Author turned entrepreneur Doni Belau loved travelling to France, but it wasn’t until a girls’ trip to Paris that a lightbulb went off. She realised that something magical happens when a small group of women come together in a place of great beauty and culture. Doni says, “The shared storytelling, dreams, heartbreak, laughter and discovery all meld together to create a unique experience that can’t be done alone, with family or with a partner.”

Doni decided to start hosting highly curated, small-group, women-only trips to Paris, which then slowly expanded to other parts of France, and then eventually to Indonesia, Greece, Morocco and beyond. Today, Girls’ Guide to the World is in over 25 countries around the world, empowering women to expand their worldview and connect with other women. Doni says, “I feel most alive when I’m exploring and seeing, tasting and feeling something new. So in 2009, I set out to start a business where I could have that feeling all the time, and help others experience this same sensation.” 

To get started, Girls’ Guide originally used a custom-built WordPress website with various plugins and add-ons. However, this complex setup became difficult to manage and restricted the team’s ability to scale the business.

“We had three main challenges,” says Robert Belau, Co-founder and Finance Manager. “It was difficult to showcase upcoming trips to potential customers in an elegant, easy-to-understand way, the booking process and customer communications was extremely manual, and it was also too complex for non-technical team members to publish trips.”

While looking for alternative solutions, Robert came across Easol and quickly made the switch. “We decided on Easol over other platforms because Easol doesn’t just handle the booking process, it also has a built-in website too.”

After switching to Easol, Girls’ Guide was able to scale its business and sell more than ever before, increasing its annual number of trips: “Easol has been instrumental for us growing from ~30 trips per year to ~50." says Robert.

The Girls’ Guide team shared three ways the Easol platform has helped them create, sell and manage trips.

Easy-to-use website builder and fully integrated bookings system

Using Easol’s website builder, Girls’ Guide have been able to elevate their website design without having to compromise on ease of use when updates are needed. Their website is fully integrated with their booking system, so when the team needs to create a new trip or edit the details of an existing trip, these can be immediately published on the website. “Making it faster and easier for our non-technical team members to publish trips has helped us grow,” says Robert. 

Bringing everything on to the Easol platform also meant they were able to integrate their website and bookings platform, so bookings would automatically pull through to their backend where they can manage each customer, request information, and track payment status. No more plug-ins, Google Docs, and fragmented systems displaying outdated or inaccurate information.

Automated customer management tools to help scale operations

With over 50 trips on sale at a time across 25 countries around the world, it was challenging for a small team to manage the sheer volume of bookings and customer details. Using Easol’s booking management and built-in automations; help the Girls’ Guide team manage the demand to scale their business operations. Just one example is setting up customer questions before and after checkout, so they were able to automatically collect important guest information without having to reach out to guests individually. 

Booking confirmations and reminders are also sent out automatically, saving the team time and resources that can be used on further developing their business. “If we are to grow beyond our current size, we need to automate manual activities as much as possible,” says Robert. “With Easol, we’re able to do just that — which helps to streamline our booking process and post-booking customer communications.”

Flexible payment options that increase conversion rate

For many experience businesses selling high-value experiences, offering flexible payment options to customers is a critical tool to drive conversions. With Easol’s payment stack, Girls’ Guide’s customers can now pay with both deposits and payment plans, giving them more peace of mind at checkout and helping reduce checkout abandonment. Robert shares “About 42% of our customers book with deposits and 31% book with payment plans.” 

Moreover, in the past year, Girls’ Guide has seen a 108% increase in conversion from when customers add a booking to their cart to when they complete the purchase. With payment reminders and instalment charges  now done automatically, there’s an immediate impact without adding unnecessary operational load on the team.

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Looking to streamline your travel business? Book a demo today and discover how the platform can grow your sales and supercharge your experience business.

Elyse McAvoy

Product Marketing Manager

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