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.”

Young novice monks fix the temple's boat prior to the annual Wat Xieng Thong Festival in Luang Prabang, Laos (by Stanislas Fradelizi)

“Along with this, the three websites in Laos have already surpassed more than 100,000 unique visitors this year,” Sheridan enthused. “The Luang Prabang site alone has received over 60,000 unique visitors this year so far, and with our high season just starting, we may be able to reach 100,000 unique visitors for this one site in 2009.”

All in all, that’s not bad at all for a young company in an off-the-beaten-path nation notable for its least developed country status.

Many Twists and Turns

While there’s no contesting Sheridan’s golden touch today in Lao tourism, it was by no means a given that he should end where he is.

A statue inside the grounds of Wat Impeng Temple, Vientiane, Laos. Photo courtesy of Tari Bowling

“My studies were in human geography,” confessed Sheridan. “There was nothing specifically on tourism, but I studied a lot on Third World development in Southeast Asia. I was interested in tourism and I did my thesis on that in Koh Pha Ngan. After university I took a year out and spent a lot of time on Thai beaches. Then I headed up to Laos on a visa run, to extend my Thai visa. I got to a town called Vang Vieng and basically, I’m not entirely sure how, I got a job as a kayaking guide on the river there. I had never done kayaking before and never been a guide before, but I ended up working with them for about four months.”

Now, almost a decade later and a few twists and turns further down the river of life, he’s still in Laos. And, judging by his enthusiasm for the country and the energy he puts into helping build the kind of national tourism industry that will help keep it beautiful, he must love it.

Tapping the whl.travel Vein

Sheridan found his way into the whl.travel fold in mid 2005 through a website he started called mekongspirit.com. “At the time there were three Laos sites being managed by the local Hotel and Restaurant Association, which weren’t performing particularly well. They were averaging one booking a day in total from the three sites and complaining that this was too much work for them.”

Sheridan started operation of these sites in November 2005 as the local partner of whl.travel. “It was very slow at the start.” The sites were averaging one or two bookings a day, but whl.travel was still in its infancy and “I wasn’t putting enough resources into being an local partner as I should have at the time,” Sheridan recalled.

“The turn-around came with the development of whl.travel as an organization, which encouraged me to invest a lot more in the whl.travel side of things. It’s now the main part of my company. Most of my resources and my staff are working on being the whl.travel partner, whereas at the start it was only a small aspect of what I was trying to do. Now we’re getting a rough average of between 15 and 20 bookings a day and we perform pretty well in search engines – we’re basically number one for Laos sites in Google.”

A Broad Portfolio

Despite Sheridan’s focus on travel bookings through whl.travel, his Teamworkz work stretches into tourism consulting in sustainable tourism. “I believe that responsible tourism is something we need to promote, something good. But finding the right way to push this or develop it is another matter altogether. It’s going to take time.”

A young boy watches from the banks of the Nam Song River in Vang Vieng as travellers kayak past (by Stanislas Fradelizi)

Sheridan hasn’t been halting in his efforts to do the right thing. From 2006 to mid-2008, he worked for a project called Stay Another Day, which started off in Siem Reap (Cambodia) as something called Things to Do Beside the Temples. “The whole idea was to get people to stay a bit longer, realise that there was more to do than just Angkor Wat. It was more about experiential travel, connecting with different organizations that would not necessarily normally be involved in tourism – some of the local development organizations and NGOs that would benefit from increased exposure, additional revenue sources through tourism. From there we expanded this into Laos. Luang Prabang was in a similar situation at the time, where a lot of people just went to the temples. It proved very successful, so we expanded it across Laos and across Cambodia and introduced it to Vietnam as well.”

Since then, Sheridan has worked on a number of other projects to develop capacity, long-term tourism development strategies, long-term marketing strategies and even some destination development work.

One recent project is with the Enterprise Challenge Fund (ECF), a part of AusAid that focuses on supporting the private sector. “I applied for a grant from the ECF to expand my whl.travel operations in Laos, which would include covering three new provinces as well as building hotel websites for each and every one of the hotels I work with in Laos.”

Lee Sheridan (centre) and two Teamworkz teammates, Anne and Mouk, accept their R&R reward

Yet another undertaking is in cooperation with Ecotourism Laos, which recently won Planeta’s Ecotourism Spotlight Award for the third consecutive year. “Ecotourismlaos.com has also just signed an affiliate deal with us and are now selling all the accommodation providers we work with in Laos,” reported Sheridan.

Reward and Recognition

Sheridan’s dynamism has not gone unnoticed by the whl.travel network. At the July 2009 whl.travel Asia-Pacific Regional conference, Teamworkz Consulting was officially announced as the whl.travel Franchisee of the Year 2008-2009, winner of a Reward and Recognition program for its work in Vientiane, Laos.

“I like this program a lot!” admitted Sheridan. “Personally, I’m an extremely competitive person, so as soon as they bring out anything with lead tables in it, I want to be the top of it. Anything I do I’m extremely competitive.”

Teamworkz, which could just as easily have earned its laurels for its labours in Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng, both also in Laos, also owns and operates five other sites in Laos and seven in Thailand.

“Thailand is huge potential,” said Sheridan. “The number of visitors and number of destinations is huge, but there’s also a lot of competition. In Laos, I’m very lucky. I’m one of the very few people who can offer any variety of hotels. I’ve managed to secure the marketplace. But in Thailand I’m competing with a lot bigger players who’ve been established for a lot longer. It’s something that’s going to take a lot of time.”

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 one local operator 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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