Flash Pack is back: A message from our founders

Dear Flashpacker,

We’re thrilled to announce Flash Pack is back.

Lee and I are overjoyed to be reunited with our community – and we can’t wait to travel together again. We’ve a new selection of handcrafted group adventures for you to discover and the website is open and ready to go. But first, we want to revisit and acknowledge our past.

A year of reflection

It’s been exactly one year since we lost the old Flash Pack to COVID-19, when we entered into administration following a period that can only be described as utter chaos. Fortunately, we were the highest bidders on buying back the business assets and able to start a brand new business under the same brand – the new Flash Pack you see today. Since then, we’ve had 12 months to reflect and try to make amends.

During this time, we spent seven days a week, day and night, helping 95% of previous customers claim a refund, something we felt incredibly strongly about and that would also have been impossible if Flash Pack had gone into liquidation instead. We also raised enough investment for the new business to survive any future waves of COVID-19 and bring the balance sheet back to pre-pandemic levels. Most of all, we scrutinised everything that went wrong and set about making key changes to the new business to ensure this never happened again.

A new Flash Pack

Over the past 12 months, we’ve spoken to at least one Flashpacker every single day about what happened. We’ve learned a lot. Combined with our own analysis, we’ve used this feedback to build a new Flash Pack from the very beginning, with our community as the common thread that runs through every stage of the business. Some of the biggest changes are:

• We now operate using a trust bank account. This means trip funds go directly into a bank account independent of Flash Pack, maintained and audited by a third party. These funds are locked away until the trip is complete, except either to pay suppliers or provide refunds. It means we categorically guarantee refunds within 14 days, no matter what.
• Growing sustainably is paramount. Many of you told us we’d expanded too quickly and that, as a result, quality dipped. So, we ripped apart our previous 74 adventures and started from scratch. We searched for the very best guides who could help us deliver on our promise. And we rewrote the blueprint for our customer happiness team to make every point of contact richer.
• New adventures, handcrafted for quality. We now offer just 16 unbelievable adventures packed with hard-to-do-by-yourself experiences. We scoured the world for the best hotels and restaurants we could find, from 22-plate tasting menus to sourcing your own market fish for supper. Each adventure revolves around bonding a group of strangers over amazing memories together.

Community-first, always

Over the past few weeks, friends have asked Lee and I how we feel about bringing Flash Pack back. Of course, we’re excited but the overwhelming feeling is one of gratitude. We are utterly humbled by the Flash Pack community. By the way 93% of you – despite being affected by refunds and severe disruption – said you’d travel with us again and, in many cases, have even already booked.

We’re bringing 98% of our suppliers with us too, and many of our guides who miss Flash Pack’s incredible group spirit. A small but extremely talented group from our previous team have rejoined as well, despite having been made redundant by Flash Pack just one year prior. Of course bringing Flash Pack back feels great, but more importantly it’s great for our entire ecosystem and we’re grateful for all of our community’s loyal support.

Flash Pack, together

Our community is paramount, it’s why we exist. It’s why we’re still the only travel company to obsess over group dynamics. The drive behind ambitions like including our community in important business decisions. The motivation to bake it into our very DNA, into everything we do. But if there’s one single, biggest lesson the pandemic and all of your emails, comments and calls have reaffirmed, it’s that Flash Pack must continue to bring people together. To own the responsibility to help others discover friendship as a powerful form of self-care.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put us all through some form of isolation. And human connection – we believe the single, most important pillar of our wellbeing – is in crisis. We want to fix it together, one new friendship at a time. That’s why Flash Pack’s renewed mission is to fuel one million friendships through adventure travel. To use the power of togetherness and the magic of discovery to soothe the soul. To use group adventure and the unstoppable energy of new connection as the tonic to our frazzled minds. To come back meaningfully, together.

We hope you’ll share our mission to reconnect with each other and reawaken our very best selves. Lee and I can’t wait to welcome you into one of our groups once again.

Flash Pack is back – together.

Radha & Lee
Founders, Flash Pack