Tamara Lohan MBE, Mr & Mrs Smith – The great escape: how to get away from it all

Episode 46,   Nov 13, 2020, 10:01 AM

Tamara Lohan MBE says even amid the lockdowns and restrictions of the past year, she couldn’t think of a world without travel and the possibilities it brings to discover different cultures. But the Mr & Mrs Smith founder and CEO believes the pandemic is an opportunity to reset and make the industry fit for the future: “I think we can learn from this to travel in a better way, in a way that is kinder to the planet and kinder to ourselves as well.”

Today, Mr & Mrs Smith is a brand synonymous with luxury and comfort. But this tech-driven travel club began life as a book sensation that took hotel lovers and industry experts by storm. Tamara shares her founding journey alongside husband and business partner James, from the ‘Great Escape’ that inspired the guide book, to its pivot to a technology platform, to adapting to a new and uncertain world in 2020.

Tamara Lohan is an entrepreneur and technology strategist who co-founded the boutique hotel travel specialists Mr & Mrs Smith with her husband James. As CTO, Tamara was responsible for evolving the company's digital infrastructure. She became CEO of the company in 2020. Today, Mr and Mrs Smith operates from offices in London, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore and Ibiza and has more than 1.5 million members world-wide. In 2014, Lohan was awarded an MBE for services to the British travel industry.