sustainable-travel
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The Company That Sells the Ends of the Earth
How a small-ship operator turned Antarctica, the Galapagos and the Arctic into a $771-million business - and why it puts a naturalist on the bridge instead of a lounge singer.
Bob W.
Bob W. - short for 'Best of Both Worlds' - is a Helsinki-founded, tech-powered aparthotel operator offering design-led, sustainability-focused apartments across European cities. It blends the consistency of a hotel with the space and local character of an apartment, running an in-house technology stack for self-service check-in, a 24/7 app-based virtual host, and automated operations. Founded in 2018 by Niko Karstikko and Sebastian Emberger, the company operates in roughly a dozen countries and close to 20 cities, positioning itself as a lower-carbon, lower-cost alternative to both traditional hotels and short-term rentals.
Greg Sullivan
Greg Sullivan is the CEO and cofounder of AFAR, the award-winning travel media brand he launched in 2009 with Joe Diaz after a transformative six-week trip to India. A former corporate securities attorney, investment banker, and serial entrepreneur — he previously co-founded the world's largest-selling coin-operated basketball game manufacturer and served as President and CEO of DriveTime Automotive Group — Sullivan reinvented himself in his 40s through philosophy studies at Cambridge and a late-discovered passion for international travel. Under his leadership, AFAR has grown from a print magazine into a multiplatform media brand with a digital presence, a podcast, a nonprofit foundation (Learning AFAR), and a B Corp certification, and in 2025 expanded to Europe with the acquisition of SUITCASE Magazine.