Interview with Iain

Iain Raeper. ONEE Product & Partnership Director

With one year at ONEE under his belt, we took the opportunity to catch up with our Product & Partnership Director Iain Raeper and talk all things villas …. Here’s what we found out.

Happy Anniversary - how has the first year for ONEE been?

It has been an extremely busy, fascinating, super-quick learning curve of a year! It’s been a great experience to be able to build from the bottom up in an exciting start-up business with a relatively blank canvas. I’ve been able to assist with the addition of new product and new team members facilitating the growth of the business and the ONEE Luxury Travel brand. It obviously hasn’t been without its challenges with regard to the general state of the travel industry and hangover from Covid restrictions but like most other businesses out there we are now beginning to see the fruits of our labour.

Barbados was launched by ONEE in 2021

How would you sum up the key points of difference that set you apart in the industry?

ONEE Luxury Travel specialises in supplying luxury private homes, villas, chalets and yachts to the B2B marketplace. We firmly believe that our product portfolio is second to none within the industry currently. We now have approximately 1,000 live products across 36 countries, and that will increase to 44 countries within the coming months.

In addition to our live products, we have access to many more “offline” properties and yachts that are not generally available to the travel trade. This USP sets us apart as we can offer the exclusivity that our high end luxury tour operator & travel agent partners are seeking. ONEE are 100% B2B and do not advertise or sell to consumers directly.

What are the products that are selling the best at ONEE now?

At the moment, traditional Mediterranean destinations such as Spain, Greece, Portugal, Italy and Croatia are incredibly popular. We are also receiving several requests for winter ski where we are well served in Europe and the USA. Finally, we are now beginning to see more interest in long haul destinations such as Arabia, Indian Ocean, Caribbean, SE Asia and South America. Private yachts and jets are also in demand, and via our network of partners we can offer luxury flexible options worldwide. All very promising for the present as well as the future.

Greece is just one of ONEE’s popular 2022 destinations

What advice would you give to the travel trade booking villas now? What do they need to look out for/what are the opportunities?

As you can imagine, short term lead-in enquiries for summer 2022 are popular, but increasingly tricky to field purely due to demand. Particularly in Mediterranean Europe. I would suggest booking with as much lead-in time as possible to avoid availability issues whilst taking advantage of best prices. ONEE often receives short notice updates on villas that have last minute availability, often due to cancellations, so it is worth joining our travel trade Facebook group where we always endeavour to highlight these opportunities. facebook.com/groups/oneetraveltrade

Join the private ONEE Facebook group to stay up to date

What support can you offer agents specifically to help them sell more?

Very recently we were fortunate to welcome 2 new additions to the ONEE family, Tim Maloney and Tom Langwade who are UK based Business Development Managers. Tim and Tom provide support to our partners throughout the UK, and can provide training and collateral to assist if required. Equally, we are always happy to offer webinars and the option to access images for trade promotion. We recently launched the ONEE Yacht Collection, and information on the product as well as advice on how to sell it can be found on our website at https://www.onee.com/yachts. We do advise all our trade partners to register on our website to avail of the full functionality including having visibility of dynamic, variable commissions. https://www.onee.com/register

Africa is the newest addition the ONEE portfolio

Plans for the future at ONEE?

From a product perspective, we continue to grow daily. It is our mission to have a footprint in as many countries globally as possible. Provided the product meets our luxury requirements. New destinations on the radar currently are Bali, Zimbabwe, Peru, Colombia, Tanzania and British Virgin Islands. We will also continue to add new product to our current destinations including major additions throughout Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece. From a travel trade perspective, it is our aim to continue growing our brand throughout the UK and beyond and developing new relationships as well as nurturing and growing current ones. Technology-wise, we have further upgrades on the horizon regarding our website functionality, and we also have a travel agent app in the pipeline. Watch this space!

Meet the ONEE Team

Passionate and professional, the ONEE Team have over 150 years of experience of travel between them, meet the rest of the team.

See the whole ONEE Portfolio HERE. For these and many more options for your next curated stay go to www.onee.com. If you would like to have a chat with our dedicated travel trade team, call 0208 142 4801 or send an email to info@onee.com.