The Dare Necessities

A dare can mean anything to anyone, and for former model Stephanie Chai, it became a dream that she developed, writes Kathlyn D’souza

There are only a few loaded phrases containing three words that would generate some sort of reaction from the receiver. Putting aside the amorous ‘I love you’ and the spiteful ‘I hate you’, ‘I dare you’ seems to be one that would inspire a great deal of strength and audacity. We see the manifestation of the third phrase in Stephanie Chai, who, after being challenged by a friend, set up her own Asiabased luxury travel website, The Luxe Nomad. The Luxe Nomad is an online business solely dedicated to solving the fundamental issues of time and trust when it comes to travel. Chai divulged that since the age of 18, she has never stayed in one place for more than a couple of months, and realised there was a gap in the market. “What I found while booking and planning trips is that everything was very functional, but where was that site that inspired me to book that flight?” she pondered. This, in turn, inspired Theluxenomad.com. By curating villas and apartments, the company builds and sustains a sense of trust with its clients, saving them the time and trouble of wading through sites with too many options. The service also comes with a complimentary concierge, which would be particularly useful for a place such as Niseko, where it would help to have your ski lessons and passes planned. “Today, luxury travellers want things to come easy, so that is the service we aim to provide,” she added. Now, the platform has branched out exponentially. One of which is through property management, a move necessitated by brand building and the rationale ‘if you book with us, why shouldn’t you check in with us?’ Chai explains, “With us branching into management, and standardising items, guests are reassured; they know what they’re getting.” The other expansion plan is to tap into the Chinese market. With the understanding that the Chinese are now driving the tourism sector (with over 120 million outbound tourists travelling in 2015 alone,) the site aims to fill the gap in the Chinese market, which currently does not have a booking portal dedicated to luxury villas yet. As such, the Chinese version of the site will be launched in conjunction with the unveiling of their new website soon. Although there are more exciting plans in the pipeline, Chai considers entrepreneurship as being tougher than before, and always aims to be better. “The Internet has allowed for global competition to take place easily, so you really have to be agile and different. This is why innovation and branding is key; the concept of simply copying and pasting is not as effective as before,” says Chai. The site’s findings at the end of 2014 preceded this thought, during which Chai saw that the growth in sales had started to wane, as people had apparently become tired of the flash sales model. She knew it wasn’t the future, as when the data of the users were studied, the growth area was really in the luxury villa market. “Of course, a full pivot is always a little nervewracking, you never know if it’s going to work! And I was well aware that if it didn’t, that might be the end of it. Lucky for us, that move led to us doubling our annual sales despite keeping costs flat. Phew!” By making villas more affordable than a hotel, The Luxe Nomad is truly passionate about making luxury trips more accessible for all. It is not merely about being a normal and functional booking site. Call it a ‘friendin-the-know,’ armed with witty humour and a team that promises the perfect stay. “Flying somewhere new, staying somewhere nice— that’s a memory to keep,” says Chai. “Our underlying message is that we want everyone to ‘dream a little, travel a lot.’”