CEO Interview: On The Beach’s Flexible Approach to Selling Holidays
Photo Caption: Simon Cooper, CEO of On the Beach, has found a way to prosper while many other packaged holiday companies flounder.
Skift Take
While plenty of European travel companies have struggled to cope in a difficult operating environment, On the Beach has prospered. In an uncertain world, its flexible approach to holidays means that it is able to take advantage without some of the risk that others face.
In travel it can pay to be flexible.
The industry is beholden to the type of external forces that are easily able to bring down companies.
The price of oil, terrorism, industrial action and an erupting volcano have in recent years caused havoc for plenty of businesses.
In most cases those that have felt the most pain are the traditional players. Owning assets such as hotels or airplanes makes it much harder to pivot away from trouble.
For Simon Cooper, the founder and CEO of On the Beach, an online travel agent based in Greater Manchester, England, the ability to move fast is key to survival and prosperity.
“We have a flexible business model. We have zero commitment to product. We're incredibly agile, which enables us to react to the challenges and the opportunities in the market,” he says.
The benefits of this ability were shown in the company’s most recent set of full-year results, issued in December. A pre-tax loss of $3.1 million (£2.5 million) in 2015 turn
