Tamara Heber-Percy and James Lohan are the husband and wife team behind boutique and luxury hotel booking specialists Mr & Mrs Smith. They created the company out of frustration over a decade ago while they were dating, and today their chic travel guides are a favourite among travellers looking for extraordinary properties.
'I was looking for somewhere nice to take Tam, and the guidebooks we were using weren't giving particularly good recommendations. It was all chintzy country houses, no duvets, and scratchy sheets and hairdryers attached to the wall,' Lohan recalls.
Heber-Percy adds with a laugh: 'A lot of them were more OAP than VIP.' One weekend, after one such experience, the couple decided they'd had enough and drew up a list of what they expected from a hotel and a guidebook: from the best places for Sunday brunch to fun things to do as a couple in the area.
'We wanted to arrange for couples to go away for the weekend and write reviews as 'Mr and Mrs Smith', in a very anecdotal style,' Lohan says.
With no experience in the travel industry - Lohan's background is restaurants, bars and clubs, while Heber-Percy used to run her own introductions agency - they were initially worried that people wouldn't take them seriously.
Unfortunately, they were right. Several publishers told the couple they'd never make any money in such an overcrowded market. Even so, they decided to remortgage their house to set up their own business.
