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Reflections

Features | Reflections

January Reflections

By Jon Staff -

There’s nothing like a “New Year, New You” email – or several – to jolt you into 2019. I must have received a hundred emails with that headline.

While there’s a lot to be said about taking time to reevaluate, to renew, and to replenish, it’s hard not to feel drowned in cliches. Especially when these temperatures drop down to freezing, and we all end up spending more time indoors and in our routines than outside getting replenished and re-energized.

January at Getaway

Quiet Place to Reflect

This month, I had the privilege of speaking on a panel about “experiences” in retail. Getaway might not seem like an obvious choice for discussing retail design, but I was happy to participate because it allowed me some beginning-of-the-year reflection to crystallize why I think what we’re doing matters to us, but more importantly, why it matters to you.

Much of the panel conversation was about the officially tired trend of corporate-designed “immersive” experiences. I can wax cynical on the distraction I think these spaces provide, but instead I was grateful for the experience to reflect and to advocate for what I think we’re doing differently.

We’re not here to give people a “Getaway experience” — Getaway exists so that you can unlock your own experiences, and live a little more deeply. It’s you, not us, that are creating the experience.

You can read more about that panel here, or feel free to get in touch if you have any questions. I’d love to hear from you.

Here’s hoping for a little less distractedness, and a more deep experiences in 2019.

Be well,

Jon

Features | Reflections

December Reflections

By Jon Staff -

The end of December always feels like a perfect mixture of reflection and anticipation. On the one hand, we’re looking back at the month and the year that was. What were our successes? What could we have improved?

On the other hand, we’re thinking about the promising year ahead. For us, there are new Outposts coming, the growth of the Getaway team, and new ways to make Getaway all the more special for our first time and repeat guests.

Cabin

To reflect on this month before we bite into the whole year, we announced and opened booking for Getaway Atlanta, our first home in the South. I’m particularly excited about this destination, because our friends in the South are often overlooked in conversations around the excesses of the city and the need for taking time. Our hope is that our Atlanta Outpost can provide our friends in The Big Peach the escape they deserve.

Taking a step back and looking at the year as whole, I’m proud of what Getaway has accomplished. We’ve added and announced new cabins and Outposts, allowing more people to find balance across the country. Our guests continue to amaze me with their dedication to taking time in nature to reset.

Those guests come to Getaway from so many places, near and far. When you book a Getaway, we ask our guests their reason for escaping. We’ve seen everything from people needing a break from their jobs, to a desire to reconnect with a partner, to the stress of transitioning, to most recently, someone eloping in our tiny cabins. Thanks to our guests for allowing us to share in their search for balance.

We put together this infographic to celebrate 2018. It was a year full of engagements, hiking trails, paw prints, s’mores and tranquility. Next year, you can expect more new Outposts, cities, trails, campfires, engagements, and more.

Thanks for being a part of Getaway. As always, if you have any feedback, feel free to get in touch.

Be well,

Jon Staff

Features | Reflections

May Reflections: On Growth

By Jon Staff -

Today we opened Outposts 5 and 6, one just outside of Portland and one in between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. I’m excited and proud that this is a year of growth for Getaway.

Portland Outpost

To see how Getaway has caught on with guests is invigorating for our whole team. We feel energized by the new challenges that arise from maintaining an incredible experience as we expand across the country.

Yet on a more fundamental level, what this growth really means is that we’re adding more disconnected hours to the world. We’re putting more families in quiet spaces together where they can play games and make traditions. We’re allowing loved ones to spark conversations, to take adventures, to challenge themselves and one another. We’re committing to our promise of offering a counterbalance to our city routines.

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to speak at the Travel Forward conference in Washington, DC. I’ll spare you the speech, but after my talk I was pleasantly surprised by many attendees who approached me to share how much they loved their Getaways. They told me about what the experience gave them, that Getaway is their favorite place, that they’ve gone four times, or that they had made a new tradition of going every year with a growing family.

may reflections

I can’t wait to hear more and more of your stories – outside of DC, Boston, New York, Atlanta, and now Portland, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and soon Los Angeles and Dallas.

I hope this is also a year of growth for all of us in our individual quests to find balance in this chaotic world. If Getaway can be a small part of that journey for you, that is what will truly make my year.

Be Well,

Jon

Features | Reflections

April Reflections: On Routines

By Jon Staff -

Routines get a bad rap. Sure, negative routines may leave us in a mundane rut, but routines can be good for us too. The best routines create a sense of comfort and a sense of security.

If you think about it, routines and rituals are not so different. They both involve repeated action, but there’s something about the intentionality behind the word “ritual” that frees it from the banality of our day-to-day lives.

For me, my Getaway always starts with the same ritual. I pull up to my cabin, unload the car (usually with just one backpack), open the door, put my phone in the lockbox, and breathe a sigh of relief. Then I kick off my shoes, make a cup of coffee, and dive into the reading that always seems to escape me in the city.

Everyone seems to have their own ritual at Getaway, and I love reading how you spend time. Some of my favorites from this month include:

“I haven’t roasted a marshmallow since I was a kid. Just the taste of roasted marshmallows took me back to summer camping trips with my family. Although we were sad to go after just one night, we left feeling completely refreshed.” – Scott S., Getaway Boston

“We had an amazing time playing Yahtzee, reading, taking walks, building fires, cooking, chatting, sleeping, and hiking.  It was an amazing opportunity to connect with each other and disconnect from all the pressure and stress in everyday life.” – Sasha B., Getaway DC

We made this video to celebrate the many routines, rituals, and practices at Getaway, whether they be by ourselves, with a good book, with a loved one, or with a four-legged friend.

Here’s to building rituals that serve us, and finding comfort in connection to nature and each other.

Be Well,

Jon

Features | Reflections

June Reflections: On Pride

By Getaway -

Unlike a lot of brands this month, we haven’t changed our logo to a rainbow version in celebration of Pride month.

As an LGBT person and CEO I have conflicting feelings about what might be perceived as the corporate takeover of Pride. The last time I went to the NYC pride parade it seemed to be mostly floats sponsored by cell phone carriers. In 2019 and after years of more tepid support, it is hard for me to see these companies as taking a brave stand rather than being bandwagon allies of a group of people who have suffered from marginalization for so long.

On the other hand, as my friend Michael Segal put it recently — there are still a lot of kids walking around with big secrets inside of them, and the fact that one cannot escape red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple flags in the month of June must provide some comfort to those kids, even if those flags are bought and paid for by some corporate behemoth’s focus-grouped and demographically-optimized marketing spend.

And so as leader of Getaway I remain conflicted about how to best celebrate Pride month — I don’t want to take advantage of a hard won identity for company gain, but I also don’t want to imply that visibility isn’t important.

One thing I am proud of: we have built a space where you can go, and you can be comfortable, and you can be yourself. No matter what you look like, or who you are with, your Getaway is for you and for you only. In a world that is thankfully becoming more and more tolerant in many places, most of us still need a place to fully escape once in a while. I am proud that we have heard from so many that we are that place to them.

Happy pride,

Jon