American Affair's Chris Hedley on bookings, trends and launching a brand in a pandemic
Chris Hedley, managing director at American Affair, talks to Abra Dunsby about launching a brand during the pandemic and reveals his hopes and plans for the business
When did you launch American Affair and why?
We launched at the end of March and are trade-focused. The idea was to launch last April, but that didn’t happen due to the pandemic. March felt like the right time – even though travel restrictions are still in place to the US – to start to build up a presence. The idea was to spend the summer engaging with trade partners with a view that we can hopefully get to “business as usual” in the not too distant future.
How was it launching a brand during a pandemic?
We launched Canadian Affair to the trade three years ago and have worked really well with agents, so much so that our stock and reputation actually grew from March 2020 to March 2021. We kept a lot of staff on, didn’t over-furlough and offered immediate refunds from the get-go. We brought the US online offering that same promise – impressive service, price guarantee and knowledge. From that standpoint, introducing it to the trade went very smoothly. Bookings were obviously slow in the beginning, but it’s bubbling away; we know that the US is still one of the top destinations for UK consumers. It’s just taking some time for confidence to return, but we’re starting to gain traction, which is fantastic. We haven’t been promoting summer 2021 as we decided from a service perspective it wasn’t right, so we’ve not had to make any cancellations. Our focus is on Q1 and summer 2022.
How are enquiries and bookings doing?
We don’t have the year-on-year yardstick for American Affair, but 25% of live quotes on our system are coming in for the US. It’s hard to be definitive, but we’re really happy with the start we’ve made.
Are there any booking trends you’re spotting?
When compared against our Canada business, we’re seeing an increased amount of spending, with a lot of people upgrading their flights, hotels or cabins on cruise ships. Our core demographic is ABC1, so they have that disposable income in terms of what they book. Traditionally, early bookings tend to be for cruising, but we’re seeing independent touring as a standout for us for the US, particularly for trips including hire cars and RVs. Anecdotally, we are hearing that this is due to social distancing and people wanting to be in wide-open spaces, which makes sense. People are mainly looking to the West Coast for touring at the moment, for an average of 16 days – anything from Arizona, Colorado or Utah to California – and we’re seeing people twin-centre those destinations with Hawaii or the Caribbean. New York and Florida breaks are also proving popular for summer 2022.
What differentiates you from competitors?
The service we offer. We always say to our trade partners: “You don’t need to know the US or product inside-out, just call us as our staff have a lot of knowledge.” All our phones are answered within 30 seconds and a quote is with an agent within 24 hours. We’ll also price-match any other price in the market. We are very proud of our peace-of-mind guarantee too, which we will retain once borders reopen.
How are you educating and supporting the trade?
We’ve got three trade sales executives as well as our product director. Although we are limited in getting out to agents currently, we are working with our existing partners to hold virtual training and often have incentives running. For example for Independence Day, we ran an incentive on our Facebook page and sent out boxes full of goodies to agents and asked them to decorate their shops and send us pictures. We offered prize giveaways including a 2022 fam trip, with details of that still TBC.
Anything else in the pipeline?
We are bringing another nine people into the business, including five call centre staff, another trade sales executive, two marketing staff and one back-office staff member. We are investing heavily speculatively and planning for the best – we want to be absolutely ready for when demand comes back, as we know it will come.
Three top-selling tours with American Affair
- The 11-night Classic West trip (from £1,488pp) takes in the beaches, parks and warm climate of California, with highlights including visits to Newport Beach, LA, Yosemite and Santa Barbara.
- The operator's four-night Las Vegas City Break (from £1,282pp) includes unique experiences such as a Big Bus and helicopter tour over the strip.
- Hawaii and the Islands by Cruise is a 13-night round-trip sailing onboard NCL's Pride of America, departing from Honolulu and visiting the four main islands of Hawaii. On this trip clients can spot humpback whales off the coast of Maui, kayak down the Wailua River on Kauai and dance to traditional music on Oahu. Prices start from £3,824pp.
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Place of registration: England and Wales.
Company number 08723341.
Registered address: 6th Floor, 2 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU
