A Weekend in Corfu with the Villa Collective Team
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Every October, once the last guests of the summer have gone home, the Villa Collective team gather together. This year we met at a Villa Collective property in Corfu, at Gaia Estate near Nissaki, where the owner kindly hosted us across Gaia Rock and Gaia Sea. With spectacular sea views from its cliffside perch, it was the perfect setting to bring our team together for an end-of-season gathering and a look to the coming year. The London office, including Debbie, Carla, Tash, Bryony and Ben, joined Nick, our CEO, who was already on the island. The Experiences team, Kostas, Fay, Dimitris, and Iphigenia, based between Athens and Corfu, made up the rest of the group.

FRIDAY: OLD AND NEW FACES

We’re a team that talk all the time but rarely meet in person, so this weekend was a much-needed opportunity to catch up, and with the team growing, some new faces joined the group. After landing and dropping bags at the estate, we met over dinner and drinks in Corfu’s Old Town, where narrow streets, historic houses and layered architecture combined to create an atmospheric backdrop. With delicious Corfiot food and wine, the chat moved easily between work and life as we caught up on the news from business milestones to personal highlights.

SATURDAY: THE YEAR BEHIND US

Saturday began with a sunrise swim for anyone who wanted one; after such a warm year, the sea in mid-October was still pleasingly warm. Nick took us through an overview of the season: new villas in exciting new destinations, where bookings are growing and the positive news on repeat guests.  Each team shared their own insights and observations from the year, allowing the whole group to understand each part of the Villa Collective organisation and the part they play. We also talked about what comes next: a new website before the end of the year and updated systems behind the scenes for 2027. Lunch was cooked for us by the team at Gaia Estate  and was a delicious, freshly-prepared feast, which was some of the best food we had that weekend. In the evening, we drove a few minutes along the coast to a taverna in Kaminaki, one of the few still open so late in the season, and ate outside on a warm night, overlooking the glinting Ionian Sea.

SUNDAY: A LOOK AHEAD

On Sunday, a swim in the Ionian proved irresistible at sunrise, one of the simple pleasures of a house on the sea. A team workshop followed on next year’s goals: how to make every stay better for our guests, and growing the collection with the right houses. As a small, boutique business, we pride ourselves on visiting each and every villa on our books, ensuring our high standards are always consistently met; this process takes time and careful consideration. In the afternoon, we headed up the coast by boat on a flat, calm sea, picking out some of our villas cradled in private estates on the cliffs before lunch at Cavo Barbaro in Avlaki, a place Nick has known since his childhood, growing up on this sublime stretch of coast.

MONDAY: FOND FAREWELLS

With villa business to attend to some of the team flew home while others made the most of the opportunity to explore more of Corfu in October’s warmth. We visited some spectacular houses about to join the collection, met the property managers who look after them and spent time with Maggie and Emily from our Corfu team, who joined us later in the weekend. On Monday, Carla, Kostas, Fay and Dimitris went to Paxos, easily accessible in around an hour by ferry, to explore new properties on the island, while Ben squeezed in one last swim and a morning’s work on the terrace, looking out over the Ionian.

Our team weekends are a crucial part of our business, recognising the hard work each team does while looking at ways we can make villa holidays even better for our guests. We came home with renewed purpose and plenty of ideas for 2027.

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