INSIGHT
Tony Partridge got his fi rst taste of travel by buying lost luggage. Now he returns it through his
multi-lingual information, emergency and lost luggage service CallUma. Juliet Dennis reports
A company that speaks
its customers’ language
A year ago few in the trade
would have heard of CallUma.
The 24-hour worldwide
multi-lingual help service,
launched to the industry
in March last year, is now used
by The Co-operative Travel,
Expedia, lastminute.com and
easyJet.
In January the company’s
profi le was raised when former
lastminute.com managing
director John Bevan joined as a
non-executive director.
In a move that could see the
service rolled out across highstreet
agencies, founder Tony
Partridge is in talks with TUI
Travel, Thomas Cook, and
Advantage. Two operators are
understood to be on the verge
of signing up.
The timing of the trade
launch of the company – which
offers an emergency and information
phone and text service
as well as luggage tracking –
could play in its favour, with
failures such as the XL Leisure
Group and the recession
encouraging holidaymakers to
be prepared for emergencies.
These conditions have made
the company more attractive,
confi rmed Bevan. “In tough
times people are more aware of
what can go wrong,” he said.
Similarly, as companies cut
back on out-of-hours services
to reduce fi xed overheads, he
hopes this will provide a gap in
the market.
He adds: “We have had a lot
of interest from online travel
agents because they are more
aware customers are going to
look to them for help in the case
of bonding. Agents who dynamically
package are responsible
for customers out of hours.”
Partridge is adamant Call-
Uma’s text service could help
the trade in future ‘XL situations’
by delivering information
quickly to a large number
of people.
The business
The company has 700 homeworkers
employed as interpreters
and covers more than 20
countries. Backed by private
10 | Travel Weekly | March 6 2009
CallUma off ers a 24-hour multi-lingual help service for holidaymakers all over the world
investors, including former
Orient-Express Hotels president
Simon Sherwood, it pays 20%-
40% commission to agents.
As well as its Pass The
Phone multi-lingual assistance
and Tag’n’Traq luggage
tracking service, CallUma
offers to store copies of
personal documents such as
passports and insurance
policies. New services include
alerting customers that their
balance is due and sending a
text message three months before
their passport expires.
Partridge said its Just Text
Help service allows customers
to phone or text ‘help’ for
assistance. “Travel companies
are trying to cut back on resort
and out-of-hours staff. They
see us a back-up,” he said.
The Co-operative Travel has
supports Insight
offered CallUma’s Just Text
Help in a white-label service to
customers and branded
luggage-tracking tags.
Expansion plans
CallUma is only available to
UK customers, but Partridge
said interest in the service from
Spain, Portugal and Canada
could lead to expansion in
other overseas markets.
In the UK, it also has plans
to work with mobile phone
providers to offer multi-lingual
help to travellers attending the
2012 Olympics in London.
Partridge adds: “There will
be two million people coming
to the capital for the Olympics
and we have spent more than
£2 million on a system that will
allow every nationality coming
into the UK to have access to
help in their own language.”
While “signifi cant” expansion
plans are in the pipeline,
the short-term goal is to get
more tour operators and airlines
to sign up to the service.
Bevan believes the service
could reduce travel insurance
claims by reducing the amount
of lost luggage and could cut
call centre overheads by offering
an out-of-hours emergency
service.
To read the full
interview go to
www.travolution.co.uk
TONY
PARTRIDGE
Tony Partridge, 48, describes
himself as the ‘Robin Hood
of luggage’ referring to his
former occupation of buying
lost luggage in the 1980s –
which he sold to secondhand
shops – and the
luggage-tracking service
now off ered by CallUma.
“I used to buy luggage but
now I give it back,” he says.
What started off as a trip
to Gatwick’s lost luggage to
fi nd his own bag, turned into
a business.
He recalls: “I paid £3 for
a holdall and £4.50 for a
suitcase. You would open up
suitcases and sometimes
fi nd a wedding dress.”
After 11 years in the US,
running a home security
call centre business selling
hurricane shelters and a
short spell selling windows
in the UK, Partridge decided
semi-retirement in Spain
was the answer.
However, it was a move
that inspired the creation of
CallUma in 2005, originally
called Pass the Phone,
which off ered multi-lingual
assistance. Uma stands
for universal multi-lingual
assistance.
Partridge says: “After a
week in Spain my daughter
became sick at 2am. Our
villa was in the mountains,
I didn’t have an emergency
number and spoke no
Spanish. In the end we
found a doctor, but it was the
most traumatic experience
of my life.”
www.travelweekly.co.uk
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