Meet Sarah Groen of Bell & Bly Travel Design in Heights

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Groen.

Sarah, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I moved to Houston right out of undergrad at UT and started off in finance doing investment banking and private equity investing – a very traditional path for a finance major. I never really felt I fit into the finance culture (above and beyond the fact that I was the only female on the team at both jobs) and wanted to get off the “beaten path” that it felt like I was following. I didn’t really know how, so I applied to business school (which ironically, is the next step on that same path for most finance majors). However, I really focused on getting into Stanford because I knew it was much more entrepreneurial than other business schools.

By a stroke of luck, I did get in and went to school knowing I wanted to do something different but wasn’t sure what. I thought about microfinance – as a way to combine my love for travel and my experience in finance. I also thought about entrepreneurship and travel. Stanford was an amazing two years, some of the best of my life. I got the confidence I needed to take more risk and do what felt right for me.

After graduating, I got married and moved back to Houston. I had turned down the job offers I had for traditional work like consulting and private equity and started networking with different entrepreneurs in town. I ended up meeting an interesting group of entrepreneurs and co-founding SURGE Accelerator, the first accelerator in Houston and first focused on energy in the world. We recruited energy startups to Houston, ran them through a three months bootcamp, invested in them, and helped them raise angel and venture funding after the program. We also helped with the formation of the accelerators at Rice and UofH (which are both still ongoing and doing a GREAT job!).

Out of SURGE I was recruited to work in oil & gas tech at a small oil services company, where I ran strategy and marketing for a couple of years. It was amazing experience, but still not really what I wanted to be doing. I left during the 2014 downturn to focus on doing “my own thing.” I had an idea for a travel related business, but as I was building the business plan, I was recruited by Uber. It seemed like too cool of an opportunity to pass up, so I went on to launch and run UberEATS in Houston and Phoenix. Little known fact – of the over 200 cities UberEATS is in now, we were the 3rd city in the world to have the app here in Houston! My team worked like CHAMPS to bring the service to Houston, literally around the clock. I’m still so proud of them.

After launching four services in two markets for Uber, I decided to get back to working on my own thing. I started off investing and looking for a business to buy, but nothing was the right fit. I did start a fund and invested in a large portfolio of vending machines – but that still didn’t take much of my time. After striking out on a few other ideas, I finally decided to give my travel business a try. I originally had a lot of limiting beliefs around it (travel advisors don’t make money, what kind of MBA becomes a travel advisor, and other ego related blockers). When I finally let go of all that and of any expectations, things really started to fall into place.

I started Bell & Bly Travel about a year and a half ago now – and things couldn’t be better. We are one of the fastest-growing new travel advisories in the country and are one of only 200 advisories in the world able to offer Virtuoso Wanderlist services. I think my passion for travel, my prior business experience (all the ups and downs!), and the growing trend of collecting experiences over things really put the wind at my back.

I have now been to all seven continents and almost 100 countries. The best part of my job is getting to share that experience with clients and helping them to have once in a lifetime experiences!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, definitely not!

You can see in my “story” how many different things I did before really focusing on my passion and having faith that that passion would see me through.

The other challenge that I face is in educating potential clients on why they should be using a travel advisor. Many people have the “travel agent” of old in their minds and wonder what the point is in the internet age.

There’s actually a big difference. Used to be – you knew what you wanted and would call a travel agent to book for you. Agents were “order takers” and that is now a commoditized service.

As an advisor, I’m here to help my clients figure out how and where to invest their time (and hard earned $$). When you have kids you only have 17 summers with them before they leave for college. How are you going to make the most of that? How are you going to surprise your significant other for that big anniversary? How are you going to unwind when you’ve had a really stressful year at work? By stressing out spending 20-40 hours of your free time doing internet research?

Not only have I traveled the world, but I study destinations all day long. I meet with hoteliers and tour operators multiple times per week, and I specialize in a certain type of client so I know what makes them tick. When my clients travel, you can bet they get the best of the best because of my relationships. Plus – I have partnerships with all the top-end hotels. For example, you are at a big disadvantage booking a Four Seasons directly vs through me. For the same price, my clients get breakfast included, a $100 resort credit, upgrades if available, and more.

One of the biggest challenges actually is seeing on social media that a friend booked a trip without me, and trying not to get my feelings hurt lol. I always cringe because I know how much extra I could have added!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Bell & Bly Travel Design – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Bell & Bly Travel works with entrepreneurs, busy executives, families, and couples to effectively plan for their most precious asset – their leisure time. Our clients come to us for everything from weekend hotel stays to major bucket list trips (& sometimes for help figuring out where those bucket list trips should be!).

We use our relationships in the industry to add value to your vacations – not just through saving you 20-60 hours of planning time, but also via perks like hotel upgrades and credits, and helping you find experiences you didn’t even know exist. Everything we do is bespoke to you and based on our tens of thousands of hours of travel and planning experience.

I think about this in a couple of ways – 1) what sets using an advisor apart from using the internet, and 2) what sets me apart from other advisors.

1 – I described in the last section a bit. Relationships, the ability to add perks for clients due to my partnerships (with brands like Four Seasons, Belmond, Ritz, Hyatt Prive, Preferred Hotels, Relais & Chateaux, Virtuoso, all the major luxury cruise lines, and more). I also have access to generally better guides in country than can be found online, and unique experiences like getting to go behind the scenes for the changing of the guard in London, or having lunch with a Baroness in Portugal, finding vetted luxury yachts, you name it).

2 – Bell & Bly Travel is differentiated in a few ways. Through my travel experience having been to all seven continents and about 100 countries. I’ve been nearly everywhere my clients want to go. This means I can focus on customizing trips unique to you, rather than worrying about learning a new destination. In addition, my professional experience and MBA from Stanford also allow me to run the company like a true firm. When you come to Bell & Bly you’ll get the same level of professionalism as you get at your attorney’s office or with your wealth advisor (without worrying about being charged by the hour!). Last, my background in technology allows me to be on the cutting edge for clients. I’m one of the first 200 advisors in the world now offering a software-enabled consulting service for planning out your bucketlist for the next several years. This service is going to change the way people think about planning their life experiences.

Most proud of – Helping people realize their life long dreams! Making space for families to reconnect and make memories. Expanding peoples’ comfort zones and increasing tolerance through travel!

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Yes, so much!

We are growing quickly and just hired another team member. We hope to double in size this next year, start offering Wanderlist Portfolios on a regular basis and launch a scholarship for low-income college students to study abroad.

This is much longer term, but my secret life goal is to find a way to inspire or enable 1,000,000 people to travel more broadly. I call it “The One Million Traveled Project.” It only exists in my imagination right now, I don’t know how I’ll get there, or what form it will come in – but it’s always in the back of my mind!