The world is too vanilla.

People think travel means taking a photograph under the Eiffel Tower. Not for me, and not for Veenus.

My story begins in the 1980s, when my parents believed that education came in two forms: school and travel.

We first explored the UK, creating family memories in Bournemouth, where we later bought our hotel. Then came holidays to Europe, America and the Far East. That period was a golden era of travel when flying was an adventure for all passengers. We were served full meals with steel cutlery even on a short haul flight.

When we arrived at each destination my mother insisted "Don't just visit the sites, learn the stories."

She wanted to know how a craftsperson learned their trade, why a tradition existed, what made a place unique beyond the guidebook. This simple idea shaped me including the reason why Veenus exists.

The most impactful trip was to the USA where I was captivated by the energy, the can do attitude and the customer service. I wanted to build my career there.

Then life had other plans.

In April 1991, my mother passed away just 4 weeks before my final university exams. I had no interest in sitting them. So my father and uncle asked me to immediately join the family's struggling hotel business. We came from manufacturing, producing television sets for iconic brands like Panasonic, Hitachi and Samsung since 1967. Hospitality was completely new to us, and our hotel was losing significant money during a UK recession.

Thankfully, one person refused to let me abandon my education. My university tutor, Dr Podmore, intervened, ensuring I completed my final exams despite the extraordinary pressures and emotions I was enduring. He explained that securing my degree will give me self-worth and a base if I was ever to leave the family business.

So as a fresh young graduate, I walked in to our 74 bedroom hotel asking myself two questions:

What can I control? Service.

How do I improve it? By applying my learnings while travelling: the guest-first attitude of America, the warmth of the Far East and the professionalism of Europe.

The team resisted. They'd done things their way for decades. I replaced almost everyone, bringing in new energy with graduates and experienced people who shared the guest first ethos.

Within eighteen months, the hotel had gone from making losses to profits.

The formula was simple: listen to guests, fix problems quickly, give the team the authority to do the right thing.

When I suggested buying another hotel, my father and uncle had a different idea.

"Now it's profitable, let's sell it."

So in April 1995, I started my own story telling tour company. I called it Veenus.

The "Vee" is for my mother, Veena. Her curiosity, sense of community and belief in doing the right not the convenient thing still guides the decisions we make. Whenever someone in our team faces a difficult choice, I ask:

"If you took money out of the equation, what would you do?"

Immediately this gives clarity and empowerment to do the right thing.

More than thirty years later, Veenus has become the UK's only B2B luxury charterer of trains and river cruises, making premium, story-led travel accessible to everyone.

We've built our own booking platform, Vega, named after one of the brightest stars in the summer sky. When hosting our guests, we would like them to feel they have experienced one of the brightest moments in their lives. A bucket list moment even.

We won't just wish you a nice day. We'll deliver one.

Founder and CEO
Ranjiv Bhalla