Episode #457 - From Bedroom Startup to £9M Travel Empire - How Holiday Architects Rebuilt Built a Thriving Travel Brand post COVID - with Andrew Hunt
Release Date: 02/24/2025
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info_outlineHi there, I’m Granger Forson, and welcome to another episode of ScaleUp Radio! You can find me at www.bizsmart-gloucestershire.co.uk or connect with me on LinkedIn.
On today’s episode, I’m speaking with Andrew Hunt, the founder and CEO of Holiday Architects, a travel company that has gone from a bedroom startup to a £9 million turnover business, specializing in long-haul, tailor-made holidays. But this is not just a story of success—it’s a story of resilience, reinvention, and smart scaling.
Andrew shares how he built a business where deep customer relationships, an experienced team, and a strategic approach to marketing became the foundation of growth. He takes us through the challenges of scaling, surviving the COVID-19 crisis, and the decision to merge with another company—a move that ultimately made Holiday Architects stronger than ever.
We’ll also dive into Andrew’s approach to recruitment, financial management, and building a team that thrives in a remote-first world. He explains why he values trust and delegation and how he empowers his employees to take ownership of decisions.
And finally, we look ahead to the future—Andrew has ambitious plans to build a ‘house of brands’ within the travel industry over the next five years. He’s shifting his focus to group-level strategy and mentoring the next generation of leaders.
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So, let’s now dive into the inspiring journey of resilience, reinvention, and smart scaling with Andrew Hunt.
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Drawing on BizSmart’s own research and experiences of working with hundreds of owner-managers, Kevin Brent explores the key reasons why most organisations do not scale and how the challenges change as they reach different milestones on the ScaleUp Journey. He then details a practical step by step guide to successfully navigate between the milestones in the form of ESUS - a proven system for entrepreneurs to scale up.
More on the Book HERE - https://www.esusgroup.co.uk/
Andrew can be found here:
https://holidayarchitects.co.uk/
Resources:
Eat Sleep Work Repeat Podcast - https://eatsleepworkrepeat.com/category/podcast/
Perplexity app - https://www.perplexity.ai/