Girls Trip Tours is an African travel business focused on empowering women. The business uses WeTravel to manage all payments, set up tour bookings, and communicate with group tour clients.
Compared to the manual systems the business first used, they're now saving a lot of time and effort while providing a better customer experience. In fact, Girls Trip Tours is not only generating more revenue with WeTravel but is also earning greater profit margins.
We recently caught up with the business’s founder, Temi Popo, to discuss their business and their journey with WeTravel.
About Girls Trip Tours
Girls Trip Tours is a business that offers transformative travel experiences for women, by women, focused on women's empowerment. The company hosts a range of tours around the African continent, with the goal of empowering future leaders through mentoring.
The company started when its Nigerian-Canadian founder first created a magazine focused on connecting the African diaspora back with the African continent. After realizing that the vast majority of the magazine’s audience was women, she wanted to find a better way to engage with that community.
As Temi has always loved travel and was interested in engaging with the African continent, she decided to bring the magazine to life through real-life experiences. This is where Girls Trip Tours was born.
According to the business’s founder, the most unique thing about Girls Trip Tours is the mentorship aspect with the girls. With the mentoring, they try to create a framework where girls can think beyond their circumstances, giving them something to aspire to.
Why WeTravel?
Challenge
How did you collect payments from your clients before you started using WeTravel?
I would accept a deposit for tours on my website (managed by Squarespace), and then use PayPal to collect the subsequent tour payments.
This system never worked well and was very annoying for people to use. There were also many issues that collecting payments through PayPal created for managing my finances. After using this approach for two trips, I realized I had to find something better.
How did you hear about WeTravel?
I discovered WeTravel a few years ago when I saw that a lot of travel influencers were using the platform.
With Girls Trip Tours, I started the hard way by using Excel spreadsheets to manage finances. However, when I started taking the business more seriously, I wanted to automate certain processes. This is when I considered switching over to a platform like WeTravel.
I read about a feature offered by WeTravel and the platform popped into my mind. I was super impressed to find out that WeTravel offers a lot of useful features within the free plan. So, using WeTravel was a no-brainer.
It has not only helped me increase revenue but also increase profits. Plus, WeTravel is very good at the parts of running a business that I am not good at, like reminding people to make payments.
The solution
What was the adoption process to WeTravel like for you?
WeTravel was super simple to use from the beginning. It was very easy to set up, and I was able to connect it to my vendors in Africa. This makes it easier to pay vendors directly through the platform with wire transfers, which saves money and helps me generate greater profits.
How was the adoption process of WeTravel for your customers?
I was initially worried about introducing a new payment system, but I never got any questions or complaints after implementing WeTravel. Most people felt comfortable using the payment features in the platform.
When my sister came on a trip with Girls Trip Tours, she appreciated the reminders WeTravel sends out for payments. I'm really grateful that WeTravel sends these out for me.
The impact
How has your business changed since adopting WeTravel?
I spend a lot less time creating templates and sending emails. The message feature, which allows me to email the travel group, makes me spend less time managing my group clients.
I also don't have to do as much math because once you've set WeTravel up, you know exactly how much revenue is coming in and where people are making their payments.
I just love the transparency and simplicity of managing finances and simplifying the customer experience with WeTravel. I can honestly say that the overall customer experience has improved since adopting the platform.
What are some of the WeTravel features that are helping you the most in achieving your business goals?
Accepting payments through the platform and having all payments stay in my WeTravel account is a major help.
It's especially useful because I can collect all payments in US dollars, which means I can easily manage all of my business finances through one platform without having to change the currency when paying vendors. This saves money and makes payments a lot easier to manage.
What's your favorite thing about working with WeTravel?
My account manager is proactive and helpful, and any time I have an issue it's highly useful to be able to speak to someone directly on the team, and easily communicate my thoughts and experience with them.
How WeTravel Became Girls Trip Tours’ Secret To Successful Booking & Payment Management
Girls Trip Tours now has a seamless payment management solution in place thanks to WeTravel. Even though the business only uses the free plan, it’s still saving them significant time and effort, while enhancing the client experience.
Are you interested in implementing WeTravel to manage your travel business more efficiently? Book a demo to see how the platform can work for you.
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