25 Years of Airwave: a journey from laptop to leaders…

In January 2000, armed with a mobile phone, a laptop, and a bold vision to shake things up, Tim Worrall founded Airwave.

Following many years in senior management roles at Virgin Media and Sky TV, Tim decided to use his knowledge and experience to build an organisation that would become the largest supplier and installer of hotel TV systems in the UK.

 

A Fresh Start

Initially working in partnership with Philips Hospitality TV, Tim fired up his laptop, thumbed through his little black book and started talking to hotels.

Success soon followed, with the Marwell Zoo Hotel in Winchester, Hampshire, becoming the inaugural Airwave installation.

“I installed the TVs myself” recalls Tim “I loved the experience and most importantly, I learnt from it.”

With a case study in the book, Airwave’s business grew slowly but steadily. With each installation came experience, and with each experience came reputation.

However, a simple decision and a small expense provided a catalyst for growth that changed Airwave’s business forever…

  

The Real Beginning

 “I found that I would usually win business if I got the chance to meet people. The problem was, I wasn’t meeting enough people!”

Tim would typically impress hoteliers with his vision and drive, and meetings would regularly turn into orders. However, as is often the case in the business world, the meetings were too few and far between. The situation was remedied by a seemingly meagre investment in a Google Adwords account. A dizzying sum of £30 per month was invested, with the account driven by hotel TV product codes. By doing this, frugal finance directors on a price matching exercise discovered Airwave and picked up the phone…

In the midst of ringing phones came another key moment in the company’s history—a Center Parcs shaped opportunity landing on the doorstep. Airwave was invited to pitch for the provision of a TV system into the iconic holiday park's estate of accommodations.

Tim jumped in his car, and delivered and implemented test systems to Center Parcs Longleat and Center Parcs Whinfell Forest. Airwave’s system was robust, guest-friendly, and quicker and easier to install than the alternatives. The result? (you may know what’s coming) the awarding of a contract to supply and install TV systems to every Center Parcs accommodation in the UK—a contract that remains in place 25 years later.

 

A young(er) Tim stands proudly outside the new Airwave sign

Momentum, expansion…

Riding on the wave of the Center Parcs business and an increasingly growing client base, Tim looked to upskill Airwave’s technical expertise. In came Julian Arnold, a young(ish) technical encyclopedia who’s still talking TV tech at Airwave all these years later.

Julian’s arrival enriched Airwave’s knowledge, boosted its skillset, doubled its human resource, and further increased Airwave’s client base—to the extent that additional hires were necessary to deal with a conveyor belt of TV installations.

Airwave waved hello to an admin assistant, and operations director, Toby Hart, another company institution, still on the books, still making it happen…

Tim’s small team, lean and hungry, really started to turn heads in the hospitality world, so much so that it was of no big surprise when the really big break unexpectedly arrived.

Well, perhaps a bit of a surprise…

 

Whitbread

26th December 2007, Boxing Day, and a late delivery from Father Christmas.

35 emails containing purchase orders for the supply and installation of 3,500 Philips hotel TVs to Whitbread’s Premier Inn properties across the UK (with the promise of many more to come).

“Those were 35 emails to remember!” said Toby,” and Tim, Julian, and myself celebrated accordingly—until we realised that we had to deliver 3,500 TVs to the four corners of the UK, and didn’t own a van!”

In every problem lies an opportunity, and on this occasion the opportunity lay in the form of hired vans. Tim, Toby, and Julian hired said vans, donned their driving gloves and got to work.

To say the rest is history would be a trivialisation of the task's enormity, but Airwave delivered all 3,500 TVs on time, within budget, and to a very happy new customer. A customer who remains with Airwave to this day—200,000+ TVs later.

 

Onwards and upwards

With Center Parcs and Whitbread on board, Airwave’s reputation skyrocketed; the phone kept ringing, and the customer base multiplied.

Never content to rest on his laurels, Tim hired a sales director to really get things moving. In came, Paul Chambers, small in stature, big in ambition.

Paul—yes, still on the payroll—was given a simple remit: 'keep growing, keep the customers happy.' And working alongside Tim, Julian, Toby, and an ever-growing team, that’s exactly what he did.

In line with Paul’s arrival and the digital switchover, Airwave’s business motored. Coupled with the installation of thousands of TVs into Premier Inn, Airwave managed the implementation of 18,000 digital smart cards into Whitbread’s analogue TV estate (each smart card slotted into the back of the TV’s 'smart loader', turning an analogue, into a digital TV), an initiative that prevented the obsolescence of thousands of TVs, saving Whitbread a considerable sum of money.

 

Ups and downs…

With the digital switchover and Whitbread relationship came security, fuelling Airwave’s continued growth and adding resilience to weather the 2008 global economic downturn (and the resultant drop in hotel occupancy rates).

In 2010, a deal with Sky saw Airwave deliver 7,000 LG 3D TVs into 5,000 pubs across the UK. It was a deal that underpinned a record revenue year, prompting the purchase of a new warehouse, augmenting Airwave’s capacity to concurrently service multiple large installations.

 2012 and the London Olympics drove further growth as the hospitality industry readied itself for a tourist influx and the free-spending feel good factor of the world’s biggest sporting event.

But after every big party, there’s a hangover, and this was the case in 2013 as business turned from torrent to trickle.

“Perhaps we should have seen it coming, but in simple terms, the majority of hotels invested in TV technology ahead of the Olympics” said sales director, Paul Chambers, “there wasn’t much left in the TV technology pot, and for the first time in 13 years, business was scarce.”

 

The 02's first IPTV system—installed by Airwave

 

People Power

Having made a number of investments in line with years of steady growth, the 2013 hangover was bad news for Airwave. An all staff company meeting was held with a very simple, but firm message - “We need to win a lot of business, and we need to win it quickly.”

The sales team drew up a list of target projects and worked accordingly.

“For me, this was a defining moment in Airwave's history” Tim notes “it made me realise how brilliant my team was. We turned a considerable monthly loss into a healthy profit, through sheer guts and dedication. I was so proud of them.”

Much of Airwave’s DNA can be attributed towards the company’s West Sussex location, with a less transient population leading to lower staff turnover and a consequent family vibe.

“With low staff turnover comes consistency, knowledge, and better customer service” said Toby “this has been a considerable string to our bow over the years.”

 

The SCCI Group, a new dawn…

In December 2017, David Fogelman and the SCCI Group acquired Airwave, signalling the end of Tim Worrall’s day-to-day involvement in Airwave.

Having collaborated with Airwave on multiple projects over the years (including both Center Parcs and Whitbread), the acquisition was a natural step in the growth of the SCCI Group, with Airwave’s display expertise adding a welcome complementary skillset to SCCI’s portfolio of technical services.

“I wanted to sell Airwave to the right person” said Tim “and that was very much David and the SCCI Group; we’ve worked together over the course of many years, and I was delighted to see Airwave acquired by an organisation I hold so much respect for.”

 

The now, the future

Since the 2017 acquisition, Airwave has continued to grow, embracing IoT, a rapidly accelerating technical environment, and the evolving viewing habits of the guest.

What’s on the horizon?  You’ll need to keep watching to find out…

 

On behalf of the Airwave family, we’d like to thank all that have shared our journey, especially our wonderful customers! We look forward to the next 25 years…