As its popularity grew, the entrepreneurial duo became more ambitious. They decided to expand their business much further than the guidebook to become a specialised service for booking boutique and luxury hotels around the world.
“The lightbulb moment was when we were away on one of our weekends…the hotelier said that 50% of his weekend business was from the Mr & Mrs Smith card (inside the book),” James says.
By presenting the card, visitors received specials such as a bottle of champagne, a later check-out time or perhaps a free cocktail at the hotel bar.
“And we thought, wow, we need to get some of that business – we knew the book was great for building a brand but we wouldn’t get a scalable business from it.”
They set about raising approximately £2 million through family and business people, then opened offices in Melbourne and New York to facilitate communication with hotels across the world.
In 2005 they went online with mrandmrssmith.com, whilst grappling with technology platforms, relationship-building, customer service and marketing. Then in 2006 they established an in-house reservations team, and became the middle-man between the hotels and consumers.
“We are bringing in rates from 900 hotels live around the world, in different currencies – it is a real challenge…we need to have customers talk to us offline…we are acting as a travel agent at the same time,” James says.
Across three head office locations, around 30 employees are available to answer calls to customers. There are also marketing professionals, finance experts and travel writers in the growing team.
The business now generates around £40 million ($A68m) in bookings per annum.
James explains that their success largely comes from building a great reputation and relying on word of mouth, as travel is something people talk about in detail to their friends.
They also have targeted approaches to marketing, such as investing in search engine optimisation, public relations and strategic partnerships. These range from large-scale affiliations with British Airways, to smaller scale associations with beauty brand Aesop.
The business got a celebrity boost when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie starred in the film bearing the same name. James jokes the association means people expect the Hollywood couple to turn up to hotels, not he and Tamara.
“You need three or four touch points before people start consuming, such as hearing on radio, a friend’s recommendation, you’ll read an article, then you might see it in Google, and if you see it in different areas of your life, that is when people start to believe it,” James says.
As chief technology officer, Tamara invests time in tracking trends, keeping an eye on what people are searching for and booking. Social networking is integral to their approach, but she stresses it is not a silver bullet. She thinks that while the business needs to appear in each social media space, it is best to invest time and money where you are showing the most return for your business.
James explains that some social media ideas just don’t take off.
“We tried a Facebook ‘hint’ campaign, where we had a ‘send me away’ hint that you could send to a friend or partner. We thought it would be super viral…but it was not as successful as we thought,” he says.
Now celebrating 10 years since launching, and with over 75,000 members on board and receiving over a million visitors to the site each month, James and Tamara have just as much drive as when they began.
In 2012 they raised over £2 million pounds through crowd-funding, offering customers the option to invest in the company by purchasing bonds. Inspired by their foray into parenthood, they have a new division, Smith & Family, launching in the UK soon. Like Mr & Mr Smith, it will specialise in hotel recommendations and bookings, but for child-friendly hotels.
Also in the pipeline is a homewares range, At Home with Mr & Mrs Smith, with bed linen and interiors. A selection of boutique paints has been created, themed in city, coastal and country ranges. For sale online, the paints will come with a special paint testing ‘I-patch’ that can be moved from wall to wall.
They also have their first international hotel awards launching later this year, albeit with a Mr & Mrs Smith twist. Categories such as ‘Hottest Hotel Bar’ will uphold the glam-factor associated with the brand.
“We want to be a fully-rounded business, not just a one-dimensional content curator,” James says.
Tamara agrees, but admits it’s tough as a business owner with a family to get the work-life balance right, particularly as they are travelling at least a quarter of the year.
“I constantly feel guilty,” she says of the juggle. “The good thing is that work hours can be more on your own terms.”
The blessing of their business is the amazing travel opportunities and the fascinating people they meet. Rio, Ibiza and the Amalfi Coast are among their favourite destinations, but they also love Melbourne for its food and coffee culture. Next stop after visiting the Melbourne office was a retreat in Bali – but always with one eye on finding hotels for the business.
They hope that the 10 years of self-belief, hard work and risks will enable them to keep Mr & Mrs Smith thriving for years to come.
“The foundation of what we build, I hope, is a company that will still be here in 50 years,” James says.
Melinda is a business writer and editor and helps companies to bring their brand stories to life through her small business, Oliver Content. Melinda was previously the content manager for KPMG Australia, an editor of SmartCompany, and spent many years as a journalist.
