"Take criticism as a driver for growth" with Victoria O’Connell

Victoria O’Connell is a business executive with nearly two decades of experience having co-founded and managed JDP Global, international e-commerce, and real estate company. With vacation rentals in Malta, London, Dubai, and Miami, she’s long been a customer of alternative accommodations sites. In 2017 her new London short-term rental was burglarized and the resulting fear led her to start Golightly. Golightly, is on a mission to make travel safer for all women through its private online short term rental club & platform.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I’m from the UK, with an Irish and Maltese background. I was born an ex-pat in the Middle East and lived in Vanuatu before ending back in the UK, so I have been traveling my whole life. Since leaving University, I did some work in production and then moved into tech, which I love and where I have remained for the last 19 years! In January of this year, I founded Golightly, a private vacation rental club for women. All the properties on wegolightly.com are owned or managed by women. Bookings must be made by women within the network, though you can travel with whomever you wish. 

What inspired you to start your business?

I started Golightly after having a horrible experience in one of my short term rentals where a man that had rented the property via a major home-sharing site trashed the place, stole everything, and disappeared. Not only did it make me feel very vulnerable and unsafe, but it also held me back from feeling I would ever rent my place again. I had often felt uncomfortable traveling as a single woman, but this experience made me realize that even as a host there is too much anonymity in the big short-term rental sites. Golightly is the antithesis to that - a smaller, connected network of women that help provide the needed trust and safety element.

Where is your business based?

Austin, Texas as our advisors are ex-HomeAway (Vrbo) senior leadership who are based there and supported the mission from the start. Pre COVID, I split my time between Austin and London, and for now, I am leading the company from London. 

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?

For me, research was the most important step in the start. The more time you spend researching, the less time you waste going forward. Basically, I spoke with everyone whose ear I could bend and built strategic relationships with women from the vacation rental industry including executives, hosts, and travelers to sound board the concept and potential obstacles. 

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

Golightly’s mission of making travel safer for women seems to have resonated with women around the world. We now have over 5,000 members across 70 countries and we have also been lucky to have great global press coverage that supported the need for the business model. Since then, Golightly has been shared on social media groups, work slack channels, university message boards, and even through good old word of mouth. 

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?

I’d find it hard to believe that anyone could go through the last few months and not say that COVID is the biggest challenge they have faced. We had cancellations and had to offer full refunds, and in the beginning, there was a real fear that travel would come to a complete stop. We were worried that we would lose the momentum and growth we had just gained since the pandemic began so soon after we had launched. Instead of letting it get us down, we focused our energy on product enhancements and features like our “Go Sparkle” pledge and badge for hosts.

How do you stay focused?

The Golightly mission and the stories I hear from our hosts and guests emphasizing the need for the business make it easy for me to commit myself and most of my time and energy to the business. For the day-to-day, I am a big believer in taking little breaks.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

As we are an interconnected and private network of women, we are able to instill a level of accountability and trust that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the industry. You are always connected to your host or your guest within the Golightly community of women. (But of course, men can travel too, as long as they’re traveling with a member.)

 What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

The referral system has been very effective. Each member receives five invites to give to her friends or family to join Golightly. Our members value the service, so we find that they want to share it with their friends and it means we have a rich membership base. There are women who have joined us from many different walks of life and all over the world. That’s exciting to me.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

Take criticism as a driver for growth.

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?

Duolingo as I love learning languages and Instagram because I follow travel accounts to discover new places to visit. My favorite book is Sophie’s World because it’s not what you expect. I’ll leave that there to let you discover it for yourself! 

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

The tools I use every day are Slack, Zoom, and Skype. In today’s world of remote working, these are essential tools to keep the team in good communication.

Who is your business role model? Why?

Being British, I have a great amount of respect for the Queen, who at 94 has run the country like a business for many years with strength and grace even in the face of adversity. 

How do you balance work and life?

That balance is very hard for me. My friends pull me back into real life when I realize that as much as work consumes 99% of my thoughts daily, they are primarily interested in the other 1%. It brings me back to reality and helps me switch off from work for a short amount of time.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

Walking my dogs. They don’t walk fast, so neither do I.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

We’ll be rolling out more features and benefits for our Golightly members, and expanding into many more markets. Our intention is to raise funds to facilitate that growth. Personally, as soon as travel opens up I plan to visit as many of our hosts, meet as many of our members, and travel as much as I can! I used to average over 100k plane miles a year, so I miss traveling desperately.

How can our readers connect with you?

Connect with me on Linkedin. And if you’re female, there’s a place to request membership on the site here. I’d be honored to be your first connection on wegolightly.com!