Inspired by a childhood spent in awe of the nature, culture and people around him in New Zealand and Australia, Andrew created TravelEssence to steer you away from the tourist traps and put you in the right places, with the right people, so that you get to experience these countries in the best possible way, focused on what is most important to you.
I was born and raised in New Zealand, and plenty of my family live in Australia. From the time I was a child in the 70’s, until today, I have been travelling through Australia and New Zealand as a local.
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Driving through beautiful landscapes takes a lot of beating in my book. Up early, taking photos, watching wild weather, wandering in nature, cooking outside, staying in quirky places run by interesting local people.
I’ll often take the road to 'Who Knows Where', wondering where it takes me. Ending up in the middle of nowhere, sleeping bag packed just in case. I love a road trip. Always have since I was a kid. And one’s passion is a good place to start when starting a business.
I have been in the travel industry since 1990. In that time, I’ve been to many amazing places, but I've also seen many bad industry practices.
— Andrew Morten - CEO and Founder of TravelEssence
Let’s start with the fact that many in the industry treat travellers as walking wallets. I saw an industry doing what was easy versus what was right. I saw an industry not adopting or adapting because it was too hard to change. I saw many great experiences and places to stay that had no clients. I saw agents paying their suppliers months late, to the detriment of their clients. I saw companies offering holidays to New Zealand and Australia that I, as a local, would never like to do.
In 2005, I wrote my MBA thesis on how to make small, owner-operated accommodation and activities viable long-term businesses. As part of this, I asked over 550 travellers what they wanted when travelling. Over 80% preferred small, unique places to stay and things to do with a high degree of local knowledge. Exactly what these small owner-operated businesses excelled at.
These are passionate people offering visitors amazing places to stay and things to do.
Sadly, most were empty because travel agents wouldn’t work with small businesses, because working with big businesses was far easier. The system was broken- clients wanted one thing, yet travel agents offered the exact opposite. So, like all impassioned people who saw problems all over their industry, with youth on my side, I went out to fix all of this.
In 2006, the world was going through a technological revolution - post and fax were replaced with email. Catalogues and brochures were replaced with websites. All of a sudden, everyone had a lot of information right at their fingertips, and many travellers charged into arranging their own holidays with enthusiasm. Rightly so, to be honest, because travel agencies were often just order takers, lacking first-hand knowledge, only offering what the big players in the industry provided, and a lot of that was boring, mainstream slop.
So in 2006, I asked why anyone would need a travel agent. Well, I could think of hundreds of reasons, but it meant inventing a totally new model. So that's what I did.
Because I understood that these small business owners could thrill our clients and make their holiday wonderful, or terrible, we had to make them love working with us. So we needed easy, accurate, foolproof systems, and we would pay all our hosts at least a week in advance of our clients' arrival.
Because I wanted to create a perfect holiday for each individual client, I had to find out what each client wanted from their journey, what they loved and what they didn’t. And that’s why I’d often sit with clients for 2 or 3 hours.
Because I didn’t want the sadness of unhappy clients, I concluded that investing time in the beginning was the way to keep us all happy.
Because I wanted people to explore more and push their own boundaries, it was important that every client’s holiday was organised perfectly, so people could enjoy new and wonderful places and people.
Because many amazing places were at the end of unsealed roads (where most campers aren't allowed to go), I made sure our clients were insured whilst driving on the road to Who Knows Where. And that they had plenty of time to go on journeys of discovery to somewhere secluded and untouched. No rush, no fuss.
What I wanted most was for people to come home and say this was the best holiday of their lives.
— Andrew Morten - CEO and Founder of TravelEssence
So, with my ambition set to lofty and limitless, I did what all starters do - I worked 7 days a week. I travelled far and wide across Australia and New Zealand, building relationships with hundreds of small tourism businesses, seeing up close and personal what they did, how they did it, and how they would treat my clients.
All I had to do was create the best travel specialist to New Zealand and Australia in the world. Simple.
I visited clients at their homes on weekends and evenings, often until late, to find out what their vision of the perfect holiday was. I then sat down and created their holiday and got them arranged, and they were usually 100% perfect.
Another thing I remember like it was yesterday was when we had 60 clients stuck in Kaikoura after an earthquake closed all the roads. No one in or out. I heard that the Navy would send ships in a week to pick people up. A week. That's not a holiday. That sounds like hell. I thought - if it were me, what would I want? I would want to get out of there fast. But how? The roads were closed. But the airport was undamaged.
So I got on the phone and called several small airlines we worked with. I needed a 12-seat plane to fly 7 times- clients and baggage- to Wellington and Blenheim. In 4 hours, I had it all arranged, and the next day, all of our clients were picked up and put back on holiday. Problem solved.
That’s what I would expect if I were our client - a solution when Mother Nature decides to interfere with my plans.
Their first stay was in a cottage amongst grape vines. They thought it would be the highlight of their trip. Until they got to the next place. A lodge on the coast north of Kaikoura. This will be the best, they said. Until they got to the house on the edge of Lake Ohau. Then they figured it out - this was what their whole holiday would be like - one delightful place to the next. Each is different, but each is wonderful.
They came home thrilled to pieces. They told me that when they first received their holiday proposal, they found the price on the high side. Then they went through it and saw everything that was included, and said yes, it was very complete, with everything they had dreamed of.
Now, after they were home, they couldn’t figure out how we had given them so much for what they had paid.
They told me it was their best holiday ever. That made my day, and I remember it like it was only yesterday.
We have grown quite a bit. Now we have specialist teams constantly travelling through Australia and New Zealand to find the most special and unique places to stay and things to do.
We have travel specialists who have also travelled a lot Down Under or even lived Down Under, who often have more local knowledge than I do. We have a client service specialist available for every client - before, during and after travel. We have a team that monitors weather and other events to provide solutions before our clients even know there is a problem.
We have invested heavily in people and systems to catch, track and fix the critical micro details that 20 years of experience has taught us are vital if we want a client’s holiday to be the best holiday of their life. Fast-forward to now, and it’s even said we might just be the best Australia and New Zealand specialists in the world.
And that's what we do today, as we did from day one. We create the best holidays that many of our clients have ever experienced. And that's something we as a team are really proud of.
— Andrew Morten - CEO and Founder of TravelEssence