When you're running logistics for 60+ group trips a year — each with dozens of students, multiple suppliers, and a mountain of pre-departure forms — operational efficiency isn’t a luxury. It’s survival.
Just ask Rob Clifton, Flooglebinder “Chief Adventure Optimizer,” who manages operations for the fast-growing student travel company delivering life-changing educational projects around the world. In the last year, Flooglebinder has doubled its trip volume and scaled from 1,000 to over 2,000 students annually. By 2026, they expect to support up to 4,000 students a year.
How are they managing that kind of growth? With YouLi.
Before switching to YouLi, Flooglebinder’s team juggled Google Forms, spreadsheets, and Typeforms to capture critical pre-trip information — everything from swim confidence to dietary restrictions. It worked… until it didn’t.
“Trying to aggregate it was a nightmare,” says Rob. “Now, using YouLi, we send out forms, set due dates, get reminders, and all that data lands in one clean table. We can export it and send it to suppliers in two clicks. It’s saved an enormous amount of time.”
With trips already booked out to 2026 and growing at 50–100% per year, the need for scalable systems was mission-critical.
As Rob puts it: “There’s plenty of shiny tech out there. But once you crack it open, most of it isn’t built for the back-end operational stuff that actually matters in travel.”
What sets YouLi apart is its configurability. You can adapt it to how you run your business; no rebuilding from scratch every time you grow.
“Other platforms sell you out-of-the-box tools that don’t scale. Or they charge you a fortune to build something bespoke that only works for a year or two. YouLi hits that sweet spot: robust functionality that still lets you set things up yourself, and keeps evolving with you.”
For Flooglebinder, fast growth meant finding tools that could keep up, and a support team that would show up.
Rob discovered YouLi a little over a year ago, tested it on a live trip within a week, and fully rolled it out across 30–40 projects within months. That kind of implementation speed wouldn’t be possible with clunky platforms or sales-driven onboarding processes.
“The help center is amazing, genuinely,” he says. “And when we’ve sent in feedback about little things, it actually gets picked up and addressed.”
At YouLi, we don’t disappear after the demo. We’re there when it counts — from setup and migration advice, to ongoing platform improvements driven by customer input, and even one-on-one video sessions with tailored support from YouLi experts.
Projects, Not Tours — and Tech That Reflects That
As Rob emphasises, Flooglebinder doesn’t run tours, they run projects — immersive, purpose-driven experiences that challenge students to learn about the world and themselves. This purpose-driven model shows up in every detail, from the content of the trips to how data is collected, managed, and shared with stakeholders.
YouLi makes that process seamless, even with complex group logistics and high parent involvement.
“Ultimately, it’s the parents filling out the forms,” Rob explains. “They need to feel confident — and having a system that clearly shows what’s needed, when it’s due, and how it’s stored builds that trust.”
Whether you're running three trips or three hundred, the systems you build today determine the business you’ll have tomorrow.
Flooglebinder is living proof of what’s possible when your technology keeps up with your ambition. By using YouLi, they’ve gone from a patchwork of manual tools to a streamlined, scalable operation — one that’s prepared not just for their next trip, but for the next decade of growth.
So if you're choosing a platform, don’t just ask what works now. Ask what will still work when you’re ten times bigger.
Watch the entire interview with Rob Clifton from Flooglebinder: