John Nicholls with the chief of Vil Vil village, Malekula Island, Vanuatu

The Nicholls own and operate Vanuatu Hotels, the most comprehensive online accommodation booking facility – also the whl.travel local connection – in this island nation in the South Pacific. Running a business unaffiliated with any hotel, resort or tourism company, the Nicholls got where they are today by putting in the long, hard hours required to build expertise and a reputation for integrity and reliability. But they also found their way into a golden opportunity and have capitalized on it fully.

Fortunately for the people and nature of Vanuatu, the Nicholls’ also promote culturally and ecologically sensitive travel out of profound respect for their adopted land and its indigenous inhabitants.

The whl.travel Connection

“When we were running the [The White Grass Ocean] resort in Tanna, I read somewhere on the Internet a report on The World Bank introducing a book-on-line portal,” John recalled. “I was so impressed by the idea. I mean the whl.travel model is as brilliant as it is simple. Then, one day the most amazing thing happened. They were presenting their product to the industry in Vanuatu! I could not contain my joy. However, the day they gave their presentation, I fell sick with the worst flu I have had in my entire life; bed-ridden, I missed the meet. How ironic, considering I was the only one in the country that knew of and was already sold on the project! Anyway, I contacted a director of the organisation and found they were still open to tenders and they were prepared to bend over backwards to assist in setting up a partner in Vanuatu. Now I could realise my dream of aggregating Vanuatu tourism products and services online under one banner. Vanuatu Hotels was that vehicle.”

In the last 10 years, John Nicholls has taken more than 10,000 pictures, most of them documenting life and nature in Vanuatu and quite a few visible at www.vanuatu-hotels.vu/photo andpicasaweb.google.com/vanuatutravel

But dreams take time. John’s experience of launching six resorts from the ground up had taught him it takes at least three years to establish a solid commercial presence. They nevertheless dove fully into the new-business cycle and, sure enough, now entering their fifth year, they have not only doubled their inventory every second year to include 90% of Vanuatu’s rooms (including resorts, motels, guesthouses and NiVanuatu indigenous bungalows) but increased their profitability exponentially since year three through flight reservation, sale of travel insurance, car rentals and even wedding arrangements on top of a live volcano with a croquembouche wedding cake delivered to the rim.

Keeping It Local

John and Silvana Nicholls on a moonscape plain near Mt Yasur volcano, Tanna Island, Vanuatu

But Vanuatu Hotels is more than just a standard business; it’s an ethical one. On a Web page about the Nicholls, travellers are told of their “deep attachment and respect for the people of Vanuatu and an uncompromising commitment to the protection of the country’s natural heritage.” The Nicholls have accordingly shown great initiative in finding ways to increase the benefit of their work with the greater community.

“And the beauty of it is that all our revenue is generated in the country for the country, reducing leakage, which is a real problem for Vanuatu,” enthused John. (Estimates show that between 50% and 70% of the tourism dollars generated by Vanuatu never make it to the country.) “Another benefit is that we are distributing the Vanuatu experience to a much wider audience than ever before, consequently that means more foreign exchange acquired from markets that may have never heard of Vanuatu, money that would have been spent in countries with healthy economies. Now some of it is being spent here.”

Caring for the Destination

The general practice of sustainable tourism, although relatively new as a labelled hot-button concept, has been around Vanuatu for a long time. Some people have always been sensitive to the needs of the land and its communities without market forces having to convince them. “They saw the publicity of it as blatant commercialisation of their inner beliefs,” said John. This was the challenge the Nicholls faced in cataloguing their suppliers’ sustainable practices.

John Nicholls with his close friend Rex Iapen (and piglet) promoting the outer islands at a trade show in Port Vila, Vanuatu

But they persisted and helped lead the charge, setting themselves up as an example in the both their personal and professional lives. “[At home] we happily follow sustainable practices in everything we do,” John emphasised. “As whl.travel partners we commit ourselves to this; it is the responsibility we willingly and passionately take on board. It’s easy, makes sense and saves us money. We also had to make sure that every part of our business could be scrutinised thoroughly on the basis of eco-sustainability. We had to ensure that no one could ever insinuate we were being insincere.”

Few would make such a claim. Since 2001, they had been lobbying for coconut crab conservation. Later, for a year they produced a monthly 25-page newsletter addressing sustainability issues and John is active on committees and advisory boards looking for ways to influence government policy and the hospitality industry about it. In 2006 they even introduced and sponsored the Best Indigenous Bungalow Award, followed in 2007 by creation of the Best Green Operator Award, which they have continued to sponsor in the national Vanuatu Tourism Awards to this day.

Prizing Success

Tourism in the South Pacific has long been dominated by wholesalers, but the trade winds seem to be blowing in a different direction of late. “The tourism food chain has changed radically,” predicted John. “We certainly had a difficult start as the [whl.travel] concept was so different for our suppliers to absorb, and the Internet was still regarded locally as an information-gathering medium only. In the first two years we had to knock on doors, but now we are well established and everyone comes to us. It’s much easier that way, but the flip side is that we cannot keep up.”

Their efforts have not gone unnoticed, most of all by whl.travel, which recognised the Nicholls as Best Franchisee of the Year in 2007-2008 through a reward and recognition programme that encourages network partners to meet business objectives and service standards. (The award in 2008-2009 was given to the franchisee for Laos.)

John and Silvana Nicholls with some of their staff on Tanna Island, Vanuatu

“I’m elated!” reported John, after learning about the win. “It has been tough, we have worked very hard and must admit we are both extremely competitive. But this competition has greater rewards for all of us in the whl.travel organisation than a single franchisee winning a prize. It is an essential motivator for all of us to improve.”

Walking the Talk

John’s many years in tourism have taught him that there is no such thing as secure employment in the tourism industry. “You’re on top one day and you can be out of a job the next day.” However, he’s thrilled to have found something different in whl.travel, a discovery made in 184 other destinations in 80 other countries, with more epiphanies to come in nearly 100 more destinations (including 12 new countries) in the coming months. “It’s different with whl.travel. They provide the most amazing vehicle. The local partner only has to drive it. Friends ask me why I never wanted to own my own resort? My answer is: ‘Did Schumacher own the Ferrari he was driving? If he had would he be driving them at 180 kilometres an hour?’ whl.travel provides the Ferrari, never stops enhancing it and I am having a ball driving it.”

John also likens whl.travel to being on the Greenpeace ship saving whales. “I could not be more proud than to be part of an organisation such as whl.travel. You know you’re doing something valuable, yet at the same time building a successful business. It’s undeniably the best business decision I have ever made. I foresee whl.travel becoming the dominant ‘real travel’ online booking engine of the world within the next three years.”

Teamworkz Consulting accepting its accolades as Franchisee of the Year 2008-2009 at the whl.travel Asia Pacific regional conference. Left to right are: Rob Shortland, whl.travel Asia Pacific Regional Director; Anne Done, Lee Sheridan and Mouk of Teamworkz; Len Cordiner, CEO of WHL Group

“An amazing effort,” comment Rob Shortland, whl.travel Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. “Amazing especially when you consider they also won two of the three category awards (service and web marketing). They really worked hard for this over the last 12-18 months and it shows in their results, as well as in the growth of their business. A great job and well done.”

Reward and Recognition

The whl.travel Reward and Recognition (R&R) program is designed to encourage, recognize and reward franchise partners who show improvement in their pursuit of excellence in areas deemed important to the growth and wellbeing of the network, all in the spirit of friendly competition. The 2008-2009 program focused on three categories: sustainability (improvements in the quality and quantity of product with Caring for the Destination ratings); service standards (the ability of each franchisee to hit and surpass the 95% success level for responding to client queries within 24 hours, and to keep published rates current); and Web marketing. There were quarterly awards in each category, category leaders for the year and top honours given to the Franchisee of the Year.

Teamworkz Consulting basically dominated the rankings. While Vientiane sat atop the leader board, the next three positions were filled by Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Phuket (Thailand), and seven of the top eight spots included Koh Samui and Chiang Mai (both in Thailand) – all operated by Teamworkz. Only the whl.travel local partner in Vanuatu – the 2007-2008 whl.travel Franchisee of the Year – broke the run with its fifth-place finish tying with Luang Prabang as winner of the service category of the year. All 10 live sites in Laos and Thailand under Teamworkz management swept the Web marketing category for the year, while the local partner in Marmaris-Datça, Turkey (10th overall), was category leader for the year in sustainability, 87% of its accommodations and tours meriting a Caring for the Destination ranking.

“As much as I would like to take all the credit,” said Lee Sheridan, managing director of Teamworkz, “I have to admit that my team of Mouk, Anne, Vong, Phansee and Thouni have done all the hard work. A big thanks to them!! They are the ones who consistently demonstrate the power of the local connection.”

The R&R program rules will change in 2009-2010 based on important feedback from the local partners. The goal however remains the same: to ‘encourage, recognize and reward’. After all, “Who cares if we win or not again?” said John Nicholls, owner and operator of Vanuatu Hotels. “This R&R competition has greater rewards for all of us in the whl.travel organisation than a single franchisee winning a prize. It is an essential motivator for all of us to improve.”

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As a primary force in the Greater Mekong region, where whl.travel network coverage may soon know no equal, Teamworkz Consulting is the local connection in Laos (the Champasak, Luang Prabang [read more here], Vang Vieng and Vientiane destination sites are live, while Luang Mantha and Xieng Khouane are under construction) and Thailand (Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Samui, Pattaya, Phuket and Sukhothai).

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Nynette Sass shows all of the bold spirit, but none of the impudence, suggested by her surname. From her first talofa lava (greetings to you) of the day, her gusto is contagious, especially when she talks about her native Samoa. This is unabashedly a good thing for the CEO of the Samoa Hotels Association (SHA), a board member of the Samoan Umbrella of Non-Government Organizations and chairman of the Private Sector Support Facility. In a country where tourism represents approximately 25% of GDP and is expanding, she is very much the right person in the right place at the right time.

Nynette Sass in front of her Samoa Hotels Association office

It hasn’t always been this way. One of the tools at the expansive heart of her ability to promote what she calls her ‘Polynesian paradise’ is quite new. Opportunity proverbially knocked in 2005, when SHA launched its new website, www.samoa-hotels.ws, now the premier online booking service for Samoa. The commendable results have had an impact on her life, the stability of SHA and, more importantly, all of Samoa, especially in terms of the sustainable development of community-based travel services.

Samoa Hotels Association

SHA is a membership-based non-governmental organisation formed in 1999 and composed of hotels and other accommodation providers in Samoa. “It was mainly set up to be a lobbying and advocacy body,” says Sass, its members united by common interests, goals and objectives for tourism and accommodation standards in Samoa.

Despite its organisational inertia in the early years, SHA was approached in 2004 by the International Finance Corporation–managed Pacific Enterprise Development Facility. (The IFC is the private-sector arm of the World Bank.) They were keen to trial a new accommodation e-marketplace program designed by Worldhotel-link.com (now whl.travel) and extensively piloted in Southeast Asia’s Mekong region for use in developing countries and emerging economies.

SHA hired Sass to pull together the content and images needed for the whl.travel Samoan website package, which includes a sophisticated but simple-to-use booking system that allows for the inclusion of local establishments with no other access to a broader e-market. On 10 March 2005, the website went live with a selection of 34 providers, “including many small-scale operators remote from Apia and without any Internet access,” SHA’s then-President Papali’i Steve Young said at the time.

Nynette Sass (right) with the Fiji Islands Hotel and Tourism Association president, Mr. Dixon Seeto. SHA and FIHTA may soon be exploring collaborative opportunities.

A Growing Local Success

“It went sort of OK in the first year,” recalls Sass. “But one thing I could say is that I put online the traditional accommodation or fales on the beaches, who never had any opportunity to be promoted. This model was breaking ground for them. All of the sudden they started getting all these bookings that they never had before. From the start, that has been one of the success stories of this booking system – the opportunity to showcase the little guys internationally at the same level with the big boys.”

For most businesses, though, success isn’t immediate, but steady growth speaks of real financial promise. Thus it has been with SHA’s inclusion in the whl.travel international family of Web portals. “As the years have passed, I’ve seen the amount of traffic serve as proof that this system does work,” enthuses Sass. “There’s no doubt in my mind that we’ve come a long way in the four years that SHA has used this system.”

The value of SHA’s accomplishment, however, is greater than the dollar value of its financial returns, something of which Sass is poignantly aware given her experience with both NZAid and AusAid and her country’s heavy dependence on development aid. “We’re actually reinvesting in our own country,” she emphasises, whereas accommodation “wholesalers take a big chunk out of the earnings and they’re keeping it overseas; it doesn’t come back into our country.”

Wholesalers overseas routinely ask for commissions of 25-40% of rack rates (the published full price). Travel agents can also sometimes charge sizable overhead. By contrast, the 15% collected by SHA, a local operator, is a bargain. This also puts a lot more spending money in the hands of travellers, which is very important to the greater Samoan community. “As far as I am concerned, we are delivering the services for our people, we are ensuring that we have up-to-date information about our properties and what’s happening in the country. And we’re not asking an arm and a leg for it. Plus, we provide a better service.”

In addition, the same smaller properties that got such an early boost are beginning to flex their own hitherto unknown muscles. “With the economic strengthening of little properties, they now feel more comfortable getting out there. They’re reinvesting their funds properly in the property and improving their facilities. The confidence that these little guys are getting now has really improved delivery of services and goods.”

Caring for the Destination

One of whl.travel’s strongest assets is the particular importance it places on sustainable tourism practices through its Caring for the Destination program. whl.travel seeks out local partners who show a commitment to caring about their country, their destination, the traveller’s experience and the overall stewardship of their native land to ensure preservation for generations to come. Sass too adheres to this belief, even though it has been difficult for her to secure broad and practical acceptance of these goals.

Looking back at part of Apia from across the bay. the Government Building is on the far right and the Catholic Cathedral in the center of town (Samoa has over 1000 church buildings for a population of 180,000).

“The Caring for the Destination part of whl.travel really hasn’t taken off. It’s been pretty tough for me to get that message out to the little guys. But I know from site visits that a lot of them are doing all these environmentally friendly practices. It’s just that we don’t write about it; we tend to take it for granted. We’re used to doing it ourselves anyway and we don’t think it’s anything special. But that’s exactly what this Caring for the Destination is about.”

Still, “whl.travel is the best thing that ever happened to SHA,” Sass concludes. “SHA had no funds, no focus, nada. A few members were very sceptical at the beginning when the idea was floated. However, the association is really at a state now where it is generating all the funds to implement its activities, pay a CEO and assistant etc. Our traffic conversions doubled in one year and then doubled again the next year. We’re struggling to keep up with the demand. This is good.”

This glowing endorsement has resonated throughout whl.travel and Samoa. “Looking at the commissions likely due to SHA in 2008, it represents around US$400,000 in annual income to the (mostly) small accommodation providers,” said Len Cordiner, CEO of whl.travel. “I am looking forward to the day, not too far out there I think, when we have several hundred destinations live and this story is the norm. The impact we will be having at that point in the developing world will be significant.”

The group comes together at the end of several long days of work

Held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from 1-4 July, and attended by representatives from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Nepal, the Phillipines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as new strategic partners, the conference addressed all the most burning issues of the ever-expanding WHL network, including the Caring for the Destination program, the recent launch of Urban Adventures, the work of WHL Consulting and the many different services available to WHL franchise partners as part of their professional development.

As full as the days were of industry analysis, discussion and workshops, there was still also plenty of time for play. On the days before and after the meetings, conferencees jumped at the chance to go on Urban Adventures that plunged them deeper into their surroundings. Some enjoyed a cyclo/walking tour of Saigon, while others went to discover the Mekong Delta, seeing, smelling, touching and tasting life in this unique region.

An Urban Adventures cyclo tour of Saigon really puts you in touch with the city around you

Dinners too were delicious opportunities for all to come together, especially on the final night, hosted by the local whl.travel partner for Saigon, Innoviet, and enlivened by traditional music and song (this link is to a sound file).

Here is what some of those who attended had to say:

“I feel I know WHL more now and very proud to be part of your team. I have been in the travel industry for  a long time but I must admit that I have learnt a lot during the two days conference and I believe that all the new friendships that I have made during the event will last a lifetime.”
– Khirul Zainie, whl.travel partner from Brunei

Traditional Vietnamese music holds the attention of all at the conference's final dinner

“I absolutely agree that those few days during the conference in Saigon meant a lot to me too. The sessions were very informative, the workshops were quite interactive, all other activities and gatherings were equally memorable and the hosts were very cordial and caring. The farewell dinner, like Khirul said, gave me some of best moments of my life.”
– Navin Shrestha, whl.travel partner from Nepal (Kathmandu and Pokhara)

“It was nice to meet the core WHL team and fellow MPOs to get a better understanding on the WHL business model. I’ve been to many international tourism gathering but the one developed by WHL is really making people get closer to each other. To become a WHL family.”
– Ng Sebastian, whl.travel partner from Indonesia (Komodo and the Lesser Sunda Islands)

“I’d just like to say thank you and what a great time we had at the conference. It was not only fantastic to meet all of you and finally put a face to your name, but also to learn more about WHL and the fantastic efforts every individual member, MPO and partners are putting in. The organisation, meals and team-building activities were a real highlight. But overall, the conference was so beneficial to me personally and I look forward to the next.”
– Anne Done, whl.travel partner from Laos (Champasak, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane)

In a word: success. The conference brought everyone together and will now be translated into the further growth and improvement of whl.travel, especially in the Asia and Pacific regions.

In its own way, even Bangkok shows that it cares about the health of the planet.

Bringing to 25 the current total number of whl.travel destinations in the region, the website for Bangkok – a vital travel gateway – joins six other sites in Thailand (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Koh Samui, Pattaya, Phuket and Sukhothai), four in Laos (Champasak, Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng and Vientiane), three in Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Sihanoukville) and a total of 11 across Vietnam (including Danang, Hoi An, Hue, Saigon and Sapa).

Through whl.travel, travellers now have access to an unprecedented number of accommodations and tours across the region, especially small- and medium-sized operations in off-the-radar destinations often poorly covered by the competition. Through a careful selection of hand-picked hotels, guesthouses, tours and even village homestays, whl.travel offers you the chance to really get to know the destination you are visiting.

Awed by its grandeur, don't overlook the details of Bangkok's Grand Palace

whl.travel sets itself apart by virtue of its local connections. It delivers  unique products by leveraging the local knowledge of on-site local operators who can respond to travelllers’ needs in the way that most services don’t. whl.travel’s growing attention to responsible travel through its Caring for the Destination programme means travellers can now plan and book their holidays to meet their own personal requirements while also being sensitive to host cultures and the survival of the planet.

The Thailand and Laos sites are managed by Teamworkz Consulting, a local business-support company specializing in tourism marketing and sustainable tourism development.

“Here at Teamworkz we are very excited to have finished our initial expansion plans in Thailand. With the launch of the Pattaya and Bangkok websites, we now have seven of the main destinations in Thailand covered,” said Lee Sheridan, its general manager.

“However we feel that this is just the beginning. There is so much more potential in Thailand, especially around the southern islands. With such a diversity of interesting places to experience, we would not be offering our guests the best possible options without including some of the more outlaying areas. With our planned expansion in Laos as well to cover Xieng Khouane and Luang Namtha Provinces, and with our partners in Cambodia and Vietnam, we will soon be in a position to offer the most broad-ranging selection of hotels, guesthouses and experential tours across the Greater Mekong Subregion.”