I look after reservations for a small, hand-picked family of lodges,
hotels and guesthouses, and I treat every one of them as if it were my
own. I know what it feels like to watch a booking slip away because
nobody reached the inbox in time, and I know what a difference a fast,
warm, thoughtful reply can make.
That is because I come from hospitality myself. Hello Giulia grew out
of Laluka Safari Lodge, our family lodge in the Limpopo bushveld, where
we learned that the booking is the very first moment of the guest
experience, long before anyone walks through the door. So that is
exactly how I treat it.
Meet Giulia
I was born in Italy, and I grew up dreaming of everywhere else.
Travel was always the thread, so I studied tourism and marketing at
home, and then an internship brought me to South Africa. That is
where I met Simon, and where our African adventure began.
For the past six years I have run Laluka Safari Lodge, the family
lodge we started from scratch. Reservations, travel agents, guest care: I
have been the face of it all, the person guests and agents write to
and hear back from. It taught me exactly what a single booking means
to a small lodge, because every one of them was mine to win.
Home is the bush now. Simon and I have a little son, Giacomo, born
in 2022, who is growing up between the lodge and the farm. And when
a guest writes to your place, this is who answers: a real person,
never a faceless queue, briefed on your property as if I worked just
down the hall.
“I ran Laluka’s reservations for six years, so I know exactly what
one converted booking means to a lodge: a stronger month, salaries
paid, a family business breathing easier. I chase every enquiry as
if our own lodge depends on it. Because for years, mine did.”
Giulia · Owner
Meet Simon
Simon was born in Belgium, and a safari as a boy planted something
that never let go. He carried those memories quietly, as a promise
to himself for later in life. After school he studied Spanish and
history, and then went to keep that promise: a guiding
qualification in South Africa, where the bush became home, and
where the two of us met, twelve years ago.
From there we worked our way through the industry together, from
the Kruger to Tanzania, before starting Laluka Safari Lodge six
years ago with his father: a family place in the Limpopo bushveld,
built from scratch, with an organic farm alongside it. In 2022 our
son Giacomo arrived, and the Laluka family legacy began its next
chapter.
Simon is also the builder behind my smart team. Every one of our
intelligent assistants started as a real problem at our own lodge
that he decided to solve properly. So when Hello Giulia looks after
your reservations, you get an owner's judgement in every decision,
not just an agency's process.
“I've sat on the owner's side of the inbox for years. I know
exactly which enquiry pays the bills, and exactly how it feels
when one slips away. We built Hello Giulia so that never happens
to the places we look after.”
Simon · Founder
