Steve Endacott

Chief Executive
OHG Accommodation

Steve Endacott, Chief Executive of OHG Accommodation and 16-year veteran of the travel industry, began his high-profile career at the age of 25.

In 1988, Steve was hired as Financial Controller for global holidays at Sunworld ltd, and rose rapidly through the financial ranks of the company to become Finance Director.

In 1991, Steve began working at AirTours, (which later became Mytravel). Here he worked as an integral part of a management team, which achieved a continuous growth in profits and passenger volumes within the tour operating division.

With this solid experience under his belt, Steve headed to the USA in 1997 where he worked as Managing Director of Inspirations Holidays and later Vice President of E-Commerce for Carlson Companies. Steve was a key component in the merging of Carlson Companies with UK operator, Thomas Cook, which netted a profit of £520 million.

In 1999, Steve had his first taste of starting his own business. As Managing Director of Urbanweb ltd, Steve achieved breakeven profitability in its second year of operation, whilst turning over £68 million and employing 345 staff across the group.

In 2002, Steve was persuaded to return to run AirTours, (Mytravel) and Going Places, which by that time was suffering massive financial difficulties. In the face of adversity, Steve was able to stabilise and manage the business in sufficient time to refinance the £1.5 billion debt. But despite Steve's phenomenal achievements he couldn't escape the fact that MyTravel was fundamentally flawed; the huge company was trying to operate four million holidays a year using archaic legacy technology and depending solely on high-street travel agents.

Steve's entrepreneurial zeal led to the foundation of OHG Accommodation in 2004. This cutting-edge company was created in direct response to evolving markets and advancing technology. Steve's primary objective was to break away from technological constraints and exploit the rapidly developing dynamic packaging sector within the UK travel industry.

OHG Accommodation sought to answer the increasing demands of customers by offering a one-stop-shop for individual holiday components, eg accommodation, transfers and flights, as well as complete holiday packages, which could be sold on the Internet and through travel agents.

OHG Accommodation's unrivalled success has resulted in it being voted the 'Best Dynamic Packaging Company' three years running, 2005/6/7, in the British Travel Trade Awards and Travel Bulletin.

Steve believes the successful tour operator of the future will offer a wide choice of product, simplicity of booking and de-risk the tour operating model by being demand-led.

"The days of saying 'Here's a can of beans, you can have anyone you like as long as it's this one' are doomed. Vive la revolution!" Steve Endacott.