Johnsons Coaches are here, there and everywhere
THE summer’s here and business is booming at Johnsons Coaches the well-known family firm established 114 years ago in 1909.
From that day to this the coach company has prided itself on its close relationship with customers and right now is the peak season with daily coaches heading off in different directions all over the country.
It’s nice to be by the seaside and once again the hot spots include Bournemouth, Torquay and Weston-super-Mare and Barry Island is a sellout but Johnsons also has a comprehensive Europe Continental Programme with Switzerland, Austria, Spain and Holland once again proving popular.
“Since the end of Covid, bookings have gone up because people were stuck indoors and want to get out and go on holiday now. We’re also seeing a lot of last-minute bookings to the big cities like London, Manchester and Liverpool and we are regularly sold out for shows like Sleeping Beauty, ABBA Voyage, Peter Pan, Les Miserables and Hamilton,” said Lauren Davies, head of business at Johnsons.
Compared to other styles of travel, holidays by coach have proven over the years to score very highly for happy social interaction and preferred by older customers to travelling by train.
Lauren added that a holiday coach does not have a class hierarchy like first or business class and because a group of people travelling together on a coach spend a fair amount of time together. This is due to the nature of the holiday – that meals are taken together and attractions are visited together – so people get to know each other during the holiday and make new friends. This is why holidays by coach are so popular with people travelling alone.
“In 2022, we took almost 7,000 customers on holiday and out of these, 2,710 were single travellers and the trend is continuing this year. So far we’ve booked 6,478 customers, of which 2,838 are in single rooms, or double or twin rooms for sole occupancy. It’s been heart-warming to hear the regular stories from our customers, where they found themselves alone, but then taken the brave step of booking a holiday with us and made new and lasting friendships during their travels,” Lauren said.
There are 95 full time drivers which includes drivers for tours, excursions, private hires and contract work. In addition, there are 16 part time drivers and 62 office staff which include mechanics, cleaners, marketing, tour/excursions operations, reservations, operations and private hire sales and the school run service which is 20 years old.
Johnsons commercial director, John Johnson, still helps load the luggage and talks with customers before they set off on their trip and it’s all part of the personal touch – the customer experience – which the company is so proud of.
Johnsons is about to increase the size of its fleet including two new double deckers, two 49-seater club class coaches, more luxury 43-seater coaches and two 35-seater coaches.
The Stratford Herald Business and Tourism Awards are in October at the Crowne Plaza and Johnsons Coaches is sponsoring the customer experience award category so what are the key ingredients needed to be successful?
“We are proud of our customer experience,” said Lauren. “It’s the personal touch that counts. Even during Covid we talked to our customers to keep the close relationship special. We carried out surveys and went above and beyond so that we could give them an even better service when Covid was over.”
