The Story Behind Willow & Bird

Hear from our Founder, April, about where the vision began

Growing up, travelling the world wasn’t really part of my life.

Our holidays were mostly spent in the UK, and it wasn’t until I was older that I really had the opportunity to travel further afield. When I did, I fell completely in love with it.

There is something special about stepping away from everyday life and experiencing somewhere new. As the years went by, my love of travel grew, as did my ability to experience some truly beautiful places.

But I began to notice something.

While the holidays themselves could be extraordinary, the experience surrounding them often wasn’t.

I found myself triple-checking names and details because small mistakes had slipped through, searching through emails trying to locate information about transfers, or having to call to clarify arrangements that I thought had already been taken care of.

But perhaps what stayed with me most was the feeling of starting again each time we wanted to travel. There wasn’t always that sense of someone knowing us — remembering where we’d been, what we’d loved, what mattered to our family, or what we might want to experience next.

None of these things on their own sounds particularly significant. But together, they can take away from the feeling of being truly looked after.

And the more I travelled, the more I realised that was what I was looking for.

Not simply someone to book a holiday, but someone who cared about the experience as much as I did.

Where the idea began

After leaving my corporate career and having my two children, I started thinking seriously about creating something of my own.

Travel had become an increasingly important part of our lives, but travelling with two young children also opened my eyes to something else: just how much work goes into making a holiday feel effortless.

There are the obvious decisions — where to go, where to stay and how to get there — but then there are the hundreds of smaller considerations.

What will make the journey easier with the children? Is the room genuinely right for our family? How will the transfers work? What do we need to think about before we leave? What might make the experience that little bit easier once we’re there?

I found myself doing enormous amounts of research myself. And I kept coming back to the same thought:

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have someone who genuinely understood us, anticipated these things and simply took care of them?

Not somebody who just booked our holiday, but somebody who became invested in our travel story.

Someone who remembered what mattered to us.

That thought became part of the foundation for Willow and Bird.

Luxury is often found in the smallest moments

Around the same period, I remember having a massage shortly after I’d been travelling and thinking about why certain experiences make us feel so looked after.

Sometimes it’s the cold flannel you’re handed on a flight when you didn’t realise quite how much you needed it. Sometimes it’s someone giving you the space to be still during a massage rather than filling the silence. Sometimes it’s simply somebody anticipating what you need before you’ve thought to ask for it.

For me, it’s those tiny details that can completely change the way an experience makes you feel. And that, to me, is luxury.

It isn’t simply about five-star hotels, beautiful suites or flying somewhere extraordinary. Those things can all be wonderful, of course. But genuine luxury is also the feeling that somebody has thought about you.

That’s the feeling I wanted to create with Willow and Bird.

A different kind of travel experience When you come to Willow and Bird, I don’t want you to feel as though you’ve walked into an office to complete a transaction.

I want you to feel that you can put your feet up.

Our space has been created to feel warm, calm and welcoming — somewhere you can sit with the person you love, your family, a friend or simply by yourself and think about where in the world you’d like to go next.

Because I believe the process of booking a holiday should be part of the holiday itself.

It should be exciting and give you something to look forward to. It shouldn't add another layer of stress to your already busy life.

That philosophy continues long after you’ve left us. Perhaps you’re travelling with children and there are details we can anticipate that will make the journey easier. Perhaps there’s an anniversary approaching and you’d love to return to somewhere that means something to you. Or perhaps you simply want someone who knows you well enough to understand what your next holiday needs to be.

The details will be different for every person. But principle is always the same: we want you to feel looked after.

Why Willow and Bird?

Perhaps the most personal part of the business is its name, and I have been asked many times where the name comes from.

Willow and Bird comes from my two children. My daughter, Willow, and my son’s nickname, Bird.

When I decided to create something of my own, it felt only natural that it should be built around the two people who are at the very centre of my life.

But over time, I’ve also come to love what their names represent.

A willow has its roots in the ground. To me, it represents being grounded — having somewhere you belong and somewhere you can return to.

And a bird represents freedom. The freedom to fly, to explore and to experience somewhere new.

In many ways, those two ideas encapsulate exactly what I want Willow and Bird to be.

A place where you can feel completely comfortable and looked after, while we help you spread your wings and discover more of the world. Because some of the most precious things we have are our time and our memories.

And when you finally have the opportunity to step away from everyday life and spend that time with the people who matter most, I believe you should be able to savour every moment of it. Not just when you arrive, but from the moment you decide to go.