What Surf Office does

Surf Office is a privately held, Lisbon-headquartered agency that plans and coordinates corporate offsites, team retreats, sales kickoffs, incentive trips, all-hand meetings, and workations for groups ranging from 15 to over 1,000 people. Founded in 2013 by Peter Fabor in the Canary Islands and relocated to Lisbon, the company serves a hybrid customer base of early-to-growth-stage startups/scale-ups and Fortune 500 enterprises, with prominent named clients including Stripe, Google, Shopify, Workday, Revolut, and Automattic. The service spans venue sourcing, activity booking, transfer coordination, and on-site support across more than 200 destinations in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa.

The operating model is tech-enabled rather than purely digital. Surf Office operates a Typeform-driven quote-request sales funnel, a partner-curated retreat management platform with shared client dashboards, and a portfolio of free marketing tools — including a Kiwi.com-API-powered Location Finder, a Budget Calculator, a Team Building Library, a Packing List Generator, a Coworking Space Directory, and a free course on retreat planning. Distribution combines direct enterprise field sales with named account managers (Alvaro, Simon, Janete, Lola, Giselle), content marketing anchored by an annual State of Company Offsites report, and a 20,000+-subscriber newsletter funnel.

Revenue derives from two streams: (1) professional-services fees for retreat planning, coordination, and on-site management; and (2) transaction-based commissions or referral fees from a vetted network of property partners (hotels, villas, resorts, retreat centers) and activity, transport, and coworking providers. Pricing is fully quote-based, varying by group size, destination, venue tier, activities, and duration; the company is bootstrapped with no disclosed funding rounds and operates with a lean team of 1-10 employees.

Name

Surf Office

Legal name

Surf Office

Website

https://thesurfoffice.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Surf Office is a Lisbon-based, tech-enabled agency that plans and coordinates corporate offsites, team retreats, sales kickoffs, and workations for groups of 15-1,000+, serving both tech startups/scale-ups and Fortune 500 enterprises across 200+ global destinations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Lisbon

HQ country

Portugal

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Retreat Planning and Coordination Services: Surf Office earns revenue by organizing company retreats and offsites for client companies. They charge fees for their planning, coordination, and management services, which include venue sourcing, activity booking, transfer arrangements, and on-site support. The company leverages a network of proven venue providers to secure competitive rates.
2. Venue/Accommodation Partner Commissions: Surf Office partners with hotels, villas, resorts, and retreat centers globally. They earn commissions or referral fees when clients book venues through their network. Partners benefit from increased bookings in mid/low seasons, and Surf Office takes a cut of the total booking value which includes rooms, F&B, meeting rooms, and other services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Surf Office is a full-service retreat planning agency that plans and coordinates company offsites, team retreats, sales kickoffs, incentive trips, and all-hands meetings for groups of 15 to 1,000+ people. The service covers venue sourcing, activity booking, ground transfers, on-site coordination, and budget management across 200+ global destinations. It is complemented by free planning tools (Location Finder, Budget Calculator, Team Building Library, Packing List Generator) and educational resources.

Product overview

Surf Office is a tech-enabled hospitality company operating as a full-service agency for company offsites and team retreats. The core offering is a comprehensive retreat planning service that handles venue sourcing, logistics coordination, activity planning, and travel arrangements for groups of 15 to 600+ people. The product portfolio includes free planning tools (Location Finder, Budget Calculator, Team Building Library, Packing List Generator), educational content (Free Course on retreat planning), partner networks (Property Partners Program, Activity Provider Partners), and a Coworking Space Directory. The company also publishes an annual Industry Report on company offsites trends. The ecosystem connects corporate clients with retreat venues and activity providers across 200+ global destinations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Location Finder: A free tool for evaluating flights to advise the optimal city to meet with distributed teams. Uses flight data from more than 500 airlines.
• Free Course: How to plan your first company retreat

Products and services

• Company Retreat Planning Service Full-service retreat planning and coordination for company offsites, team-building retreats, sales kickoffs, incentive trips, and all-hands meetings for groups of 15 to 1,000+ people. Handles venue sourcing, activity booking, ground transfers, and on-site logistics.
• Team Building Library Curated library of team-building games, activities, and icebreakers organized by location and team size, designed to help planners select appropriate retreat activities.
• Coworking Space Directory Reviewed and ranked directory of coworking spaces across Europe, USA, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America, with ratings and detailed information about amenities, internet quality, and community features.
• Free Course: How to Plan Your First Company Retreat Comprehensive free course covering the retreat planning process, including location selection, budgeting, agenda structuring, and best practices based on experience from 1,000+ retreats organized.

Quantifiable outcome

• Checkly achieved 9.6/10 retreat satisfaction score with 25 employees in Tenerife
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Kiwi.comcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 August 2019Kiwi.com API integration powers the Location Finder tool, which searches flight connections for over 500 airlines. This enables Surf Office to provide travel optimization analysis for distributed teams planning retreats.
• TrustpilotsupportingOthersSurf Office maintains an active Trustpilot profile where customers can leave reviews. This serves as a social proof mechanism and third-party validation of service quality.
• Property/Venue Partners (Hotels, Villas, Resorts)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorGlobal network of accommodation providers including hotels, large villas, city apartments, retreat centers, and resorts. Properties must meet criteria: minimum 15 bedrooms, easy airport access (within 1 hour), fast WiFi (50Mb+), onsite workspace, restaurant, and buyout option. Partners receive guaranteed inquiries from matched clients with 20-50% conversion rates.
• Activity ProviderscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTeam-building activity providers, outdoor activity companies, photographers, videographers, and tour operators partner with Surf Office. These providers offer curated experiences for retreat clients, with most groups having €30-60 per person activity budgets.
• Transport ProviderssupportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorAirport and hotel transfer providers partner with Surf Office to offer ground transportation logistics for retreat groups arriving at various destinations worldwide.
• Coworking OperatorssupportingChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCoworking spaces and meeting venues partner with Surf Office to offer workspace options for teams during retreats. Surf Office maintains extensive reviews of coworking spaces in major cities across Europe, USA, and Asia-Pacific.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Outsite: Outsite combines coliving spaces and curated team retreats in surf and coastal destinations. It overlaps with Surf Office on retreat experience design and surf-oriented venue curation for distributed teams.
• TeamOut: TeamOut is a corporate retreat planning agency that handles venue sourcing, activities, and logistics for company offsites worldwide. It overlaps directly with Surf Office on end-to-end retreat planning for distributed and remote teams.
• Elsewhere: Elsewhere organizes company retreats and offsites for remote-first teams with curated venues and built-in programming, targeting similar tech-startup and enterprise customers as Surf Office.
• Offsite.com: Offsite.com is a full-service agency that plans and books company retreats and offsites for distributed teams, targeting startups and tech companies. It is the closest direct peer to Surf Office in mission, customer segment, and service model.

Broad incumbents

• Navan (formerly TripActions): Navan is a corporate travel and expense platform that handles flights, hotels, and group bookings for enterprises. It can absorb parts of Surf Office's value proposition around travel logistics and venue sourcing as a broader corporate travel incumbent.
• Cvent: Cvent is an enterprise events and meetings management platform serving large corporations with venue sourcing, registration, and group bookings. It is a broad incumbent that competes for the same enterprise offsite RFPs as Surf Office.
• Convene: Convene operates premium meeting, conference, and event venues in major US and UK cities with bundled hospitality services. It competes for enterprise offsite and meeting business at the higher end of the corporate events market that Surf Office also targets.
• Airbnb for Work: Airbnb for Work is the business travel and group-booking arm of Airbnb, offering vetted vacation rentals for company offsites and team stays. It is a broad incumbent with overlapping venue-sourcing capability for retreats.

Emerging players

• WeTravel: WeTravel is a booking and payments platform for multi-day trips, retreats, and group experiences used by retreat organizers. It serves as an emerging infrastructure provider for retreat operators like Surf Office and overlaps in the activity-provider and group-trip space.
• Plum Guide: Plum Guide curates high-end vacation homes and has been used by companies for premium team offsites. It is an emerging player in upscale retreat accommodations that competes for part of Surf Office's premium venue pipeline.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/surfoffice
• Facebookfacebook.com/SurfOfficeNews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/10423719
• Instagraminstagram.com/surfoffice

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Surf Office