Stanley Tollman was born in 1930.

His father Solomon Tollman, was the owner of the Paternoster Hotel, in the small fishing village of Paternoster, South Africa and also the Palace Hotel in Johannesburg. Stanley chose to leave university early to look after The Palace, where he learnt his original craft and a passion for hotels and hospitality was born.

In 1954, Stanley opened his first hotel, the 22 room Nugget Hotel in Johannesburg and two years later opened The Colony Restaurant and the Hyde Park Hotel. In 1969 he opened Tollman Towers which was named one of the best hotels in the world.

This was followed over the years with hotels in the UK and the USA which were later sold.

In the early 80s Red Carnation Hotels was founded and The Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair was opened in 1984. Since then the collection has grown to include 17 international properties throughout the UK, US, South Africa, Switzerland and the most recent acquisition being the iconic Ashford Castle in Ireland having recently undergone a major refurbishment being fully restored to its historical splendour.

Travel Corporation also owns the guided holiday specialist, Trafalgar. In nearly 70 years Trafalgar has served over 4 million travellers worldwide and continues to be the leader in guided holidays.

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection joined the Travel Corporation Group in 2004 and now includes 19 ships with the latest having launched only last month, SS Maria Theresa. All ships have been designed and decorated by the award winning team of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection.

Stanley’s entrepreneurial vision, passion and drive has built The Travel Corporation into one of the most successful, privately-owned and family-run travel businesses today, serving around two million guests per year, which operating in over 70 countries, on seven continents, with 40 offices and more than 10,000 team members.

He was honoured by the British Travel & Hospitality Hall of Fame in 2015.