Train and value your staff: Providing a 5-star travel experience is ultimately tied to the people who work for you. Make sure that your staff is aligned with the brand's objective and culture. It's also important that you invest enough resources into training and actually provide opportunities for further growth along the way. I believe that your staff will provide the best experience for your customers when they feel happy at work and are empowered to make informed decisions without being supervised/micromanaged while you all work together towards the company's goals.

As part of my series about "How To Create A Travel Experience That Keeps People Coming Back For More", I had the pleasure of interviewing Marketa Blahova.

Marketa co-founded Daytrip in 2015 to help travelers enjoy every second of their holiday. After spending years working in an agency for corporate clients, she was ready to make something she could call her own. Since then Daytrip has expanded to 110+ countries worldwide and serviced thousands of travelers. Along the way, Marketa has received recognition as one of the "100 Women Founders in Europe to Follow" by Czech Forbes. She was also named one of the "Top Women of the Czech Republic in Startups in 2019" and was among the most influential women of the Czech Republic in 2023. She also regularly speaks on the topics of customer experience.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Coincidence, luck, being at the right time at the right place. I was working in an advertising agency and Tomas Turek, the CEO and Co-Founder of Daytrip was looking for someone to take care of the digital marketing campaigns. Our paths crossed at a birthday party of Tomas' wife, who used to be my classmate at high school. He pitched me the project which got me pretty curious and I quickly decided I wanted to be part of it.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

Starting a new brand is by itself a very interesting thing. So much goes into it. But definitely, an interesting, or dare I say significant story is how we managed to keep a travel brand running during the pandemic. How we supported the business while traveling came to a near halt and how we turned things around to attract new investors who helped us with further growth.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

At the very beginning, we didn't have any sophisticated system. All we had was a very complex spreadsheet where we noted the status of the orders, names of drivers assigned, cars, details of the trips, etc. It was also us, founders, taking care of everything, customer service included. One Sunday morning, a distressed customer called me saying that their driver had not arrived. I went to check our spreadsheet to get the driver's details to contact them and ask. But when I saw the appropriate field with the driver's details (name and car type), I read "No car". My heart skipped a beat, thinking that someone on the team resolved the trip without assigning a driver and simply put the information that no car was available. But all ended well: the customer confused the earlier departure time with their other trip so the driver was not even late, he was on his way on time. And you know what the driver's name was? Tom Nocar ["no car"]. I will remember this unusual name until the end of my life.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

It would be unfair to point out just one person because over the years there were so many people who helped me to be the person I am today, starting with the support of the family to all the people who are building Daytrip with us.

Thank you for that. Let's jump to the core of our discussion. Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to the travel and hospitality industries?

At Daytrip, our main goal is to turn a transfer into an unforgettable experience. We do this by providing travelers with private door-to-door car transfers with English-speaking drivers who also have local knowledge. And because we want travelers to have a unique travel experience they can always remember (and share with their family and friends), they can customize their transfer by adding additional sightseeing stops. Our service is currently available in over 100 countries worldwide and as such international travelers have many opportunities to travel with Daytrip.

Following the pandemic, we have registered that travelers want flexibility more than ever. Travel plans can change quickly due to illness or unforeseeable events at departure or final destinations. Daytrip allows people to book their trips on their schedule, they select their time of departure and even a location. They do not have to travel anywhere to be picked up. Daytrip's routes do not follow the traditional "tourist" routes — rather, we make it possible for every traveler to customize their trip according to their needs. We also provide an opportunity to select a car type, depending on the size of the group. Overall, we want our customers to be in charge of their adventure.

Our service perfectly fits with the current travel trends which indicate that people seek unique travel experiences, wanting to immerse themselves in the local cultures of the destinations they are visiting. Also, because we give them the opportunity to add on the sightseeing stops, travelers get a chance to "escape" the overcrowded tourist hotspots for a calmer experience in smaller, but still beautiful cities — these are now called "travel dupes". This option also further eases the effects of over-tourism, bringing sustainable tourism more to the front of people's minds as they plan their holidays.

This also connects to another 2024 travel trend we are seeing — gig traveling. With Taylor Swift bringing her Eras Tour to Europe, many American travelers are talking about extending their Taylor-inspired holidays to explore more of Europe. This is where Daytrip can be useful because while "Swifties" (the official name for Taylor's fans) visit a concert in Paris, they can then plan to explore more of Europe by using a private transfer with an English-speaking driver — perhaps escaping the larger cities for the "dupes" nearby. We came up with ideas for trips out of the main hubs such as Paris, Lisbon, Milan, and Munich because we understand that travelers want to be inspired on the same website as they book their trip — it is just so much more convenient for them.

We have also noticed that solo travel is a huge trend this year — especially among females. Solo travelers will appreciate that Daytrip's drivers are pre-vetted, meaning they have gone through brand-standardized checks to ensure that all our travelers feel comfortable when traveling with us.

Which "pain point" are you trying to address by introducing this innovation and how do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo?

As I already said, we want to turn regular transfers into an experience. We want to give people the tools necessary to explore the world, while also doing it in comfort and without too much planning on their end. Travelers get to explore with us without having to figure out logistics around luggage storage, public transportation or even traveling with children since our drivers will come equipped with a car seat when notified about a child's presence at the time of the booking (note: this applies to all countries excluding the US due to different local rules).

As you know, COVID19 changed the world as we know it. Can you share a few examples of how travel and hospitality companies will be adjusting over the next five years to the new ways that consumers will prefer to travel?

I have discussed this above already but we are seeing that people are looking to visit less crowded places. They are interested (more than ever before) in individual travel and they are also seeking customized experiences. With that in mind, companies need to adjust their offerings to suit travelers' expectations to ensure that people will want to continue traveling with them.

You are a "travel insider". How would you describe your "perfect vacation experience"?

As I interact with many people daily, my perfect vacation is in the middle of nowhere, reconnecting with nature, ideally in a forest or the mountains. But I also love traveling in more inhabited places. When I do, I always want to see not only the main tourist attractions but also the local life, eat in a restaurant where locals go, speak to them, and see something more out of the country. And I am not alone because Daytrip's customers look for the same experience.

Travel is not always about escaping, but about connecting. Have you made efforts to cultivate a more wellness-driven experience? We'd love to hear about it.

Definitely! We want travelers using Daytrip to feel connected to both the people they encounter during their holidays and the environment they are traveling through. That is ultimately why we are encouraging private travel, to give people the opportunity to experience their holidays stress-free while having an experienced driver with local knowledge drive them around. We have also talked about over-tourism before and ultimately, giving people a chance to experience smaller cities or hidden gems contributes to a more wellness-driver experience as people can enjoy the people with fewer people around.

Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things one should know in order to create a travel experience that keeps bringing people back for more?

There are a number of factors to be considered. Among them are:

Knowing your customer: Any business, in whatever industry it is, won't be successful if it does not understand its target customer(s) and their needs. To do so, you also need to understand the customer's cultural background which influences their behavior and spending habits. At Daytrip, our team is comprised of expats from various countries and when we work on our product, we make sure to consult various team members to understand the culture better and thus be able to deliver a product/service that best resonates with our main customer base.

Ask for feedback and implement it into your product: To remain competitive, you need to be open to feedback. The idea is that there is always room for improvement because business always changes, new trends come up, and customer behavior and needs change. To be able to continue providing a stellar travel experience, you and your team need to be on top of all of this and be able to adapt to the new requirements. Any business should actively be asking their customers for feedback to understand what they are looking for and perhaps what they are missing. And who knows, their answers might inspire a new feature that will become a hit for everyone.

Be active with responding to customer feedback: On top of that, you need to ensure that your customers know that they are being heard when they provide their feedback, whether that is when they call you directly or leave a review on Facebook or Tripadvisor. At Daytrip, we have a policy to respond to our customers within 24 hours. And it's even quicker if the person is traveling with Daytrip at that moment and needs immediate assistance. We understand that things can change or events can transpire during the transfer and our goal is to ensure that we can reasonably accommodate customer's needs to ensure the best travel experience with us.

Be on top of the trends: As I mentioned above, any brand that wants to stay relevant in its field needs to understand trends. Because these change and affect customer behavior. I already talked about it earlier but Taylor Swift's Era's Tour is a perfect example of that. We have been reading about Americans planning their European holidays around her concert days, extending their stays on the continent following the concerts. Knowing this, we understand the motivations behind bookings and we are also able to foresee the "hot spots" for this summer. This gives us, any brand for that matter, an opportunity to impress new customers but also retain the existing ones, offering them a service at a time when we already know that they will be traveling.

Train and value your staff: Providing a 5-star travel experience is ultimately tied to the people who work for you. Make sure that your staff is aligned with the brand's objective and culture. It's also important that you invest enough resources into training and actually provide opportunities for further growth along the way. I believe that your staff will provide the best experience for your customers when they feel happy at work and are empowered to make informed decisions without being supervised/micromanaged while you all work together towards the company's goals.

Can you share with our readers how you have used your success to bring goodness to the world?

I believe that it is important for people to meet people from different cultural backgrounds. I am grateful that we are able to connect with people who might not meet otherwise.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

As a woman working for a startup in the Czech Republic, I think it's important to continue empowering more females to pursue their professional dreams. The USA is a bit ahead of us, with companies working hard on having more women in leadership positions. At Daytrip, we are trying to do the same, in fact, 40% of our workforce are women, which surpasses the tech industry's average of approximately 33% in 2022, as reported by Deloitte. I am proud that our C-suite team is comprised of women leaders who lead sales, product development, marketing, and HR, and are ultimately steering the wheel and making important business decisions on daily basis. And of course, we have talented female team members on all teams, coming from various cultural backgrounds and this is something that we will always support at Daytrip and will try to lead by example.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can follow Daytrip's Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Tripadvisor accounts where you can stay up to date with anything brand-related.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

About The Interviewer:Savio P. Clemente, TEDx speaker and Stage 3 cancer survivor, infuses transformative insights into every article. His journey battling cancer fuels a mission to empower survivors and industry leaders towards living a truly healthy, wealthy, and wise lifestyle. As a Board-Certified Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC, ACC), Savio guides readers to embrace self-discovery and rewrite narratives by loving their inner stranger, as outlined in his acclaimed TEDx talk: "7 Minutes to Wellness: How to Love Your Inner Stranger." From his best-selling book to his impactful work as a media journalist covering resilience and wellness trends with notable celebrities and TV personalities, Savio's words touch countless lives. His philosophy, "to know thyself is to heal thyself," resonates in every piece.