James Lohan's guest appearances

James Lohan

The Makers Podcast

The Travel Diaries

Tony Wheeler

India Hicks

Charley Boorman

Clare Balding

Michael Palin

Rick Stein

Jane Goodall

Sanjeev Bhaskar

Jon Ronson

Jo Malone

Sir Richard Branson

Chris Burkard

Gabby Logan

Yotam Ottolenghi

Rand Fishkin

OwlTail

Today I’m joined by James Lohan, the co-founder - and the Mr - of Mr &amp; Mrs Smith, the much-loved boutique and luxury hotel booking service and travel club. It all began when James and his wife Tamara (aka Mrs Smith) decided to go about creating their own boutique hotel guidebook, travelling the UK to dine the best spots for a luxurious weekend break. The book was a huge success, and the business has since grown to include a popular online booking service, and its membership programme now has more than a million global members.In 2014, James and Tamara received MBEs for their services to the travel industry, and when I asked James how many hotels he’s visited, he estimated a whopping 2000.As soon as we started chatting, I knew this had to be a long haul feature length episode. As a bit of a hotel junkie myself, this was just so much fun, listening to James zig zag across the globe from one extraordinary destination to the other. Whatever you’re dreaming about, if you’re thinking of a weekend staycation or a mega honeymoon, I guarantee you’ll get some great inspiration from James.Destination recap: Polzeath Beach, Cornwall, EnglandTresanton Hotel, Cornwall, England Blakes Hotel, London, EnglandThe Witchery, Edinburgh, Scotland Drunken Duck Inn, Lake District, England Le Manoir aux quat’saisons, Oxfordshire, EnglandUxua Casa, Trancoso, BrazilVik, Southern Iceland Deplar Farm, Troll Peninsula, Iceland Soneva Fushi, The Maldives Il Latini, Florence, ItalyJK Place, Florence, ItalyLime Wood, New Forest, England Reschio, Umbria, Italy Ett Hem, Stockholm, SwedenFoxhill Manor, The Cotswolds, England Morokuru, De Hoop Nature Reserve, South AfricaGeorgiaNamibiaRwandaIndia MenorcaYou can find Mr &amp; Mrs Smith online and on Instagram @mrandmrssmithThank you so much for listening. If you haven’t yet left a 5 star rating, why not do so now! Your support is so greatly appreciated and most importantly, helps others to discover the podcast. Come and find me on Instagram - I’m @hollyrubenstein - and to find out more about the podcast, visit  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today I’m joined by James Lohan, the co-founder - and the Mr - of Mr &amp; Mrs Smith, the much-loved boutique and luxury hotel booking service and travel club. It all began when James and his wife Tamara (aka Mrs Smith) decided to go about creating their own boutique hotel guidebook, travelling the UK to dine the best spots for a luxurious weekend break. The book was a huge success, and the business has since grown to include a popular online booking service, and its membership programme now has more than a million global members.In 2014, James and Tamara received MBEs for their services to the travel industry, and when I asked James how many hotels he’s visited, he estimated a whopping 2000.As soon as we started chatting, I knew this had to be a long haul feature length episode. As a bit of a hotel junkie myself, this was just so much fun, listening to James zig zag across the globe from one extraordinary destination to the other. Whatever you’re dreaming about, if you’re thinking of a weekend staycation or a mega honeymoon, I guarantee you’ll get some great inspiration from James.Destination recap: <ul><li>Polzeath Beach, Cornwall, England</li><li><a href="https://tresanton.com" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Tresanton Hotel</a>, Cornwall, England </li><li><a href="https://www.blakeshotels.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Blakes Hotel</a>, London, England</li><li><a href="https://www.thewitchery.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">The Witchery,</a> Edinburgh, Scotland </li><li><a href="https://drunkenduckinn.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Drunken Duck Inn</a>, Lake District, England </li><li><a href="https://www.belmond.com/hotels/europe/uk/oxfordshire/belmond-le-manoir-aux-quat-saisons/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Le Manoir aux quat’saisons</a>, Oxfordshire, England</li><li><a href="http://uxua.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Uxua Casa</a>, Trancoso, Brazil</li><li>Vik, Southern Iceland </li><li><a href="https://elevenexperience.com/deplar-farm-iceland-winter/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Deplar Farm,</a> Troll Peninsula, Iceland </li><li><a href="https://www.soneva.com/soneva-fushi/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Soneva Fushi</a>, The Maldives </li><li><a href="http://www.illatini.com/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Il Latini,</a> Florence, Italy</li><li><a href="http://www.jkplace.com/en/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">JK Place</a>, Florence, Italy</li><li><a href="https://www.limewoodhotel.co.uk/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Lime Wood</a>, New Forest, England </li><li><a href="http://www.reschio.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Reschio,</a> Umbria, Italy </li><li><a href="https://www.etthem.se/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Ett Hem,</a> Stockholm, Sweden</li><li><a href="https://www.foxhillmanor.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Foxhill Manor</a>, The Cotswolds, England </li><li><a href="https://morukuru.com/places/ocean-house/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Morokuru</a>, De Hoop Nature Reserve, South Africa</li><li>Georgia</li><li>Namibia</li><li>Rwanda</li><li>India </li><li>Menorca</li></ul> You can find <a href="https://www.mrandmrssmith.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Mr &amp; Mrs Smith</a> online and on Instagram @mrandmrssmithThank you so much for listening. If you haven’t yet left a 5 star rating, why not do so now! Your support is so greatly appreciated and most importantly, helps others to discover the podcast. Come and find me on Instagram - I’m <a href="https://www.instagram.com/hollyrubenstein/?hl=en" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">@hollyrubenstein</a> - and to find out more about the podcast, visit <a href="https://thetraveldiariespodcast.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"></a><a href="https://thetraveldiariespodcast.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"> Hosted on Acast. See </a><a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

James Lohan, Founder of Mr & Mrs Smith

Mr &amp; Mrs Smith began life in 2003 with two adventurous hotel lovers (our real-life Mr and Mrs: James and Tamara Lohan) and has evolved into a global travel club with a million like-minded members in more than 100 countries.  Every club has a purpose. Ours is to knock your socks off, with help from the world’s best bedrooms. We don’t want this to be a one-night stand or a quick fling; we’re in it for the long-haul.  Our carefully curated collection includes hotels in the sky (if you’ve never woken up in a treehouse, we can change that), hotels in caves, hotels above water, hotels underwater (well, partially), hotels a million miles away, hotels a short ride away, hotels where money is no object… All that, plus a host of idyllic villas and an ever-changing menu of tailor-made trips, too.  It’s no accident that the collection is so special. Every hotel is visited by our team and anonymously reviewed by a diverse bunch of trusted tastemakers, including Lauren Laverne, Raymond Blanc, Olivia von Halle, Tom Dixon, Pandora Sykes, Tom Aikens, Stella McCartney and Dita Von Teese, to name a few. Entry to the collection is by invitation only; money can’t buy our love (unlike some of our competitors).  We listen closely to our members, too. Even the best hotels have off nights – but if that coincides with your stay, we’ll work out what went wrong, so it doesn’t happen twice. If the problem really can’t be solved, we’ll regretfully part ways with the hotel in question. Our collection constantly evolves, based on members’ feedback (plus our own regular hotel check-ups). We’re not perfect but we’ll always strive to be. In order to keep doing what we do best we’ve recruited more than 50 experts in London, Ibiza, New York, Los Angeles and Singapore. Smith24, our crack team of in-house travel specialists, knows the collection back to front, thanks to frequent visits. When they’re not busy bed-hopping, they work around the clock, offering 24/7 customer service and booking support, both on the phone and online.

Mr &amp; Mrs Smith began life in 2003 with two adventurous hotel lovers (our real-life Mr and Mrs: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35060319" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">James and Tamara Lohan</a>) and has evolved into a global travel club with a million like-minded members in more than 100 countries.  Every club has a purpose. Ours is to knock your socks off, with help from the world’s best bedrooms. We don’t want this to be a one-night stand or a quick fling; we’re in it for the long-haul.  Our carefully curated collection includes hotels in the sky (if you’ve never woken up in a treehouse, we can change that), hotels in caves, hotels above water, hotels underwater (well, partially), hotels a million miles away, hotels a short ride away, hotels where money is no object… All that, plus a host of idyllic villas and an ever-changing menu of tailor-made trips, too.  It’s no accident that the collection is so special. Every hotel is visited by our team and anonymously reviewed by a diverse bunch of trusted tastemakers, including Lauren Laverne, Raymond Blanc, Olivia von Halle, Tom Dixon, Pandora Sykes, Tom Aikens, Stella McCartney and Dita Von Teese, to name a few. Entry to the collection is by invitation only; money can’t buy our love (unlike some of our competitors).  We listen closely to our members, too. Even the best hotels have off nights – but if that coincides with your stay, we’ll work out what went wrong, so it doesn’t happen twice. If the problem really can’t be solved, we’ll regretfully part ways with the hotel in question. Our collection constantly evolves, based on members’ feedback (plus our own regular hotel check-ups). We’re not perfect but we’ll always strive to be. In order to keep doing what we do best we’ve recruited more than 50 experts in London, Ibiza, New York, Los Angeles and Singapore. Smith24, our crack team of in-house travel specialists, knows the collection back to front, thanks to frequent visits. When they’re not busy bed-hopping, they work around the clock, offering 24/7 customer service and booking support, both on the phone and online.

James Lohan: Mr & Mrs Smith 