For those living outside of the Philippines and have the desire to see the 7,107 islands of the country, this week’s story can definitely help you. Her travel and tourism company will help you navigate the ins and outs of the country in the most convenient way possible and the . And for those who are already in the Philippines and would like to explore areas that were never trekked before, this is also for you.
Meet April Margaret Cuenca, the Founder and CEO of the Philippines Tourism Company, FlipTrip. It is a social enterprise that operates an online travel planning and booking company which aims to build communities by providing the most unique and memorable experiences all around the Philippines in the best and most convenient way for travelers. As the CEO of the country’s most-loved booking platform, April lives the life she has always dreamed of. Prior to her founding FlipTrip, she was a paid backpacker, a tour guide/coordinator, a tour operations consultant, and even as part of a travel show.
April has been to at least 51 of the 81 provinces of the Philippines and continues to pin drop places she’s explored. She’s started exploring the Philippines when she was twelve and has not stopped since then. Although she did not finish her tourism degree at the University of the Philippines-Diliman, she made a career out of it! In her own words, April describes “Fliptrip is your gateway to finding new destinations. Find an unexpected paradise and have a great adventure right here in the Philippines.” If you are ready to visit the Philippines or explore the country’s off-the-beaten path, contact Fliptrip at http://fliptrip.ph/, with email address travel@fliptrip.ph or at phone numbers +63 999 6011 444 / +63 977 2565 410.
Here is April’s story:
The Alpha Stories (TAS): Tell us the story of your company and why you started it?
April Cuenca: I had previously traveled to a lot of non-mainstream destinations, and this seemed to resonate with a lot of people. I was surprised because I didn’t even publish a blog about my adventures, yet people just kept asking me to help them with their trips to those places. Soon, even travel agencies and tour operators started asking about where they should expand their operations. This led me to travel consultancy for a while; but then I realized that it really boiled down to the lack of information and ease of planning and booking arrangements. People wanted to go to new destinations, they just didn’t know how to get there or where to begin.
This inspired my advocacy to connect and promote more off-the-beaten-path destinations and help local providers become digitally-aware, especially to make everything more accessible to the consumers. By doing so, FlipTrip aims to distribute the benefits of our country’s tourism growth to the lesser known destinations and communities.
My first partner and I had a serendipitous meeting actually. Yolanda had just happened and everyone was volunteering for packing up relief goods. I met Jackie while volunteering, and we started talking because we spotted that we had the exact same pair of shoes. Gray sneakers from Cotton On to be exact. We hit it off, and we ended up being friends along with a group of other people. Over Thanksgiving, we ended up talking about what we wanted to do with our lives, and I told her about my idea for FlipTrip. She loved it immediately, and even though she was already preparing to go back to Australia (where she had moved from), she offered to put everything on hold and work on it with me.
We entered the Ideaspace Competition in January 2014, and in the middle of it searched for our future partner, Ragde, who would become our CTO and 3rd partner. We eventually won the competition in June, and we've been in hyperdrive ever since. We built our website, and created the simplified reservations management system which we teach our partners to use. Most importantly, we grew our team, whom all serve as the backbone of our company and our advocacy.
TAS: What do you think is the most important part of starting out? How do you maintain a level of organization and impact to the community?
April Cuenca: The most important thing is to find that problem that you are passionate about solving. This is the basis of your “WHY?”, your motivation, and your guiding purpose. Starting and keeping a business alive is the most nerve-wracking experience ever. You’ll get bogged down by all sorts of problems, and when the hype dies down, your overarching purpose and passion are what will keep you going.
TAS: Can you give us some strategies that help you become an industry leader?
April Cuenca: I believe that what keep us up are only 3 things:
1. We always seek to create the most valuable experience for our customers, no matter what their budget is. No matter who you are, we believe that you deserve to have memorable experiences from your travels.
2. We believe that our local tourism stakeholders are the backbone of our travel experiences. We do our best to collaborate with local stakeholders as much as possible, and prioritize the well-being of our partners. We work to provide value to them, as much as for our clients.
3. We work to create a collaborative travel community, bringing together travel enthusiasts and local travel-related brands together, promoting responsible travel.
TAS: What was your most inspiring moment doing what you do?
April Cuenca: The most inspiring moments of my work do not come from my memories on the road, but from sitting at the office and randomly receiving texts from our local tourism stakeholders. They message me to ask about my day and tell me about how much they support our work and advocacy. My favorite ones are when they tell me about how they were able to make improvements in training or facilities from the influx of travelers they’d gotten.
TAS: When did you consider yourself a success?
April Cuenca: I don’t consider myself or our company a success. There’s still a lot to improve, and we have a lot things that we will be testing out this year.
TAS: What are your success habits?
April Cuenca: Plan your day, and prioritize, but never forget to allocate time for family and friends. This helps to deal with burn out.
TAS: How do you start your day?
April Cuenca: I start my day looking at my personal goals in my life that are posted on my bedroom wall, and some pump up music from my spotify.
TAS: What makes you happy? Do you think being happiness is critical in being successful?
April Cuenca: I don’t think that you can count anything as a success if it doesn’t make you happy. Knowing that I’m working towards creating a difference in people’s lives makes me happy, and as long as I’m doing that, I can keep going. :)