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Women in business: SpaBreaks.com MD Abi Wright on the secrets of her success

The managing director of the UK’s largest spa booking agent reveals the perks of the job, how to get there and why a work/life balance will always be a WIP

We all love a good pamper weekend at a boutique spa, but businesswoman Abi Wright did more than just enjoy a glass of bubbles in the hot tub - she recognised a gap in the market for a dedicated spa booking site.

And when the job involves checking out what’s on offer at the spas it hosts, we wanted to know exactly how she made it a reality.

The job description

“I am the co founder and managing director of SpaBreaks.com, which is the UKs largest spa booking agent – we work with 600 venues and about 400 people every week.

"Spas are big business and this year there’s a real trend towards wellbeing breaks, rather than just basic pampering packages so it’s an exciting time to be part of the industry.

The day-to-day

“It’s different every day. Three days a week I’m in the office or on the road, visiting venues and account managing. And some days I work from home.

“My office is a call centre, where there are 40+ people on the phone, seven days a week. I manage them, recruit, work with PR and marketing, sort the website out, talk to suppliers…you name it!”

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Why I love it

“Obviously visiting the spas and meeting the people who work there is fun and getting to influence new spa packages (and try out some of the treatments) is great, but it’s not my favourite part.

“The best bits are receiving emails from people who we’ve sent away on their perfect break and hearing about their experience.

“And it’s not just hen dos and couple breaks. We’ve had guests who are struggling with illnesses such as cancer, who we’ve been able to send away on a relaxing experience that’s made a real difference to how they’re feeling and dealing with their situation.”

How it all began

“I had my own business before in hotel PR and from there I started to see the spa world boom. When I met my two business partners we got talking, there was a lot of synergy and we decided to go for it.

“I actually trained as a journalist and was freelance for a couple of years before heading down the marketing route, which is when I realised that marketing and PR were where my heart was.”

The eureka moment

“About two or three years in, when we had 300 venues on the website we hit 1000 visitors in a week, I thought ‘this is starting to work’.

“And more recently when we’ve been putting numbers in press releases – ‘Number two in the fast-track 100’ – I did think ‘wow, we’re amongst fasted growing companies in the UK’. That’s pretty exciting.

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The balance

“It’s really hard – the work/life balance.

“I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a single day of my life if I didn’t feel guilty. I always feel I should be somewhere else and that’s really tricky. Balance is hard.

“I live two and a half hours from the office, which is quite a commitment.

"My children are six and three and every since they were born, I’ve had Wednesdays off as my ‘mummy day’.

“I turn my phone off and dedicate the day to the pair of them. And I work from home on Fridays, so I can usually attend my son’s assembly.

“I don’t have the magic answer, but I’d say trying not to dwell on what you can’t do and make the most of what you can.

“My son was only three months old when I launched the company so he’s never known anything different. The half five train in the morning is hard and I have to rely on a really good nanny and network of friends to help. But it works for me.

“Each family is very different; mine works - but only just works. Sometimes I feel that I’m always on the brink of feeling like a nervous breakdown. But I see my children put to bed every night and read them a story and not everyone gets to do that.”

How to get it

“The advice that I would give to any other women is never give up, in the early days I was told a million times that what I wanted to do wouldn’t work and ‘you’re a mum, you can’t do that’ and I proved them all wrong.

“If you want something enough you can achieve it, but also don’t beat yourself up for stuff and always ask for help. Help from a management point of view, or help with your home life, - remember you’re only human, you can’t be afraid to ask for help.

“And be nice to people – treat them the way you want to be treated, it'll get you further.

“Lastly, you don’t need to put on a font, act really assertive or anything like that just because you’re a woman – just be yourself.”