STARTUP STAGE: Balance Holidays curates bespoke retreats for eco-conscious travelers

Balance Holidays

Balance Holidays specializes in bespoke wellbeing retreats in natural locations. It curates and offers online a collection of short breaks designed to provide the tools for long-term positive self-care and wellbeing.

Founded in January 2019, Balance Holidays works with experts and luxury properties that are committed to eco-sustainability.

Describe both the business and technology aspects of your startup.

Balance Holidays is a curator, designer and booking platform for exclusive, high-quality wellbeing retreats in Europe. Our retreats offer a variety of physical, mindful, creative and nature-based activities, workshops and classes designed to nourish and fortify the body and mind.

We work with learned experts deeply respected in their fields and bespoke luxury properties anchored in beautiful environments committed to eco-sustainability - nature plays a central role in everything we do as we believe that it is a conduit to our natural, vibrant self.

All of our retreats are designed as welcomed short breaks from our daily lives. They offer the time and space to create, think, exercise, connect, go deep, whatever needed to recapture a bit more of ourselves. They arm our guests with tools for re-learning, self-care, mindfulness and cleaner, healthier living to bring forth into everyday life.

Balance Holidays provides an easy and flawless call-to-book experience. The design is user-centered and guests can browse retreats by type, location, benefit, time of departure and price. The detailed and trusted content of our portal sets us apart from any other booking platform.

We also take pride in our highly personalized customer service. We make ourselves available for guests to speak to. Due to the nature of the products, all program bookings are made offline, over the phone.

What inspired you to create this company?

When I moved to London at the end of 2016, I wanted to start spending regular downtime and attend high-end wellbeing retreats without having to travel too far from Europe, or take too much time off from work. However, I was unable to find a bespoke marketplace offering what I was looking for and got frustrated.

Coming from a luxury digital background, I concluded that although online searches for wellbeing tourism have been increasing exponentially, several potential clients like myself often find themselves lost on the web due to fragmented information and end up seeking referrals through friends rather than the web.

Separately, I started to talk to a few close friends that own hotels to understand better the B2B side and why they have never offered wellbeing retreats before. Eventually, I ended up going to an Ayurveda retreat in India. I came back to London with the resolution to create Balance Holidays.

Give us your SWOT analysis of the company.

Strengths: Unique program design and locations, environmental focus and eco-sustainability, trusted content and WellSpoken certified, unparalleled customer service, stringent commitment to quality, a community of like-minded individuals with shared values.

Weaknesses: A small choice of retreat programs, a new website with DA to grow and a reputation to build. Limited staff resources.

Opportunities: The desire for a more connected and all-around approach to wellness and wellbeing is driving a growing segment of travelers to take specific trips focused on improving and maintaining their health and wellbeing. Eco-conscious travel has also now gone mainstream and we are one of the few wellbeing retreat companies that has this woven into its founding values. We just received the Positive Luxury Butterfly Mark for this.

Threats: Threats are represented by new market entrants.

What are the travel pain points you are trying to alleviate from both the customer and the industry perspective?

For the consumer, we design and offer programs at exclusive destinations that are all-inclusive, except for flights. The idea is that the need to take a long holiday to reboot is becoming less sustainable given the limited vacations days and the fast tempo of daily life.

For our partners, we offer them the opportunity to sell rooms and extras upfront during shoulder season and be advertised as a wellbeing retreat destination beyond the retreat with us, a win-win partnership.

So you've got the product, now how will you get lots of customers?

At the moment we reach them through classic channels such as digital marketing and SEO, PR outreach and social media campaigns. We are now starting to consider partnerships with like-minded brands.

Tell us what process you've gone through to establish a genuine need for your company and the size of the addressable market.

Sustainable wellbeing is a keystone influencing day-to-day consumer decision making. The desire for a more connected and holistic approach to health and wellness, in conjunction with the fact that more than 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas with little and sometimes no greenery, is driving a growing segment of travelers to take specific trips focused on improving and maintaining their health and wellbeing in connection with nature.

How and when will you make money?

We started to take bookings and run our wellbeing programs in the spring of 2019. At the moment we apply a 20 to 21% commission on the partner's net price. As we are now growing, we are revisiting our financial model for the next few years.

What are the backgrounds and previous achievements of the founding team, and why do you have what it takes to succeed with this business?

I started my career in luxury fashion at Chanel before moving to La Perla in New York, where I launched their e-commerce website. I then worked for a startup selling new designers, before moving into digital consultancy for other luxury brands. Amongst others, I have been responsible for providing exceptional customer service and personalized after-sale care.

I work with a team of luxury travel SEO, marketing and design experts. We visit every retreat and study every aspect of the program with the partner to guarantee the utmost quality. Having visited every type of retreat offering as a hobby for years, I can assure that we have an enticing offer for either those at the beginning of their wellbeing journey or those already aware of their emotional and physical wellbeing.

What's been the most difficult part of founding the business so far?

From the moment we sign a contract with a partner to the moment the program goes live, it can take months as the curation involved is extremely high.

Generally, travel startups face a fairly tough time making an impact - so why are you going to be one of the lucky ones?

We believe that wellbeing is a journey. We exist to help people restore and sustain vitality in their lives. Regular short retreat holidays can help individuals work towards that goal, and we are here to provide reassurance and follow our guests along their journey.