Economic Nutrition

Approximately 72% of a client’s dollar goes directly to our partners. Our handpicked partners and vendors, quality assured providers of accommodation, activities, meal experiences and transportation, receive the lion’s share of our fees. We buy services from our partners at net-rates which are market rates, less our commission.

Our team travels Norway extensively to ensure that both new and existing partners are discovered, tried, and tested. If they align with our values, and deliver to our expectations on quality, safety, and sustainability, we are delighted to add them to our list and introduce them to our travellers.

Work safety is a high priority all through Norway, which means minimum wage is relatively high. In 2022 the minimum wage in Norway was NOK 175 (roughly 18 USD) per hour for people employed within our hospitality industry.

As a note, it is customary to leave a tip of approximately 5-10 % to show appreciation of a good experience at a restaurant, café or bar. We encourage our guests to do so if they are happy with the service.

Norway may have high taxes, but also has high wages – a reassuringly high-cost model in fact.

Providing sufficient rights to all employees is of the essence. This includes paid parental leave for both parents, the world’s best governmental pension savings plan, accident insurance, and often travel insurance and health insurance, 5 weeks paid holidays, sick leave, etc.

Workers rights in Norway are very strong, and we intend to keep it that way. We believe that this is what makes Norwegians the most effective workers in the world. If the Global Happiness rating means anything, it looks like 8 hour-days, five days a week, paid holidays, and strong rights must result in happier employees. Our “cost of people” may be high, but the cost represents the value we place in them. We believe you’ll see the difference.

Our cost of operations consists of three main categories: Technology, Office (Staff, Rent, Activity and Supplies), Marketing and Outreach.

Technology development:

While we use technology to enhance our personalized service, never to replace it, the support we get from streamlined digital connections allows our talented staff to match travelers with optimal experiences and to seamlessly curate their itineraries. The management of the equipment, the subscriptions and connections to our data, our files and our partners, and the systems that drive them all add up to our Technology costs.

Office:

We have assembled a staff we believe are second to none in skill, service, creativity and kindness. We’re pleased to work among them. To run a successful business, we need a workspace where their creativity and skills can thrive. We have invested in a central office location ensuring our employees can easily and sustainably travel to work, with easy access to our partner hotels in Oslo. This office provides a central spot from which to meet our guests on their arrivals or their departures. And in keeping with our happiness index, our office also allows us unlimited access to a gym, and a healthy, daily lunch.

Marketing & PR:

It takes effort and skill to break through layers of media clutter to tell the world that we exist to create best ever experiences in Norway. Being a small country at the edge of the top of the world, without the presence of massive, international hotel chains, and competing against big travel destinations and booking agents, our cost of marketing is not small. But rest assured, the cost of marketing those large, well-known organizations is an even higher percentage of their budgets.

A sustainable business is also measured in sound economic health. Running a company without a surplus would prevent us from achieving our higher purpose of moving forward to consistently raising the bar on creating outstanding experiences for our travelers.