The TTG 30 Under 30 doing his late father proud
Morgan Hartley shares how he came to run the family travel business, Goodlife Florida Villas, aged just 26, after his father Geoff passed away unexpectedly
Morgan Hartley grew up as his father’s apprentice, fully immersed in the family business and not just because they took regular holidays to Florida, where Geoff Hartley owned a portfolio of villas. The business grew when Geoff took control of the distribution, using agents as his preferred route to market.
Morgan pursued a degree in international business at Manchester Metropolitan University, with the intention of joining the family firm but not wanting to close off other options completely.
While at university, he worked part-time, visiting agents on the road, learning what help they needed when it came to Florida villa bookings. In 2018, Morgan joined the business full-time. “I didn’t really have a job title as such,” he explains. “I took on a general role, visiting agents, book-keeping, doing whatever was needed.”
He adds: “We endured a tough few years. First Thomas Cook went bust, and we did a lot of business with Freedom members. Plus, we deal in dollars, and the pound took a hit after Brexit. And then the pandemic. It really was one thing after another.”
Although Morgan was learning the ropes, the plan was always for a slower handover, a more natural transition from father to son. But fate dealt a cruel blow when Geoff passed away in October 2022 after a relatively short illness.
“From the May, Dad was in and out of hospital, and we didn’t know his life was going to end that quickly. We chatted about the business [in hospital] but I didn’t realise until quite late that was our transitional process. Thank
goodness I asked some of the questions I did, otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clue,” recalls Morgan.
He was 26 at this point, and it’s only natural he’d be apprehensive about taking on a whole other level of responsibility. “I wanted another 10 years,” he admits. “The 12 months after Dad passed was a steep learning curve. I made mistakes, of course, but I learned from them.”
His father had been heavily involved in the Institute of Travel & Tourism and had taken Morgan to various events. It was these friends and connections that rallied around their friend’s son, and offer help and advice when sought.
“I’m lucky to know people who are very experienced in the trade, and I can pick up the phone to them any time,” Morgan says.
After a challenging introduction to running a company, Morgan soon found his feet, making use of past experiences to plan for the future and minimise risk.
He has continued to offer fam trips, organising one last May for a couple of close agent partners, a test case for a larger fam with six agents in September, and he has another planned for later this year.
“Now I’m trying to push forward, develop the business, and put my own stamp on it,” he says.
Morgan’s biggest project is the development of a new website, which will triple the number of properties that Goodlife Florida Villas can offer in the Disney area alone. He’s also hunting out opportunities to diversify the product, expanding beyond Florida into other areas of the US.
All the while, he’s working hard to maintain his level of Florida knowledge, by attending trade events such as Florida Huddle, as that is one of the business’s unique selling points. “I like to make recommendations beyond the theme parks, things I’ve grown up doing on family holidays, places we’ve been introduced to by locals. I know the golf courses and I know the restaurants. We do Florida because we know Florida and can share that up-to-date knowledge with agents.”
With January delivering the best month on record for the business, Morgan has hit his stride, using TTG’s 30 Under 30 network to forge more of the strong relationships his father believed in. “He was a man of few words, my dad,” he says. “But I think he’d tell me, Morgan, you’re doing all right, you’re doing good. We had a great relationship and he was always supportive.”
Meet more of TTG's 30 Under 30 from the class of 2023-24
Read in-depth interviews with CheerTravel's Stephanie Needley; Tui UK's Molly Attwell; Travel Counsellors' Jack Prescott; Virgin Voyages' Jack Atherton; Newcastle International Airport's Tom Spencer; Cruise.co.uk's Amar Bains; Intrepid Travel's Molly Cofman-Nicoresti; and Finn Partners' Ashleigh St Hill.
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