15 May 2019
Words
Ben Hall
International Families Day - what it’s like to work with your kids, sisters, brothers, husbands and wives.
They’re a proudly family-run business and when you ask patriarch and ResortBrokers founder Ian Crooks about the positives and negatives of working with those close to you, he is typically direct in his response.
“If they’re good at what they do, it’s an absolute blessing. If they’re not, it’s an absolute nightmare.
“Fortunately, our kids are really good at what they do and all of them have transformed ResortBrokers into what it is today.”
These “kids” have effectively become the second generation in the ResortBrokers dynasty. Established in 1985 by Ian Crooks, Brisbane-based ResortBrokers was the first company to focus exclusively on accommodation business and property sales.
Now the country’s longest established and most experienced specialist agency active in the accommodation sector, Ian was joined by son Tim from the real estate sector in 2009. In 2011, daughter Carla, a marketing and graphic design specialist, and husband Alex Cook, a commercial broker, also returned from the UK in 2011.
The regeneration, and new generation, was complete later the same year when daughter Trudy also joined after a stint in London as manager of Foxton’s prestigious Mayfair office.
“They all had the skills, and more importantly the tenacity and desire, to succeed with this business and for me, it’s wonderful to have them all back home and working together,” Ian says.
Trudy is now National Sales Manager at ResortBrokers, Tim is National Off The Plan Specialist, Alex is Senior Broker Nationwide and Carla is Head of Marketing.
“We all get along really well and on the rare occasion where we have a difference on how to do things, Dad is the umpire or referee and we all accept the decision and move on,” Carla says.
“It is nice to be working together as a family. I know I really enjoy the whole thing. And because we are family, we can be very straight with each other and not cause offence.”
Under the family-led management structure, motels, management rights and caravan parks remain the core business, but expansion has focused on emerging areas of demand, in particular, Off-The-Plan Management Rights associated with large-scale apartment developments, and a dedicated ResortBrokers Hotels division.
ResortBrokers now has a team of more than 40 industry specialists with a proven track record of sales success stretching from Brisbane to Broome, Tasmania to the Top End, and beyond Australia’s shores.
