Editor-in-Chief Susannah Taylor and CEO and Founder of Treatwell, Lopo Champalimaud talk the brand, beauty and what keeps them going…

Why is it that you can book your flights, and your hotels, and your cars and you can book almost every aspect of your life online but you can’t book your beauty services? CEO and Founder, Lopo Champalimaud asked himself this very question and come 2008, Treatwell, formerly Wahanda was created to solve this very problem. Today, Treatwell can be found 11 countries and the largest online beauty booking service in the world.

With the impressive growth of the business, at the beginning of this year, came a rebranding to bring all 11 countries together under the same brand of Treatwell.

The beauty industry is getting larger and consumers becoming more knowledgeable, Lopo notes that people are learning that they can book treatments and can afford to book these treatments that they may not have ever thought possible.

But with treatments and consumers all over the world, Lopo notes that there’s a variation in the most popular beauty treatments from city to city. Whether that’s one city booking a specific treatment or the most popular type of that treatment being popular in different cities (ie. Shellac manicures vs regular manicures), they differ all over the world and between seasons.

Spray tans are noted to be most popular in Dublin and Liverpool and male services in Italy (Lopo shares that the first ever treatment booked on their Italian site was a Male back wax!). Germany is less about hair removal, and more about looking after the hair they do have. It’s different everywhere, and that’s what makes it so interesting a company to work within.

The idea of having so much more to do and all of the exciting things that Treatwell have coming up is what gets Lopo out of bed in the morning. It’s the building of what Loco describes as a ‘really amazing business’ that drives him to carry on while using exercise, healthy eating and Treatwell’s unlimited holiday policy to keep him sane.

The biggest bit of advice that Lopo gives to all entrepreneurs is to hire the best people and you can never put enough time into doing that. He notes that the people are what make a business successful and as entrepreneurs can underestimate how important it can really be.