007
Why don't we open a national call centre?'" >
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21
COVER
STORY
He set up an 0800 number to handle travel bookings and
everyone said, "No, it can't be done." But after taking out ads
$fZO,••Day
in newspapers in the main centres, the call centre business
• ea~ Ree"ee
began to defy the naysayers. "We were one of the first to retail
• offshon
travel via the phone," he says. "We opened our call centre
nationwide and in 12 months doubled our turnover. We
• ph: J7t·'O'8
ok
n"tals
thought, 'OK, we're on to something here. This is interesting.'"
Paul always kept an eye on trends emerging in America and
Australia and soon saw travel being sold via the Internet.
Travel websites were starting to be established and it wasn't
long before Paul was on to it as well. He started confirming
telephone travel bookings via e-mail and quickly started up a
website. In August 2004, CheapSeats.co.nz
was born.
getting a little bit weak from a marketing point of view."
In three years,
"In the first six weeks, our figures just went through the
Offshore Rentals
roof," he says. In its second year, the CheapSeats website
The Offshore brand still applies though to Paul's rental car
has grown from
doubled its year one turnover. "We were riding high. In two
business, Offshore Rentals, on Waiheke. "It started three years
years we employed two people. We'd gone from being a slow,
ago as a bit of a joke, really. We had a rental car licence that
two-person
we inherited from the agency and my father was looking for
one truck to four,
and 25 cars.
sort of business to being full-on."
something to do, so we thought we'd buy a truck and put it
out for rent for $100 a day and see what happens."
In order to keep himself grounded, Paul says he always
has his hand in the business by doing about 20% of the
travel bookings himself. "I think that is a very successful
rental business went "berserk. In the early stages, we didn't
part of the business - not managing from afar."
operates four trucks and 25 cars.
Growing
have enough cars to meet demand." The business now
The secrets of success
pains
"Full-on" soon became too much. Paul says the hardest thing
Paul says the secrets to his business success are fairly
about expanding his business was growing pains. Accounting
simple. "People just want good value products and
systems and in-house reservations software needed to be put
they want to do it easily. We built our website around
in place. "When CheapSeats began, it really took off. We
that principle. It's easy to use. It's in plain English. And
thought: 'Well, we could be in trouble here if we keep going
we back up our website with real people who actually
the way we're going.' It was like having no bookings to sud-
do the reservations."
denly having 200 in the space of a day."
He says the next project on his agenda is mobile travel,
Paul had to reach for the brakes before things crashed. "It
was a scary time, actually. I know that having too much business is often favoured over not having enough, but not servic-
where you can buy travel using your mobile phone, and he
has plans to expand his brand even further.
"We've now got Cheap Insurance and plan to roll out in
ing customers can quickly hurt your brand. We therefore
2007 Cheap Vacations and Cheap Cruises. I think you've
backed our advertising off for about two or three months until
just got to keep your focus with where you want things to
we got everything together and then rolled it back out again."
Offshore Travel and Cheapseats.co.nz
then ran side by side
for about a year, until Paul decided that the latter was the clear
winner and faded out the Offshore Travel brand.
"Sometimes situations change in the marketplace. Offshore
Travel was really built in the era when people were buying off-
22
The truck rented for six days in the first week and then the
go and how you want them to develop. I've an idea of
one day having a big office block of people who specialise
in travel services!"
In order to keep himself grounded, Paul says he always
has his hand in the business. He makes sure he knows
what's going on by doing about 20% of the travel bookings
shore and investing money offshore was on everybody's lips.
himself. "I think that is a very successful
With the age of the Internet, that's gone. I could see the brand
business - not managing from afar." IJ]
ANZ inbusiness
part of the
Summer
2007