Hoseason's History

[JennyMorgan]

https://www.edp24.co.uk/features/hoseasons-holidays-remembering-the-genius-of-james-hoseason-1-6930991

[NorfolkNog]

That's a fascinating article JM, many thanks for sharing. 

Jimmy Hoseason was clearly a very shrewd operator. I like the bit about the ladies making the decisions   (not like on here of course) 

The bit about listening to others and using complaints as a positive were clearly among his 'golden threads' which is again highlighted in this Hoseasons newsletter from 1994. 

[Broads01]

Interesting article. How strange that Hoseasons tried to take over Blakes in the 1970s and yet it took them many years to finally achieve it. I first came to the Broads as a child in the 1980s and my parents always booked with Hoseasons for Broads and Thames holidays in those days. I loved the brochures, they were the hire boat web pages of their day. 

[trambo]

8 hours ago, Broads01 said:

Interesting article. How strange that Hoseasons tried to take over Blakes in the 1970s and yet it took them many years to finally achieve it. I first came to the Broads as a child in the 1980s and my parents always booked with Hoseasons for Broads and Thames holidays in those days. I loved the brochures, they were the hire boat web pages of their day. 

They did not achieve it as the opposite happened when Blakes parent owner at the time, Wyndham Vacations bought out Hoseasons. The trading style  has been allowed to lapse but if you want to book online through Blakes you still can. 

The 1970s event has always fascinated me. Blakes was still a co-operative and all I know is that it was promoted amongst others by Truman from the Blakes side to no avail. Perhaps Peter or Vaughan can enlighten?

Fred

[trambo]

Thanks Norfolk Nog. Sums up the philosophy of James Hoseason that customer care was paramount and from that everything else flowed. Having met over the years members of the Lowestoft office they all thought he was a great boss and company to work for.

In the 1970s I used to get new members of the staff in our order office to ring Blakes and Hoseasons and pretend to enquire about a holiday and then compare. Both were friendly  but Hoseasons always came out top. Obviously scripted but not overtly so, it was consistent and got you the customer to where you wanted. A model used everywhere today but in its day a pioneer.

I do think however in hindsight other marketing strategies were not as successful. For instance I think he was responsible for many peoples attitude that the Broads was a downmarket holiday which it still holds to some extent today and the obsession with standardising fleets.

Fred

[Vaughan]

Well, I think I can admit what actually happened, after all these years, as I was a director of Blakes at the time.

The 70s, especially the late 70s, were a time of fearful recession.  To give you an idea, I was paying 22% interest on my bank overdraft, at a time when hiring prices had stayed the same for 4 years and inflation was well into double figures.  The next year they went down 10%.  Hiring seasons were about 15 weeks average if you were lucky, when they used to be 25 or more.

The awful day came when the company secretary had to announce to the board that the company was in danger of being accused of continuing trading whilst knowingly insolvent.

The big difference between the two agencies was that Hoseasons is simply a travel agent with an exclusive contract and which charges a flat rate commission on bookings.  Blakes (Norfolk Broads Holidays) Ltd was a company which marketed on behalf of the NSBYOA - Norfolk and Suffolk Broads Yacht Owners' Association - hence the "A" flag, which stood for Association.  This was a co-operative of the member boatyards and Blakes Ltd was non profit making.  Members would receive a dividend at the end of the season, so in a good year the aggregate commission rate was only about 9%

So luckily, this meant that Blakes was owned by its members and could be guaranteed by them, in law, in order to continue trading.  There was thought of selling the company but this was also complicated as the members only had one share each in Blakes Ltd and the shares were non transferrable.  So they had no actual monetary value.

In 1982 I resigned from the board as I had just sold my boatyard and went off to work in France, so I am not sure what happened after that although I believe it was Len Funnel who eventually negotiated a successful sale.

The 1970s were terrible times, I am afraid!

[JennyMorgan]

19 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

The 1970s were terrible times, I am afraid!

Vaughan mentions 22% interest rates, my bank was more kind, I was hammered with 21%. At that time I was achieving about 10% profit in my shop and  22% in the pub. If I was lucky I managed to turn over my shop stock about six times over the summer. That was hard work, I only survived by working for Hoseasons Brochure Dispatch during the winter months but survive we did whilst many of my friends did not, indeed we continued until 1978 and left with cash in our pockets to reinvest elsewhere. 

In fairness to Hoseasons, we had belonged to Blakes, Jimmy & Co operated very much as a club at that time. In effect we were working as a co-operative with our fellow Hoseasons yards. We were sad to leave Blakes but they were on a downward slope at that time. Hoseasons guaranteed us two weeks more than we achieved with Blakes the previous year. With eighteen boats that was 36 weeks extra, not to be sneezed at, we actually achieved more. Jimmy was a good friend to us, his very personal touch worked well for him as much as it did for us. Blakes was struggling. 

Where Hoseasons went wrong, in my view, was in eventually pandering to The Sun, in going down market in an effort to take on the budget airlines and package holidays. The demographics of Broads Holidays changed overnight, on top of those 22% interest rates that was the end for us and so we pulled out of the Broads.  

Hoseasons did up the average standards by introducing minimum standards, for some that was standardisation but for others it was a guarantee of quality. That resulted in below standard boats being sold off, and one or two yards subsequently left and along came the budget Red Whale fleets. I don't know that that helped. 

All that said, I miss those days. It was a lifestyle that was great to be a part of. 

 

[Vaughan]

11 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

All that said, I miss those days. It was a lifestyle that was great to be a part of.

I think that is most apposite.

Running a hire fleet was not a way of making money.

But it was a wonderful way of life!

[oldgregg]

It's been said many times, but I don't think moving away from the co-operative model did the yards any favours. These things, sadly, are usually about short-term gain.

Now each of the yards has to largely go it alone and spend lots of money on marketing in order to stand out.

Yes, many still use Hoseasons and it's a brand people know, but they aren't primarily a Broads business and that's the problem. To the average punter these days, Hoseasons means 'holidays' and not 'The Broads'.

Businesses who excel at something are usually those who specialise in it. The jack of all trades is a master of none.

[JennyMorgan]

3 hours ago, oldgregg said:

To the average punter these days, Hoseasons means 'holidays' and not 'The Broads'.

That is a absolutely right. The other factor was the invention of the pub-co, where previously pubs were governed by the holiday trade they were now governed by head office and the bottom line, pubs became shabby and their garden furniture fell into disrepair, sort of Beauchamp Arms style.  The Broads became less inviting. The same happened to Great Yarmouth's sea-front, it was all take-take-take rather than taking care. Winter was all about maintenance and taking pride in what was on offer, those days died late in the 70's, with a few exceptions.

[Dan]

It's a great article

He was undoubtedly a great and remarkable guy & if you thought Hoseasons you thought James Hoseason... I've never heard a bad word against him, a rarety these days for the top post in a big organisation these days?  

Someone so involved

So permanent

Good judgement

Treating everyone well

Building good relationships

Improving

Caring

I just don't think you get it with venture capitalists, very corporate structures with a new top person every 3-5 years... 

My favourite big businesses are always privately owned

Dan

[Poggymale]

On 15/11/2020 at 22:49, NorfolkNog said:

That's a fascinating article JM, many thanks for sharing. 

Jimmy Hoseason was clearly a very shrewd operator. I like the bit about the ladies making the decisions   (not like on here of course) 

The bit about listening to others and using complaints as a positive were clearly among his 'golden threads' which is again highlighted in this Hoseasons newsletter from 1994. 

Just love this. A lot of the type of thing we were doing at work at the time and it’s great to see a tourism king being so forward thinking. Thanks for sharing