What Surf Office does

Surf Office is a tech-enabled hospitality company and full-service agency specializing in corporate retreats and team offsites for groups of 15 to 1,000 people. Founded in 2013 by Peter Fabor in the Canary Islands, the company pivoted from individual remote-worker accommodations to corporate retreat planning and now operates from Lisbon, Portugal with a remote-first team of 33 employees. Its client base includes notable technology and remote-first companies such as Google, Stripe, Shopify, Automattic, Workday, and Revolut, spanning startups through Fortune 500 enterprises. The company organizes 1,000+ retreats cumulatively across 200+ destinations globally, covering Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Africa.

The company's core product is a full-service retreat planning offering that handles venue selection, logistics coordination, transfers, F&B, and activities, supported by seven specialized service tracks (startup, remote team, work, team-building, leadership, workation, and custom retreats). Underlying technology includes a suite of free digital tools: the Location Finder (built on Kiwi.com's flight API across 500+ airlines), a Budget Calculator spreadsheet, a Packing List Generator, a Team Building Library, and a Coworking Spaces Directory spanning 100+ cities. A free six-module educational course on retreat planning and an annual 'State of Company Offsites' industry report support content-led demand generation, alongside a 20,000+ subscriber newsletter and active SEO, LinkedIn, and Instagram presence.

Surf Office operates on a transaction-fee revenue model, earning commissions and service fees embedded in retreat package costs that include accommodation, F&B, activities, and transfers. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; activity budgets typically range from €30-60 per person, and bookings average 4 nights for midweek groups. Distribution is direct via a website quote request funnel, supplemented by partner referrals from its network of 200+ vetted accommodation and activity providers. The company is privately held with no disclosed institutional funding, no parent company, and no public market presence.

Name

Surf Office

Legal name

Surf Office

Website

https://surfoffice.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Surf Office is a tech-enabled, full-service agency that plans and coordinates corporate retreats and team offsites for groups of 15 to 1,000 people. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in Lisbon, it serves tech companies, remote-first firms, and enterprises with a network spanning 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, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Retreat Planning & Coordination Services: Surf Office earns revenue by organizing company retreats and offsites for client companies. They act as an intermediary between corporate clients seeking retreat venues and accommodation/activity providers. Revenue comes from commissions and service fees embedded in the total retreat package cost. The company negotiates rates with venues and providers (hotels, activity vendors, transport companies) and adds their planning and coordination fee. Bookings typically generate revenue through rooms, F&B, meeting rooms, coffee breaks, and other services (TRevPAR model). Groups range from 15-300 people, averaging 4 nights per booking, usually midweek.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Surf Office is a full-service agency that plans and coordinates company offsites and team retreats for groups ranging from 15 to 1,000 people. The company handles end-to-end retreat logistics including destination selection, venue sourcing, ground transfers, food and beverage, team-building activities, and on-site coordination, serving startups, scale-ups, and Fortune 500 enterprises across 200+ global destinations.

Product overview

Surf Office is a tech-enabled hospitality company and full-service agency specializing in company offsites and retreats. The core offering is retreat planning services for groups of 15-1000 people, with specialized tracks for startups, remote teams, work retreats, team-building, leadership, workations, and custom retreats. Supporting the core service are several free digital tools: Location Finder (flight optimization tool using Kiwi.com API), Budget Calculator (cost estimation spreadsheet), Team Building Library (activities database), Packing List Generator, and a free educational course on retreat planning. The company also maintains a directory of coworking spaces across 100+ cities globally and operates partner programs for accommodation providers and activity/transport vendors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Location Finder: A free tool for evaluating flights to advise the optimal city to meet with a team. Uses flight data from more than 500 airlines to suggest destinations sorted by average travel time, lowest number of layovers and estimated price.

Quantifiable outcome

• 9.6/10 average retreat satisfaction score reported by Checkly customer
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers17 records

Segments4 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

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• Hotel and Accommodation PropertiescoreOthersNetwork of licensed accommodation partners including hotels, large villas, city apartments, retreat centers, and resorts. Properties must have minimum 15 bedrooms, easy airport access (within 1 hour), fast WiFi (50Mb+), onsite workspace, restaurant, and buyout option. Partners benefit from mid/low season revenue diversification, better occupancy rates, and access to corporate clients (Fortune 500, tech startups, digital agencies). Bookings typically 3 months in advance, groups of 15-300 people, averaging 4 nights. Conversion rates of 20-50% for qualified inquiries.
• Team Activity ProviderscoreOthersPartners providing team-building experiences, outdoor activities, and authentic tours. Based on 850+ retreats experience, Surf Office advises partners on quality photos, curated activity selection, local authenticity, instant gratification (results in 2 hours), simple pricing (€30-60 per person), and scalability.
• Transport ProviderssupportingOthersAirport and hotel transfer providers for group transportation. Part of the complete retreat logistics coordination service.
• Photographers and VideographerssupportingOthersCreative partners who specialize in capturing corporate event moments. Surf Office refers these providers to clients organizing retreats.
• Coworking OperatorssupportingOthersCoworking and meeting venue operators with private spaces for workshops. Surf Office curates and recommends coworking spaces across 80+ global cities for team work sessions during retreats.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Convene: Operates premium meeting, event, and conference spaces with end-to-end planning services for enterprise clients. Comparable to Surf Office in serving corporate offsite and meeting demand, but with owned/operated venues rather than an asset-light partner model.
• Outsite: Network of workation-friendly coliving spaces marketed to remote workers and distributed teams. Comparable because it bundles accommodation and community programming — adjacent to Surf Office's workation and retreat planning service.
• Roam: Coliving network designed for remote workers and location-independent professionals, with curated locations and community programming. Comparable to Surf Office's workation retreats in customer profile and asset-light coliving model.
• Teambuilding.com: Marketplace and content platform for team-building experiences and activities, with virtual and in-person offerings. Comparable to Surf Office in serving the People/Ops buyer planning team events and offsites.
• Remote Year: Curates multi-week travel and work programs for distributed teams and remote workers, including retreats and group experiences. Comparable to Surf Office's remote-team retreat offering and shared focus on distributed workforces.
• Offsite.com: Online marketplace for booking corporate offsite venues with planning support. Directly comparable to Surf Office's retreat planning service and venue-curation model, targeting the same People/Ops buyer.

Broad incumbents

• Selina: Hospitality brand with hostels, co-living, and co-working in 20+ countries, actively courting digital nomads and corporate groups. Overlaps with Surf Office in destination breadth and workation/retreat programming, but as a much larger owned-asset operator.
• Industrious: Premium flexible-workspace and meeting-room operator serving enterprise teams. Comparable to Surf Office in addressing corporate offsite needs for distributed enterprises, though anchored in workspace rather than retreat venues.
• WeWork: Global flexible-workspace operator with event space and team offsite capabilities for enterprise clients. Adjacent to Surf Office's retreat planning, but with a much broader workspace and real-estate footprint.

Emerging players

• Wander.com: Tech-enabled short-term rental operator focused on premium, remote-work-friendly properties. Adjacent to Surf Office's accommodation curation for retreats and works with similar distributed-workforce customers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/surfoffice
• Facebookfacebook.com/SurfOfficeNews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-surf-office
• 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