Tributes paid to Hays Travel boss who never forgot his Sunderland roots
LOCAL
HERO
John Hays , one of the greatest businessman Wearside has ever produced , died suddenly , just as this issue of Wear Business magazine was going to press .
Wear Business editor Graeme Anderson recalls the man who built a billion-pound travel business from a single shop in Seaham and the qualities that made him special .
I n a previous existence , as the Sunderland Echo ’ s chief sports writer , I dealt with millionaires every day .
But I have never valued a person on what they were worth in the bank ; I value them on their worth as a person , on the quality of their character .
And John Hays , while undoubtedly a rich and successful businessman , was a man of great character . He was also similarly unimpressed by money as a metric by which to measure someone ’ s life . Surprisingly , for someone who made so much of it , money was not what got him up in the morning . Fun , enjoyment and the satisfaction of rising to and overcoming a business challenge all ranked higher in his view of the world .
And that much was clear when I interviewed him for the first issue of Wear Business , in November 2019 , in the office in which he died .
An Oxford University graduate , he landed a job in the city of London as a young man but realised quickly that while the business work would make him rich , it would provide zero job satisfaction . So he simply packed it in and walked away . Instead , he chose to set up a single travel shop in the town of Seaham , and looked to build a business from there .
Those were two life choices , even in the most challenging times , that he never regretted .
“ I come to work these days because I enjoy it ,” he reflected last year .
“ Once you ’ ve got enough money , it ’ s about what you enjoy , and I know it sounds corny but I enjoy coming to work .”
This past year , with the tourism industry ravaged horrendously by the Covid-19 pandemic , would not have been so enjoyable .
But it was typical of John that , along with wife and
chair of Hays Travel , Irene , it was just another business challenge to be faced and overcome rather than to consider walking away from .
While his business acumen was the stuff of legend – “ my husband has the business-brain the size of an elephant ," Irene memorably said during their hugely ambitious takeover of the Thomas Cook holiday empire in 2019 – it was matched by his capacity to enjoy himself and to make sure that those who worked for Hays enjoyed themselves too .
The many stories of his kindnesses and generosity have been well-documented since his passing .
The scale of the staff Christmas parties are well known and he and Irene were rightly proud that the company has been ranked , for the past four years , in the Sunday Times ’ Top 100 companies to work for .
I had a taste of that kindness when he so generously agreed to be the cover story of the launch issue of Wear Business magazine last year .
There was absolutely nothing in it for him but he wanted to be supportive . Maybe it pleased him to help a Sunderland-based start-up – having always remembered his own .
In his modest office , on the top floor of the impressive Hays Travel HQ on Sunderland ’ s Keel Square , he pointed out of the window : “ I can see from here my grandma ’ s house on Southwick Road where I used to live when I was a kid .
“ It became my home for a while because Mam was poorly a lot when I was a kid and Dad used to work in the pit so , for a couple of years , I used to live with relatives . “ I can actually see the house , a two-up , two-down colliery house , just along from the Halfway House pub . “ I like that .” John was someone who never forgot his Sunderland roots .
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