Do you sometimes dream of leaving it all behind you and to start anew? How about creating an new life for you and your loved ones in Bali?
Surprisingly, I had the exact same dream, but not with Bali, Indonesia in mind, but with my eyes on a new life in St Barts, French West Indies.
My original, long-standing plan, was to sell my business (online fashion magazines) in Paris to then create another internet business, based in St Barts. But along the way, I discovered Bali.
My name is Thibault Masson and I’d like to thank you for taking the time to visit the Villa Adagian website.
Make my holiday home yours
A 15-year experience of sharing my own holiday homes with guests
Since 1995, my partner and I have had a holiday home in Saint Barthelemy, a.k.a. St Barts in the French West Indies. To afford this villa, it was clear from Day 1 that we had to open it to guests. 80% of tourists to the French island of St Barts are Americans, so we started listing our Villa Domingue as a “luxury vacation villa rental” with top Caribbean vacation rental agencies. This is how I got started with my side business as a villa rental owner, more than 15 years ago.
As we were both leading a busy professional life in Paris, it was great to enjoy this beautiful house with friends and family, 2 or 3 times a year. Our plan was to sell our respective Parisian businesses at some point, build a smaller house in St Barts, and live there most of the year (this new house for 2, called Villa Belamour, will indeed be ready in June 2014).
However, in 2010, a French friend of ours built a beautiful private resort, called Villa Ketapang, in Bali. Quite frankly, I had not special attraction to Bali.
Maybe you are like me. I did not fall in love with Bali when I left the busy Denpasar airport, spending too much time in traffic jams in the Kuta area. However, I loved walking on less popular beaches and in amazing rice fields. Near my friend’s villa, the black sand beach were just like mirrors where the clouds were playing. Wow!
We came back one more time to Bali and discovered a beautiful spot, over there in west Bali, between Tanah Lot and Balian beach. This is where we started building Bulung Daya, a stunning villa, right above a secluded black sand beach. This project took 3 years to complete, as we wanted to design it as beautifully as possible, with a lot of direct involvement from us.
In the meantime, we started staying in the Umalas area, where this Villa Adagian is. It was very convenient, as we could enjoy the best of Seminyak bars and restaurants, while getting away easily to our construction site in the Balinese countryside. At some point, we realized that having a cute, little rental house in Umalas would be great for us, instead of staying in a hotel while the bigger villa was completed.
This is how the very peaceful and private Villa Adagian became my holiday home.
A career in marketing that leads me to listen to guests and staff
As you are going to spend some of your hard-earned money on a holiday home rental to enjoy some relaxing time,you want to be able to trust the information that you are getting. So you are maybe going to google the name of the villa, the name of the area (Umalas) or even my own name. I understand that your need to reduce any kind of risks when it comes to planing a trip in a foreign country. So, here’s the skinny on me:
- I was born and raised in France. I started my career in the internet industry in 1999. I was first a sales engineer at a software company and then the head of marketing at online travel agency Ebookers France (an Orbitz company). In 2007, I launched my company Fashion Fox, publishing online fashion magazines.
- In 2013, I sold these magazines and left Paris to leave in St Barts. There, I launched 2 online travel blogs:SaintBarth.com about St Barts and RealBali.com about Bali.
- My career in marketing has taught me that it is key to listen to customers and staff in order to improve my offer. Similarly, I try to apply this to my holiday homes, in order to anticipate the wants and needs of my guests as best as possible.
- House guests from Australia, France, Singapore, America or Japan have at the same time similar and different needs. I can understand and appreciate this, as I have lived in several places such as France, the U.S.A. (2 years in Chicago for my graduate studies), Japan (an eye-opening 3-month internship in Osaka), the Caribbean (holiday home there since 1995) and now Indonesia (about 3 months a year). So, my staff and I try to accomodate your preferences as best as possible. Just contact me ahead of your stay so that I can tell you where to get decent croissants or fresh sushi.
RealBali.com, my personal travel tips for discerning travelers to Bali
Beyond offering 2 nice villas in Bali, Villa Adagian in Umalas and Bulung Daya on the western coast, what else could I do to improve the experience of guests like you? I looked at why visitors were coming to Bali. Sometimes, people dream of Bali but are not necessarily informed of what to do in Bali. There also a few things that you may want to avoid on this big island.
So, I decided to help Bali visitors by sharing my own little experiences in Bali, on a site called RealBali.com. The idea is for instance to provide less-traveled itineraries to visitors who want to explore the island or to share with readers the address of a good supplier of Balinese ceramics for those who want to bring home quality items.
This blog allows me to connect better with Bali visitors who want a great Bali experience, as I can talk with them on the blog and on places like Facebook and Twitter.