How about a surprise trip to Europe from A to Z?
This is what Mikki Glancy, founder of My Little Tripthe first travel subscription service in France.
Mikki is Australian and moved to France fifteen years ago after completing her studies. She worked in communications and marketing in the audiovisual sector.
I took advantage of being in France and being in a country where I could travel somewhere in less than an hour. I could leave work on a Friday and be in another country for dinner in the evening. I thought that was great, because in Australia you can't do that.
Mikki's idea to create this travel subscription service came unexpectedly...
One day, I bought an online box for my daughter, which we received every month containing surprise cosmetics and beauty products. All you have to do is set up a profile on the site, and then I thought "But that's exactly it! We need exactly the same thing for travel". So I took a step back, did some market research and then launched the My Little Trip adventure.
She had already traveled a lot in her life and really wanted to share the idea of travel, local experience and open-mindedness that comes with traveling a lot. My Little Trip offers three surprise trips a year to European destinations, including transport and accommodation.
These are 2-night, 3-day city breaks for solo, duo or friends. How does it work? You fill in a profile, choose one of the 9 types of trip you prefer (adventure, romantic, cultural, eco, party...) then specify the destinations you don't want. We also ask for your preferred means of transport (plane, train or no transport). In the case of "no transport", we offer superior accommodation and on-site experiences to compensate. And finally, you can choose the dates. It's really the surfer who chooses the dates. A month before departure, My Little Trip sends a postcard evoking the destination, to the traveler's home. This was a marketing choice, because today we receive less and less mail.
Mikki first tested his concept on his first audience, friends and family, before developing it further and creating his own team.
Before I actually launched My Little Trip, I ran a mini ad campaign on Facebook with a post explaining the concept. I got a lot of feedback and lots of ideas for the future, not least thanks to the questions people asked me. Either I had the answer, or I hadn't even thought of that idea or that direction. And that helped me a lot for the future.
Today, destinations, hotels and deals are rigorously selected and tested by the My Little Trip team before being offered.
We are able able to offer a tailored on-site experience. For example, if we know that you have a favorite music group and that this group is playing in Berlin the week you're going, we'll direct you to Berlin to offer an experience that's really based on your profile and tastes. For us, the aim is really to make travel hyper-personalized and accessible to everyone.
However, the coronavirus epidemic turned My Little Trip upside down, and we had to adapt quickly: rescheduling trips, dealing with disappointed customers...
The My Little Trip team is always on hand to take care of its subscribers, who receive plenty of little touches during these busy times.
Either we'll offer them a slightly longer stay, or they'll be able to make an extra trip... For the time being, we're keeping things flexible because we realize that no one fits into exact boxes. So the offer remains flexible.
We asked about Mikki's favourite destinations in Europe:
There are lots of them. I love Berlin. It's a city that intrigues me and I love the street art there, the people and so on. I love Amsterdam too. It's a beautiful city, winter or summer. I also love London because it's like Australia, it's like a second home for me. All in all, there are a lot of cities I love. I'm also a big fan of Italy.
Each country is unique and worth the detour, personally I'm always up for it! 😊
