Hovertravel is the only commercial Hovercraft operator in Europe. The business has also grown its market share over the last five years. On the cusp of a major anniversary and a significant investment in new craft, Tom Stroud finds out more
“For the Island I see the hovercraft as a bit like Concorde or the Orient Express. It’s a British invention that we are very proud of,” says Neil Chapman, Hovertravel’s Managing Director. He grew up in Portsmouth and his childhood memories of the roar of the hovercraft have stayed with him. “I commute on it and I still get excited. I love it, it’s great and the day I don’t get excited is the day I’ll leave. We’re proud to be operating a unique piece of kit, a quirky way to travel and something of an attraction in our own right.”
The business employs around a hundred staff across their sites in Ryde and Southsea. Each hovercraft can carry up to 95 passengers and between them they make 72 crossings a day. Each year they carry people on around 900,000 journeys.
I ask Neil whether he sees Hovertravel as an Island company or as a mainland business that serves the Island. “Neither,” he says. “We’re a company that is based on the Island and we’re proud to be. We started on the Island and the majority of our staff, around 65%, are Island based. Our craft and our maintenance are based on the Island. We’re really an Isle Of Wight company that serves both sides.”
In business it’s a truism that “time is money” and for Hovertravel it’s definitely correct. “Any business needs to focus on its key strategy,” says Neil. “Our focus is speed. We’re the fastest link to the Isle Of Wight, taking only 8 to 10 minutes. This means our market is the regular traveller and we’re very proud to have a loyal base of commuters that use us. We also have the day trip market.” Neil joined Hovertravel in 2010. Back then he saw the business as mainly about people coming to the Island. “I’m proud to say that now it’s more like 50/50 each way,” he says.
Like any company involved in tourism, Hovertravel’s market changes throughout the year. Neil describes the business as “exceptionally seasonal”, peaking in the summer months. “We very rarely change our workforce numbers across the year and it’s about managing the peaks and troughs.”
Their share of the market has grown in the last five years and Neil puts it down to listening to the people around him. “Most of our ideas and improvements have come from staff and passengers.”
Engaging with customers is a big thing for the company. Neil regularly answers questions on social media and in 2011 the Hovertravel User Group was set up. “Clearly we’ve done some good work with our regular season cardholders but we still haven’t engaged as much as we’d like to with our regular daytrippers. Another area is businesses on the Island, it’s a bit of a missing link for us.”
It’s definitely an interesting time to be running a business like Hovertravel. In the last few months all of the cross-Solent ferry operators have given evidence at the Council’s Scrutiny Committee and been forced to deal with extreme weather.
“I don’t have a problem with speaking openly and honestly at any scrutiny meeting because my message will be consistent,” says Neil. “As a business we have to be realistic and the Island has to be realistic about what we can operate. I would love to have services running backwards and forwards all of the time but we have to be able to reinvest back in to the business.”
“We’re in the customer service industry. We’re safe and compliant but we also listen and deliver. It’s a challenge and it’s about managing expectations in a transparent way. This winter we had unprecedented delays but our complaint ratio has been some of the lowest and we’ve also had retention of customers. To do that, we’ve had to be transparent about our cancellations. Our customers say they want more information so they can plan around the storm days and we’ll continue to improve on that.”
In November Hovertravel picked up the Retail And Service Industry prize at the Chamber Of Commerce Awards. Neil is now very excited about the coming years which will see the delivery of two brand new hovercraft. The design process has taken nearly a year and laying the first parts of the hull will begin this month. “The two craft represent a decade of investment, around £10 million. They’ll be slightly smaller but more efficient and more cost effective to run. Our development will also be a shop window to the world for the use of a hovercraft on a commercial basis.” The first will be delivered in October next year with another early in 2016.
In 2015 Hovertravel will also celebrate its 50th anniversary. “Watch this space,” advises Neil. “We’ll be celebrating and promoting the Island as being an integral part of the birth of the hovercraft. We’re in a comfortable place right now, due to the fact that our staff, management and shareholders take a very long term view on our business. We can’t be complacent though and for us 2014 is a year of understanding the issues of recent years. Last year wasn’t a particularly great one for the Island as a whole. The overall market is still a percentage down so we all have to focus on growth. We’re being told that we’re coming out of a recession so I think if we can continue to improve our numbers, services and efficiencies then we’ll have done well in 2014. I’d like to grow our business accordingly on both sides of the water.”
First published in the April 2014 issue of Island Business magazine.
