Atilay Uslu: "The future is ours"

Atilay Uslu's success story is extraordinary and inspiring: from shoarma store to a major player in the travel industry. With its own airline, the leading tour operator Corendon today flies to 23 different destinations from airports in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. In addition, Corendon owns hotels and resorts. MASTERS spoke to the top executive about his entrepreneurial journey.

She once competed in the Miss Universe pageant, now she uses her charms to seduce exciting men into an interview for MASTERS. This time, Irene van de Laar sets her sights on Corendon top executive Atilay Uslu. She meets Atilay at The College Hotel Amsterdam.

Entrepreneurship is in your blood. At a young age, you started as an independent entrepreneur. What triggered you?

"I had trouble applying for a job. You then have to tell about yourself how good you are, and I don't like that. I can tell everything about a company and a product, I can sell everything but myself. I was never hired after a job interview either. So then I became an entrepreneur and employer myself. That was the basis. One of the other things was that I wanted to have one million guilders by the time I was thirty. Back then that was a lot of money. I worked at PTT and asked my boss what he earned. His answer: 2,500 guilders, after 25 years of work. So I didn't see that millionaire's dream coming true any time soon. I then quit my job and took over my uncle's shoarma store. That's how I started at ²²."

In 2000, Corendon was founded. How did you want to differentiate yourself?

"I started a small travel agency in addition to my shoarma store. After a year, I saw that this had no future, so I had to do something else. I started as a tour operator, a new business model where you could put together products and sell them. I had to be unique and started first with skiing in Turkey. Later I sold that business again. In 2000, I really started Corendon as a tour operator and as a Turkey specialist selling ready-made products that were booked by the customer through the Internet."

So what exactly was that product?

"Flying, transfers and a hotel. It sounds simple, but we had a bookable website. In the morning we saw that two to three hundred people had booked at once. All our competitors were still booking through travel agents. This was 22 years ago. We invested very quickly on the Internet, which made online booking possible."

By now you are a successful player in the travel industry. You obviously have a good feel for your customer. What does your customer want?

"The customer has changed in the last 22 years and we are changing with them. 22 years ago it was mainly apartment complexes that we rented out. A few years later, around 2003, we sold mainly four- or five-star hotels with all-inclusives. That was a gap in the market. Then it was thousands, now it's millions of people who booked that kind of travel with us. Now we see everyone going back to that apartment, but a little more luxurious. Renting a villa, cooking for yourself. We are going back again, a kind of retro becomes that."

How does your company anticipate customer needs?

"We have diehard Corendon customers who always book with us. And we have customers who go from a family to an empty nest; they no longer want to leave during the regular vacation periods. We have to have products for everyone. What do they want next year? What do they want five years from now? We spend a lot of time on that. For next year, we see that our travelers want to set aside a nice budget to go on vacation. More expensive vacations are being booked. Five-star ultra inclusive, or villas and hotels with pools. Five-star grand-deluxe hotels are also popular. These are hotels where every room has its own pool. That's an usp these days. If you don't get into that, you miss the customers and you have to rebuild. You have to get a very good sense of the customer and hold on to that, otherwise you're better off shutting the place down."

In 2019, the acquisition of part of Corendon was off the table. How did this affect the policy?

"We were supposed to merge with Sunweb in 2019, but due to the collapse of Thomas Cook, waiting for ACM and the corona pandemic, the deal didn't happen. We were going to conquer the world together, but the buyer walked away. It was done. In retrospect, it's very unfortunate that it didn't happen; it would have been a very nice deal. During the pandemic, we became a closer team. We are ready for the future and we stand like a rock. The future is ours, we don't need Sunweb for that at all."

You recover quickly. Where does this resilience come from?

"We are a team at Corendon. I am an entrepreneurial person and the people who work for me have to be too, otherwise they won't fit in here. We are in an industry where many crises can occur. A pandemic, war, a coup, always unrest somewhere. I have to be flexible, as does the company."

Do you adapt your business model when the world is constantly changing?

"No, the business model does not change. Our behavior and flexibility are constantly being challenged. So far we have overcome all that. At some point you become immune to crises, no matter how big they are. Eventually everyone goes on vacation, people need it, otherwise they cannot function. We can provide that vacation. It's like food and drink, a basic necessity of life."

Corendon now also flies from several German cities, Brussels and Maastricht. What advantages do you see in expanding to these airports?

"The government has made flying more expensive in the Netherlands, but this is not the case in Belgium and Germany. Moreover, you don't have staffing problems in Brussels, so we are going to invest a lot next year in departures from there. Maybe Brussels will become bigger than Amsterdam. The Belgian government wants Zaventem airport to become bigger, vacation behavior is more strongly stimulated there than in the Netherlands. We are also expanding to give consumers freedom of choice. We assume that Schiphol will have the problems under control by next year. Because we now have a broader offer, we can serve many more customers all over the Netherlands."

How do you see the future as purchasing power declines? Can someone on a small budget still go on vacation?

"It may well be that for some people flying will soon become unattainable. But it absolutely must not be the case that vacations become an elite sport. The target group for cheaper vacations is getting smaller, we can see that. We are also focusing more on the luxury segment now. It's also getting more expensive for these customers, but they can afford it in the end."

In Curaçao, Corendon owns resorts like the Livingstone Jan Thiel Resort, the Mangrove Beach Resort and next year Corendon Playa will open its doors. What kind of concepts are these?

"Livingstone consists of hotel rooms and villas. The villas are ideal for families who want space, without all-inclusive. Corendon Mangrove Beach Resort is ultra all-inclusive. You can eat and drink there 24/7. There are four a la carte restaurants, a patisserie and six bars. From fitness to spa, everything is there. Complete relief more or less."

What does Mangrove Phase 2 entail?

"Next to the Mangrove Beach Resort, Corendon Playa Premium All Inclusive is being built, a hotel with 388 rooms, including 12 suites. A few rooms have swim-up or private pools. There are three a la carte restaurants serving Mexican, Turkish and international cuisine. The resort has a pool bar, swimming pool and its own beach club: Beach Club Mondi. The brand new hotel accommodates three hundred employees, which is very good for the local economy."

MASTERS MAGAZINE

Curious about the rest of the interview with Atilay Uslu? The winter issue of MASTERS was created in collaboration with Jordi van den Bussche. Many will know him as YouTuber Kwebbelkop, yet he has been working hard as an entrepreneur for some time, as he reveals in the Big Interview. What's new is that his company JVDB Studios is offering to do social media marketing and short-format content marketing for other companies. "They can also go and figure it out themselves, but we cracked the code." Jordi gives a stage to like-minded entrepreneurs such as Jay-Jay Boske, Demy de Zeeuw, Chahid Charrak and Marcella de Bie, and discusses developments around games, crypto and NFT: "Just as bitcoin turned the financial system upside down, the same will happen with gaming." This extra-thick winter issue also features Lengers' first own ship, an interview with Corendon chief Atilay Uslu, specials on the new BMW 7 Series and Samsung foldables, and - exclusively for MASTERS! - an interview with Max Verstappen.

MASTERS #52 with guest editor Jordi van den Bussche