A conventional about page would start with me.
(This one has better manners.)
So it starts with you, and that group chat where everyone has been trying to plan a trip for months. Everyone is busy, calendars conflict, and plans stall.
But nothing gets a response quicker than a padel game in a group chat with limited spots. The difference here is that it’s your own private court, so you get to choose exactly who comes along to play.
A private court is an elegant way of slowing all of you down in the same place, at the same time: a game before the heat, a long table after it, and nothing on the itinerary anyone feels guilty about skipping.
Even the friend who wants to see everything is satisfied by breakfast, and happy with a book by the pool for the rest of the day.
The point is not to see more. You’ll come home calmer, fitter, and properly rested, still laughing about a questionable line call.
Padel Hideaways is here to make that easier: a small, intentional collection of private villas, each with a padel court nobody else can book, across Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, France, Morocco, and South Africa. Add a concierge, a driver, a chef and a coach on request.
- Hideaway
- Concierge
- Driver
- Chef
- Coach
I’m Lisa.
(Second, as promised.)
Fifteen years in marketing left me with two pieces of advice from corporate managers worth keeping. One wrote: “If she believes in the brand, there is no stopping her.”
The other filed this under areas for improvement: “Keep it short, keep it relevant, show the value immediately.”
Both were right. I have a brand of my own to believe in now, and I run it by those three rules:
For years, friends kept telling me to start a travel business, but I couldn’t see how I would add value in a market already full of exceptional people.
Then I became obsessed with padel, and the puzzle pieces clicked. By then I had booked more than a hundred holidays for our group of friends as a favour. Now it just stops being a favour when padel is the brief.
The first private court took me four months to find for twelve of us in the pines at Comporta.
It was Villa Branca, and we had a week none of us will ever forget. I started Padel Hideaways to save you those four months.
I grew up in South Africa and later moved to Portugal, building a life among friends from very different cultures. It taught me how differently people like to be looked after.
I’ve always been particular about the experience. I have a friend who gets to go to high-end wellness retreats, and to this day, my favourite thing is when he sends me a live, room-walkthrough video call from his trips.
I get so genuinely happy for him. I am hardwired to want people to have a beautiful time, to make sure everyone is okay, and to fuss over which way the chairs face. (I picked that up from my best friend’s mom on holiday: she would spend ten minutes arranging the terrace so every chair faced the view and the place worked for the people in it.)
I know how to find the gold. Once, I swear I looked at every single piece of accommodation in Skiathos.
It was painful, but we ended up staying at one of the best places on the island while staying within budget.
I am also highly sensitive to sound, which makes me a difficult holiday guest but a remarkably protective, detail-oriented person to book your travel through.
I sweat the details so nobody in your group has to.
Padel Hideaways is in pursuit of the perfect padel escape with friends and family.
(Yours could be next.)