Making the world their workplace: Redwood Stone
Flourishing three-generation family business, Redwood Stone, uses Booking.com for Business to gain control of work trips all across the globe.
Redwood Stone loves the Chelsea Flower Show, and the Chelsea Flower Show loves them back. It’s a relationship that goes back to 1991, when this family business built a number of stunning Gothic Arches for the show garden that ended up winning ‘Best Garden in Show’.
Founded by Ken Redwood in the 60s, the company is now run by his son, Tim – with Tim’s youngest son, Angus, also on board. They specialise in follies – segments of walls and arches designed to look like Gothic ruins, giving gardens an air of romantic mystique.
Twenty-seven years after their big splash at Chelsea, Tim Redwood’s team are still wowing visitors to one of the world’s biggest garden shows, this year with their new Roman Hot Tub – the first ever at the show. “In our business, Chelsea’s massive,” Tim says.
Including Chelsea, Tim travels for work around 20 times a year – including visits to customers in Europe and the USA. In past years, when he and his team have been looking for a place to stay, they’ve made do with a piecemeal approach to booking accommodation.
“I’ve been doing the show for 26 years, and never nailed the accommodation. It’s always been a hassle,” he says. Sometimes he’d end up staying too far away from the show, other times he’d pay over the odds for something that didn’t meet his requirements.
In early 2018, however, Tim got an email inviting him to create a business account with Booking.com. Since he was a regular user of the site for his personal bookings, he didn’t think twice about signing up.
“I can get to what I’m looking for really quickly… I like the really wide selection, and the ability to filter it down to what you’re looking for. So the breadth of it, and then the ease to be able to find what you’re looking for. I just find it really easy to use, and very reliable,” Tim says.
Now, as a business account holder, he has more control over the financial side of Redwood Stone’s travel arrangements. Tim has a full picture of all their bookings in one place, as well as a detailed breakdown of their travel spend. His bookkeeper also benefits from the added control, with Tim able to pre-request an invoice for the company when making the booking.
On top of that, he’s been able to add his son to the business account, meaning more flexibility when booking accommodation for other team members. “The very comprehensive nature of all the selections, filters and reviews, enable you to get to what you’re looking for very quickly with the minimum of fuss – and when the site says they are available they really are!”
Tim hasn’t looked back. Business travel, he says, is “good, now that I’m using Booking.com”. Finally, after 25 years of disappointment with his Chelsea Flower Show accommodation, “I got it bang-on.”