Travel and Tourism
Traveling light
How to build a strong foundation
By Matt McClellan
Smart Business | January 2009
Page 1 of 2
Alexandre Chemla
president and CEO, Altour International
When opportunity knocks,
Alexandre Chemla isn’t afraid to open the door.
And the founder, president
and CEO of Altour International
recognized that familiar knock
when a veteran of the travel
industry called looking for a
job. Chemla saw great potential
in her, but there was a hitch.
“She said, ‘I’d like to manage
an agency, but I don’t think we
can work together because you
don’t have an agency in New
Jersey,’” Chemla says. “And I
said, ‘Now I have one.’”
If you have a chance to land
great people, you can always
find a way to fit them in to your
plans, Chemla says, as he did
by opening a new office to
accommodate his potential
superstar.
His strategy has helped the
travel company generate worldwide 2007 revenue of $535 million — $214 million of that
from its six California offices.
Smart Business spoke with
Chemla about how to maintain
the flexibility of a start-up, even
when you have offices all over
the world.
Start small, dream big. When I
started my business, I had
been working for Club Med for
10 years. I learned one thing at
Club Med.
The people who were working there, the kind of relationships they have created — I
learned that nothing was
stronger than a team of people
put together. I left with this
idea of trying to put together
the most professional and the
best people that I could find.
It was difficult to start,
because I had to go slowly. I
had to create a foundation if I
wanted my building to stand
and stand strong a long time.
Creating the foundation was
really trying to analyze what
the company was made out of,
which for me was very easy
because I came out of one
major corporation. I wanted to
make sure we had our own
human resources, our own
legal department. I wanted to
have the complete panel of a
corporation, but, of course,
when you do that, you have to
start very small.
Find the right fit. Basically, it
was for me to find where I
would need to have a person,
then try to find the person to
fit the need that I have.
For example, I try to hire people from the airlines themselves
to help me negotiate with the
carriers. They will help me
understand better than anyone
else the airline problems and
their willingness to do business.
If you want to be successful,
make sure you hire someone
who is going to do the job he
likes to do. There is nothing
worse than someone you put
in a business whose job is really not what he or she wants to
do, likes to do or feels comfortable doing.
So when we hire people, my
first question is, ‘What do you
like to do?’ Then, it’s more
like trying to find the position
based on the person in front
of me. So try to find a position to match what the person
would like to do instead of
the reverse — all along knowing what we need.
Find the opportunity when
you find the person. Then
when you find the person and
you know what this person is
looking for, customize around
the wishes of this individual.
