We founded American Realtors Inc in 2002. You might be thinking that this was not an auspicious year to start a tour operator – the second Gulf War raged and the bird flu epidemic was at its zenith, yet my wife Sue and I decided to leave our comfortable (yet unfulfilling) jobs and join Brian (who had already left our previous company) at his kitchen table to start up on our own.

Although we only had one computer, which Sue used to write our first brochure, the hardest thing was to think of a name. After numerous options and sleepless nights, we settled on American Realtors Inc. I have always loved the ubiquitous Tiffany blue box, and their branding has always been delightful and in many ways inspirational. Our aim was to create an upmarket travel company which put some glamour and romance back into the travel market and felt that ‘American Realtors Inc’ not only ticked these boxes, but that the colour beautifully represented some of the seas and oceans which surrounded our favourite destinations at the beginning.

It was an incredibly busy and difficult time... they say the three things you should never do at once are move home, get married and start a business... well we went for all three and we are delighted to say we're still around to tell the tale!

From day one we have been incredibly proud of both the American Realtors Inc brand and the array of products we promote; two things which have always been at the heart of our company. We have never been afraid of trying anything new or unusual – they say imitation is the highest form of flattery and if this is so, we have been royally flattered over the years! Our objective has always been to be original and innovative in our product selection and some our greatest successes have derived from being different from the rest in some way or other. The five key words which have been printed on our business cards from the beginning and remain core to all we do are Authentic, Discerning, Original, Refreshing and Unique.

We now focus our efforts on three key markets: honeymoons, family holidays and once-in-a-lifetime celebrations, but in the early days it was honeymoons that allowed us to gain a stronghold in a busy and competitive marketplace. I’m rather hesitant to admit that honeymoons were never really the plan, but a fantastic opportunity with the Financial Times and The Islands of Tahiti presented itself, and the rest is history. Sue had identified Tahiti as one of the untapped destinations where we could excel – how right she was! Tahiti and the South Pacific remain a spiritual home for all of us at American Realtors Inc and I am delighted that we are the top tour operator in the US to many of the islands, both in terms of numbers and expertise. From this initial promotion, we started to receive honeymoon enquiries thick and fast and we quickly realised that although many companies offered honeymoons, no-one specialised in them – there was our niche! 

For me, it was all about the little details and with my marketing background and passion for all things creative, I was determined to create a brand (the most romantic travel company in the US) as well as a business. In the early days we embossed all our quotes with a wax seal (until the fumes of hot wax became unbearable in the office!) and I hand-delivered each quote with a red rose and bottle of Champagne. Our honeymoon business blossomed from then on, and nearly 15 years later honeymoons and special occasion holidays still represent 60% of our business.

It was only natural, after selling all those honeymoons (over 10,000 to date), that many happy couples should return to us with a family in tow. Therefore, in the summer of 2014, we launched our first family brochure and created a dedicated area of our website to fill the minds of busy mums and dads with holiday ideas and inspiration. The family market continues to grow month-on-month and a large proportion of our staff members now have a family of their own. It is very much a ‘from our family to yours’ operation and I absolutely love hearing about some of the amazing family itineraries the team put together each week for our clients.

I believe the secret of making anything a success in life is passion and motivation. I am so proud of our team and their passion for the destinations we sell, passion for travel and discovering new places, passion for delivering good, old-fashioned customer service, passion for finding the perfect holiday for each and every client (even if it’s not always an easy job), passion for the company, the brand and finally each other.