About TourHound

Have you ever found yourself sitting in front of your PC or tablet wondering where to start looking for that perfect touring holiday, not knowing who is a reputable company and who will give you the best experience for your budget? Well, look no more, as I’ve taken that stress away from you and I’ll also save you valuable research time at no additional cost.

I provide a tour comparison platform that quickly allows you to search touring holidays from the UK’s leading tour specialist operators, delivering you your preferred tour based on multiple criteria such as price, duration,  group size, touring type, meal inclusions etc. The website enables you to quickly enter your basic tour preferences including destination and travel dates to search all of the operators for the best solution. Once you have narrowed down your preferred tour options, you can add these to the comparison basket to easily compare itineraries and inclusions before emailing, calling or booking online with your chosen tour company. It couldn’t be easier!

How the business was born

I bumped into Laurence when he was down under in early 2016. He was chilling out on the beach and he saw me going crazy trying to track down a bone I’d buried the week before. I was so focused that I hadn’t even noticed he had started chatting to me. Anyway, I found the bone and we chewed the cud for a while. He told me about his business idea and he was very excited. He said “wouldn’t it be great if I could provide one platform where a customer could search, compare and book touring and adventure holidays from all of the best suppliers”. It sounded pretty cool to me, so I said “I’m in, just call me TourHound", and so the business was born. I think I’m pretty good at seeking things out, so why not a holiday too I thought, so I’ve been trekking all over the globe since, and boy do I love it! I want to appeal to every customer looking to go on an escorted touring holiday, whether that be somebody seeking a youthful touring experience with the likes of Contiki and Geckos or a classic touring experience with companies such as Newmarket Holidays and Travel Editions. Come on give me a try...

TourHound's Friendly Helpers

LAURENCE HICKS ( MANAGING DIRECTOR ): Laurence’s wealth of experience in operations, sales, distribution, marketing, and more recently executive management in various sectors of the market, including aviation, ski, city break, mainstream, niche cruising and long-haul has equipped him with vast knowledge on many aspects of the industry. Laurence’s recent role in driving the huge success of Wendy Wu Tours, the UK’s leading China & S.E Asia touring specialist is testament to his thorough understanding and knowledge of the escorted touring and touring market. His enthusiasm for this market has inspired him to bring together a fantastic team to launch this great concept and create TourHound!


ROD EVANS (TECHNICAL DIRECTOR): Rod has over 20 years experience in travel technology and has developed systems and websites for well over 100 tour operators. He was the architect of the successful ‘Travelink’ reservation system that was acquired by Comtec in 2006. During his time with Travelink Rod developed systems for TUI, Thomas Cook, Travelsphere and many others.  In 2008 Rod founded TigerBay systems that developed the first ever travel specific Content Management System, and the system now powers over 40 websites. Under Rods guidance the CMS evolved into a web-geared state of the art back-end reservation system that has now been adopted by over 30 Tour Operators, including Newmarket Holidays, Mark Warner, Ski World and Sunvil.  TigerBay was acquired by Atcore (aka Anite) in 2016. Since then Rod has been widening his horizons by working as an Non Executive Director for a digital studio specialising in mobile Apps.


JO SMETHURST (COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR): Jo has worked in the travel industry for over 24 years and has held senior management positions in retail and tour operating. Her experience has touched every element of a travel organisation including Sales, Operations, Product and Commercial. In 2012 after successfully implementing Caribtours’ first ever reservations and back office system, Jo qualified as a project manager and became a consultant offering project management and consultancy to the industry. Her clients have included Carrier, Audley Travel, Belle France and the Alan Rogers Travel Group. She loves working in this ever evolving industry and is delighted to be part of TourHound.

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