Speakers
Session
Throwing out the business rulebooks, James Lohan MBE ruffled some suits when he shook up the travel sector to build the innovative, market-leading hotel and holiday booking brand Mr & Mrs Smith, alongside his business partner Tamara Lohan. James will be sharing his story and demonstrating how creative marketing, exceptional customer service and innovative thinking can enable small businesses to punch well above their weight.
James is an entrepreneur with a background in the events industry, and the creative soul of the Mr & Mrs Smith brand. With his wife, Tamara, he conceived the first Mr & Mrs Smith guidebook in 2003, inspired by a disastrous weekend away together at a spa hotel in the Lake District. As the hotels included experienced an increase in bookings, the couple decided to capitalise by becoming a boutique travel agency, servicing their growing membership base by helping them book their trips, too. Today, ‘the travel club for hotel lovers’ has over a million members worldwide able to choose from a carefully curated, 1,500-strong collection of hotels and villas – all bookable online or by phone with its team of in-house travel specialists, based in London, New York, LA and Singapore. Each hotel is personally vetted by Smith’s globetrotting experts and then reviewed (anonymously) by a range of actors, writers, influencers, entrepreneurs, chefs, DJs and other personalities. Past reviewers have included Lauren Laverne, Raymond Blanc, Olivia von Halle, Tom Dixon, Pandora Sykes, Tom Aikens and Stella McCartney. James ensures consistent, high-quality execution across every Smith initiative, as well as bringing a keen strategic mind to the board and acting as global ambassador for the business. In 2014, James received an MBE for services to the British travel industry.