Our overseas suppliers are very possibly the most vital piece in our holiday jigsaw. In fact, we don’t think of them as “Business Suppliers” because our relationship is also about mutual respect and, most of all, friendship. We’ve never seen the point in squeezing every last cent out of our partners and believe that we should always pay them a fair price for their services.
Basically, we believe in Fair Trade wherever we work in the world.
We select our overseas partners very, very carefully indeed. We believe that it is their knowledge of the local terrain and, in the case of our Aurora guides, the Northern Lights that sets our trips apart. We only work with highly experienced and qualified guides. After all, the vast majority of our holidays take place in the Arctic Circle and to somebody who lives in say Central London, it can be quite a daunting prospect.
The Arctic is a wonderful and beautiful place but it’s not somewhere that most people want to explore without some experienced guidance. Nobody knows the local environment, the local conditions and, of course, the best Aurora viewing vantage spots better than the people who live and work in the area. We repeatedly state that there is no substitute for experience and when it comes to visiting the Arctic Circle, it could not be more true.
As an independent and family-owned company ourselves we also prefer to work with similar businesses in the destinations we feature. We find that such businesses share our philosophies and approach to running a business and operating holidays. Basically, to live, we have to make a profit, our partners have to make a profit (that’s working life) and, just as importantly, our mutual clients have to have a fantastic and memorable holiday.
It’s a simple formula but one that larger, more corporate companies do not always adhere to. For that reason, wherever and whenever possible, we work with local and independent partners to ensure that we feature characterful, rather than, standardised accommodation and activity providers who believe in offering the best customer experience rather than maximising profits.
We’ve been in this business for a long time and over the years many of our overseas suppliers have become great friends.
We visit them in their homes and they visit ours here in the UK.
We wouldn’t have it any other way!
