Building up a brand the Miles Morgan way

Morgan also hails the firm’s supplier relationships as important to the business’s success.

“We prefer to work with a smaller number of suppliers and nurture those relationships,” he says.

“I invited them to a party I had in June for the 10-year anniversary. An agent hosting a supplier is unheard of really, but we really do value what they do for us.”

Morgan insists Miles Morgan Travel will remain in its Wales and south-west stronghold, and that the maximum number of stores will always be 20.

“I don’t want to build a big business like the one I left,” he says. “I don’t want it to be faceless.

“Our expansion is primarily opportunistic. If a premise that we like becomes available, we can grab the opportunity straight away, we don’t have to wade through treacle.

“Not all decisions turn out to be the right ones, but that’s part of running a company.”

Being opportunistic is how Miles Morgan Travel all began – an opportunity came his way and he took it, he tells me.

“Certainly we will expand,” says Morgan. “But the thing I enjoy most is that I know every member of staff and they know me. They are fantastic and motivated, and they’re the key to our success.

“What’s important to me is that I continue to enjoy the business and my staff continue to enjoy working in it.
“I’m still very visual in the business and I want to remain one of the team.”

The fact that Morgan’s voice comes over the answerphone when a customer calls any branch, and he receives the brand’s Feefo reviews directly into his inbox are indicators that Morgan truly does enjoy living and breathing the business he’s built.

“The reason I left my corporate job was I had become too far removed from the travel industry,” he says.

“Another of the main reasons for our success is that we have stayed in one geographical area. We have built up a brand that the people who live here know. Driving around, you’ll see one of our shops in a key position in every town around.”

Every shop has been refitted in the past two years and all are now in the “best positions”.

Morgan says 13 weeks into the business’s new financial year, sales are up substantially on the previous one, and he dismisses concerns about Brexit.

“We have had 10 years of record years and there’s no end to that in sight,” he says.

“Will Brexit cast a shadow? Maybe. But at any point in time there are millions of people booking holidays. A difficult climate just means you fight harder for your slice of the cake.”

And looking at the longer-term future, Morgan insists: “I don’t see myself retiring. There is still so much going on, and when you truly enjoy what you do, it doesn’t really feel like work anyway.”

As we chat, Morgan tells me a new review has been posted on the agency’s website. “It says ‘It’s always a pleasure to visit Miles Morgan in Monmouth’,” he smiles.

“I read every review we get, usually when I’m eating my porridge in the morning gearing up for the day ahead. It’s a constant reminder of why we are doing what we do.”