W L TRAVEL
WIRRAL LIFE MEET JAYNE O ' GORMAN OF LUXURY TRAVEL COMPANY , AZURE
Celebrating 20 years of travel , Jayne O ’ Gorman , the MD of Chester-based luxury travel company Azure shares her thoughts .
Growing up on the Wirral , how did you get your love for travelling ? Travel has always been a huge part of my life and I ’ ve worked in the industry for over 25 years . My parents and grandparents moved abroad not long after I was born and so I spent the first eleven years of my life growing up in South Africa before returning home to the Wirral in the late 1980s . It ’ s this beginning that gave me my love of travel and I knew that I wanted to work in this industry from a very early age . I went on to study business and tourism at university and after graduating , I moved to London for a few years to begin my career in travel and I have never looked back .
How did you come to work at Azure ? A good friend of mine had recently started at Azure and told me they were looking for a Sales Manager and wanted to know if I was interested . After explaining to me the company ethos and values , I was really interested and joined after meeting the team . I started working in a small team of 4 people and we all did a bit of everything . By January 2008 , I was honoured to take the role of Managing Director and lead Azure into its 20th Anniversary year . It ’ s been wonderful to see the company grow whilst still staying true to the values which first attracted me to it 18 years ago .
In which ways have you seen the company change ? When I started , we sold luxury holidays to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean only . My vision was to offer escapes to destinations all over the world , so this meant growing our portfolio and company size without losing our identity as a family-run and independent luxury travel company . Today , we are a team of 20 people offering truly bespoke holidays for discerning travellers using our expert knowledge of the destinations and of course still with our friendly , personal touch . My guilty pleasure is listening to our sales team add some extra sparkle to a client ’ s dream holiday . A real game-changer was purchasing our very own Georgian premises in the heart of Chester in 2015 , renaming it ‘ Valerie House ’ in honour of my late mum . My mum , a local Wirral girl herself , became really involved in Azure , cleaning the offices , preparing the hotel contracts and was determined to be our Receptionist when we eventually got our own place . Sadly , this wasn ’ t to be as she passed away in 2013 , however , every letterhead , compliment slip and brochure now bears her name . We work hard whilst having lots of fun and incorporating mum ’ s name in this way enables us to continue to feel like a family .
Obvious question but we have to ask it ! Do you get to travel a lot with your job ? Oh yes ! We all do ! Before the pandemic , we spent a lot of time travelling because we are constantly expanding Azure ’ s portfolio and it is paramount that we ensure that every hotel and destination in our collection lives up to our luxury reputation . It ’ s a really tough job ... but somebody has to do it ! More seriously , this allows us to gain our local expertise and insider knowledge that distinguishes us here at Azure .
Where is your favourite place ? I don ’ t really have a ‘ favourite ’ as such . That said , my top destinations would be : - The Caribbean islands – such a huge variety like the small lesser-known
islands of Anguilla , St Barths & Bequia and the larger well-known islands like Barbados , Antigua and St Lucia . Each island has its own unique flavour and identity and if I was forced to choose one , I would say Jamaica . This scenically stunning island has it all ; fern gullies and mountains , beaches and rivers so together with some outstanding hotels , resorts and villas , Jamaica is the place to which I keep returning . The Maldives – it is breathtakingly beautiful with hundreds of small atolls and the clearest water you ’ ll ever see . It is the epitome of luxury with amazing resorts , food and service . Italy – it is so close and has something for everybody from wonderful cities such as Rome and Venice , the countryside of Tuscany , the famous Amalfi Coast and world-class ski resorts , making it an all year round destination for city breaks , sun and Winter sports . South Africa – this vast country holds a very special place in my heart as this is where I grew up . It has such extremes of terrain from the mountains to the plains and so many adventures too . One of my most treasured memories happened at the end of a safari holiday with my son ; as we were leaving , we flew in a small ‘ plane over the camp and I noticed him crying . When I asked him what was wrong , he told me “ I have just had the best time of my life and I cannot believe we are leaving ”. He was only 10 years old at the time but he appreciated that he had had a wonderful life-changing experience . Hearing this reinforced why I love my job so much .
We see you are involved in several Charity events . Yes , I love my Charity work ; it is a very important part of my life . We organise a Charity Ball every Summer at the Chester Grosvenor Hotel raising money for local and National charities and are always exceptionally well-attended . I cannot even begin to thank everybody who supports this . It is a superfun and successful event . In the past , I have taken part in a Charity version of Strictly Come Dancing … great fun but the professionals on TV have absolutely nothing to fear from me ! We have a Charity Bike Ride coming up this from Venice to Milan and I am busy training for this right now .
How has Azure coped during the pandemic ? It has been such a difficult 2 years for everybody and the travel industry in particular had a really tough time . Everyone pulled together and supported each other and we spent our time getting our clients home at the start of the pandemic and then re-scheduling people ’ s dream holidays sometimes 2 or 3 times ! I cannot praise my team enough for maintaining their positivity throughout these extremely difficult times .
And what is the future looking like ? With the world gradually opening up again , our clients as well as our team are travelling once more and it is wonderful for us to get back to what we love doing . Enquiries are up from our existing clients and we are also welcoming new people to Azure . It seems that travellers are really keen to plan that luxury escape after being ‘ grounded ’ for so long and there ’ s a real desire to spend quality time making magical new memories with those we love . So dust off that suitcase and get travelling again .
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