When Tamara Heber-Percy and James Lohan were courting, finding getaways to cater to their tastes wasn’t easy. They were after unique, individual, boutique experiences. In 2002 they decided to create their own guidebook and in 2003 the first was published. Named Mr & Mrs Smith, for the monikers chosen at identity-conscious check-ins, the business now offers a comprehensive website and app in addition to the guidebooks.

Australian visitors

Mr & Mrs Smith showcases destinations all over the world. The site sees 33,000 Australian unique visitors each month, making up the third largest group of visitors after the UK and US.

The majority of Australian visitors are from Sydney and Melbourne and the typical customer is 25-35 years old, has a high disposable income and lives in the inner city – mostly along the Eastern Seaboard.

Social media team structure

Mr & Mrs Smith have a social media team within the company formed with people from each department including marketing, editorial and tech. Input is also sought from the bookings and hotels teams. Mr & Mrs Smith use social media for marketing and customer service. “I'd call it customer engagement,” says Heber-Percy.

Twitter

“Our Twitter feed is quite one-to-one customer service focused and we get daily requests from people asking us advice on our opinions on hotels, destination information and if we've got availability,” says Heber-Percy.

Facebook

The Mr & Mrs Smith Facebook sees more engagement and less customer service, shares Heber-Percy. “They like engaging with us on a more personal level. We ask them for comments and opinions, it's strange, we're asking them on Facebook and they're asking us on Twitter. It's quite interesting.”

Negative feedback

Whilst the vast majority of feedback is positive, when negative feedback occurs, the team is quick to respond. “If we get a negative comment we acclimate immediately,” says Heber-Percy.

“The last negative comment was from a blogger in the US who had a bit of a complaint about our cancellation process. We actually then implemented a different cancellation process off the back of it. We got a comment back from that blogger saying, ‘This is the most gracious communication I've ever had from a travel company.’ You can turn negative into positive is what we've learnt. Also automation is all very well, but when it comes to customer service you've just got to have that personal element.”

24/7

Mr & Mrs Smith monitor social media most hours. “We really thought that was important for us and that's why we've invested very heavily,” says Heber-Percy. Teams in Melbourne, London and New York are available for 24 hours at least 6 days a week. “We thought that was very important to be there for our customers however and wherever they wanted to contact us. It's not just that people are traveling, we have customers in all of these regions.”

A unique app

The Mr & Mrs Smith: Plan and Play app has two modes: plan and play.

The plan section allows users to browse over 800 boutique hotels, check real-time availability and offers, book stays, use maps and create wish lists.

The play section includes sassy games like truth and dare together with instructions on how to mix a mini bar cocktail, pack the perfect picnic and create excuses to get out of work.

TuneSmith takes the users iTunes playlist and creates a soundscape to suit the mood.

“We've had 15,000 downloads [of the app] and the comments are amazing,” says Tamara Heber-Percy, CTO and Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith. “We wanted for it to be a brand piece more than anything.” 

The app has been well-received by users and attracted positive press coverage, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. “I wish I had built it Mac compatible. Although you can use it on the iPad, it's just a times two size and it would have been better if we had built it Mac compatible from the start. Mind you, we do have a great idea that we'll be launching next year specifically for an iPad app.”