Finding spacious and well-located accommodation, a direct and cheap flight, small typical and nice restaurants… If the prospect of holidays generally makes us dream, organizing them can sometimes be synonymous with headaches. For those who want to travel without preparing everything weeks in advance, a unique Nantes start-up has the solution. For a little over two years, MyLittleTrip has been offering a holiday service in France and Europe by subscription.
For 59 euros monthly (99 euros for two), a surprise trip (three days and two nights, accommodation and transport included) is offered approximately every four months, among some 70 destinations. And the concept seems to appeal. “Today we have 900 subscribers, says Mikki Glancy, an Australian travel enthusiast who launched the service alone in August 2020 and is now at the head of a team of ten employees. This figure increases every month, it is higher than our expectations. »
A postcard one month before departure
To attract customers, and stand out from organized trips, MyLittleTrip relies on personalization. Dates, preferred means of transport, type of holiday desired, prohibited destinations, etc. A questionnaire enables the subscriber’s expectations to be better defined. “We have a lot of requests for trips with beautiful Instagrammable landscapes that we find for example in Naples, Capri or Santorini, continues the founder. Some prefer “chill” holidays, others want culture… The questionnaire is updated for each trip, the desires are not the same according to the seasons. For Christmas, the Nordic countries are trendy. »
One month before departure, a postcard is sent to each subscriber informing them of the location of their next “trip”, and providing them with a travel guide containing practical information, tips and advice for visits. Several options can then be taken out, including one or two extra nights.
“We focus on pleasure”
Laetitia, 34, does not hesitate to add surprise activities. Just last month, this single mother and her 11-year-old daughter, for example, took a pizza cooking class in Naples. This summer, it was a tuk tuk trip to discover Porto. At the beginning of January, they flew to Ibiza. “To be able to travel with my daughter, I needed to feel supervised, that everything was well organized, to concentrate on pleasure, explains the client. I had never thought of Ibiza, famous for partying, and finally we discovered a very beautiful island, with a cultural side that I hadn’t suspected. The hotel was wonderful. “In addition to saving them hours of research, we take them a little off the beaten track,” agrees Mikki Glancy. In France, for example, we have Mandelieu-la-Napoule, near Cannes. It’s not a well-known destination, but people come back delighted! »
On the price side, MyLittleTrip (1 million euros in turnover) ensures that beyond a monthly payment, the price of the trips offered is more advantageous than if it had been booked from scratch. After having sold 2,300 stays this year, the start-up hopes to increase to 6,000. To do this, it intends to deploy throughout Europe and continue to expand its target. “At the start, we had a lot of young active people aged 20-25, much more open to moving quickly after the Covid, observes Mikki Glancy. We now have families, who no longer want to bear the responsibilities of their choices, but also seniors, who receive a single trip as a gift and then subscribe. » Users who care little about their carbon footprint? “We try to educate little by little, rather than making people feel guilty,” replies the founder. Two years ago, the plane was chosen by 98% as the preferred mode of transport. Today, the train represents 36%. »