There are conferences where you leave with a notebook full of ideas. Then there are conferences where you leave thinking differently.

Monaco was the latter.

Somewhere between conversations overlooking the harbour, discussions about artificial intelligence, celebrating colleagues on stage and laughing together long into the evening, there was a feeling that was difficult to ignore. easyStorage had reached another milestone. Not because we’d become bigger. Not because we’d opened more locations.

Because we’d grown up.

Those four words would unknowingly become the theme of the conference when Tony Anderson took to the stage the following morning and made a simple statement: “Haven’t we grown up?!” It wasn’t the conference slogan. It wasn’t rehearsed. Yet by the time delegates headed home, it perfectly summed up where easyStorage finds itself today.

This year’s conference theme was OneTeam, but before the first presentation had even begun, it was already obvious what those two words meant.

More than a welcome

Conference officially began on Thursday evening with a reception hosted by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and easyGroup on the stunning Stelios’ Rooftop Terrace.

With panoramic views across Monaco’s famous harbour, it would have been easy to spend the evening admiring the scenery. Instead, people talked. Existing franchisees welcomed those attending for the first time. New relationships formed almost instantly. Conversations moved effortlessly from business to family, from technology to operations, from pricing strategies to funny stories from life on the road.

One of the things that makes easyStorage different is that hierarchy quietly disappears at events like this. The leadership team aren’t hidden away. Sponsors don’t stay with sponsors. Franchisees don’t form little groups of their own.

Everyone mixes. Everyone shares. Everyone learns.

Before a single presentation had started, OneTeam wasn’t something displayed on a screen. It was happening all around us.

During the evening Sir Stelios spoke about the wider easy family and what it really means to be part of one of the world’s best-known brands. Many people know the easy logo. Far fewer know about the work of the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation.

Sir Stelios explained how businesses operating under the easy brand contribute back to easyGroup, helping support charitable causes and entrepreneurship across Europe. Using easyJet as an example, he demonstrated how commercial success can create opportunities far beyond the businesses themselves. It was a reminder that building a successful company isn’t simply about growth. It’s about creating something that has a wider, lasting impact.

As the evening came to a close, very few people seemed in a rush to leave. If Thursday night was designed to set the tone for conference, it couldn’t have done it any better.

“Haven’t we grown up?”

For many within the easy family, Tony Anderson needs little introduction. Having joined easyJet in its earliest days, he has witnessed first-hand what happens when ambitious ideas meet relentless determination.

Taking delegates back to April 1995 (the Victorian era, his words) Tony shared the story of interviewing with Sir Stelios as easyJet prepared to challenge an established airline industry.

Looking back now, it almost feels inevitable. At the time, it was anything but. The ambition sounded enormous. The competition looked unbeatable. Many people doubted whether the model could ever succeed.

Sound familiar?

Tony reflected on Sir Stelios explaining that airlines were only the beginning. The vision was much bigger. To create a family of businesses that challenged traditional industries by doing things differently.

Tony admitted that, at the time, he thought Sir Stelios was “slightly bonkers.” Thirty years later, standing in front of one of the newest members of that family, it didn’t sound bonkers at all. It sounded visionary.

His reflections weren’t simply about looking backwards. They were about recognising the similarities between where easyJet once stood and where easyStorage stands today. Markets evolve. Customer expectations change. Technology reshapes industries. The businesses that succeed aren’t always the biggest. They’re the ones prepared to challenge convention.

Tony spoke about creating “clear blue water” between easyJet and its competitors. Not by copying what everyone else was doing. That message couldn’t have been more relevant. As easyStorage continues investing in technology, customer experience and operational excellence, it isn’t simply competing within self-storage. It’s helping redefine what modern self-storage looks like.

Tony finished with a statement that left few people in any doubt about his belief in the business. He believes easyStorage has every opportunity to become the next billion-pound company. It’s a bold ambition. Then again, bold ambitions have always been part of the easy story.

Growth starts with people

Growth doesn’t happen by accident. It certainly doesn’t happen by simply opening more locations. Real growth comes from creating a business people want to be part of. Customers. Suppliers. Partners. Colleagues. Franchisees.

Tim Slesinger returned to the mission & values that underpin everything easyStorage does:

“To be the go-to brand for storage by making storage an affordable lifestyle choice for our customers.”

Customer First. Empathy. Trust & Transparency. Fairness. Efficiency. One Team.

These aren’t words that appear in a handbook and are forgotten. They shape decisions every single day.

One message particularly resonated - Efficiency isn’t about doing things cheaper. It’s about doing things smarter. Removing unnecessary administration. Giving people back their time. Using technology to improve customer experience rather than replace it. Protecting profitability while creating capacity for future growth.

That philosophy could be seen throughout the conference. Artificial intelligence wasn’t presented as something to fear. It was presented as another tool to help franchisees spend less time behind a laptop and more time growing their businesses.

Tim spoke passionately about continuing to invest. Continuing to innovate. Continuing to improve. Not because the business has reached its destination. Because it’s only just getting started.

One comment drew plenty of smiles around the room. Referring to the pace of development happening across the business, Tim joked that Akhil Sharma somehow seems to have found 26 hours in every day. It was funny because everyone recognised the truth behind it.

The pace of innovation across easyStorage has accelerated dramatically over the last twelve months. Rather than slowing down, the business intends to double down.

Building Better Every Day

As the network grows, consistency becomes increasingly important. Customers expect the same great experience regardless of which easyStorage location they choose. That means continually improving standards. Learning from experience. Never accepting that today’s way of working is automatically tomorrow’s best way.

Nigel Dawson’s session was about raising the bar together. The message wasn’t that perfection has been achieved. It was that everyone has a role in making the network stronger.

Then, in true Nigel style, the room erupted into laughter. Hidden beneath one lucky delegate’s chair was a €100 casino chip. Within seconds people were diving under tables trying to discover whether they’d struck gold.

It was one of those wonderfully unexpected moments that perfectly captured the atmosphere across the conference. Professional. Focused. Ambitious. But never forgetting to have fun together.

Smarter decisions

One of the most eagerly anticipated sessions came from Commercial Director James Thomas, with the launch of PULSE.

Every franchise creates data. Occupancy. Revenue. Move-ins. Move-outs. The challenge has never been collecting information. It’s knowing which information matters most and having it in one place.

PULSE changes that. Bringing operational performance together into one live dashboard, it allows franchisees to see the health of their business in real time, identify opportunities more quickly and focus their attention where it will have the greatest impact.

But perhaps the most exciting thing about PULSE isn’t what it does today. It’s what it represents. Built alongside Akhil and the Research & Development team, PULSE has been designed to evolve continuously, using automation and AI to help franchisees make faster, better-informed decisions.

It isn’t simply another reporting tool. It’s the beginning of a different way of running an easyStorage business.

Looking around the room during the demonstration, it was clear that this wasn’t technology for technology’s sake. It was technology solving real problems. Helping franchisees spend less time interpreting spreadsheets… and more time building successful businesses.

The conversations that matter most

Ironically, some of the most memorable moments of Conference 2026 didn’t happen on stage. They happened between the presentations. Over coffee. Walking back into the conference room. Standing on the terrace overlooking Monaco.

Ask most people what they’ll remember from conference, and it probably won’t be a particular slide deck (although it was spectacular). It’ll be the conversation over lunch that gave them a new idea. The franchisee who openly shared something they’d learned the hard way. Or the reassurance that someone else had faced the same challenge and overcome it.

One delegate perhaps summed it up:

“I’ve been coming to conference for a few years now, and this one felt different. It wasn’t just about where the business is today. It was about having a genuine plan for where it’s going. You leave feeling excited about what’s ahead.”

Another reflected on something that’s becoming synonymous with easyStorage.

“One of the best things about this network is that people genuinely want each other to succeed. You can sit down with someone who’s been doing this for years, ask them anything, and they’ll happily share what’s worked for them. That’s not something you find everywhere.”

Perhaps that’s what One Team really means. Not a slogan. Not a presentation. A culture. And by lunchtime on Friday, that culture had never felt stronger.

As delegates returned from lunch, there was an unmistakable sense of anticipation. One of the privileges of being part of the easy family is hearing directly from the man who started it all, and Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s afternoon session didn’t disappoint.

Thinking bigger

Sir Stelios has an incredible ability to make extraordinary achievements sound remarkably ordinary. Reflecting on the growth of the easy brand, he joked about the “very expensive facilities” everyone was enjoying in Monaco before quickly reminding us why investing in people and bringing the network together matters.

Conference isn’t a cost. It’s an investment.

He spoke passionately about the strength of the easy brand and the opportunities that continue to exist for businesses prepared to challenge convention. Then came one of the moments everyone had been waiting for.

The easyStorage television pilot – Life in Storage

For anyone who has ever watched Airline, the comparisons were impossible to ignore. That programme didn’t just entertain millions of viewers. It introduced an entire generation to the easy brand, showing the real people behind the operation and helping transform a low-cost airline into a household name.

Could history repeat itself?

The pilot has already generated significant interest, attracting well over 2 million views. Discussions with mainstream broadcasters are progressing, creating genuine excitement about what could come next.

Watching the preview wasn’t simply about seeing easyStorage on television. It was about recognising how far the business has come in such a short period of time. The stories are there. The personalities are there. The passion is certainly there.

Should the series move forward, it has the potential to introduce millions more people to easyStorage in exactly the same authentic way that Airline did for easyJet all those years ago. It was impossible not to leave that session feeling excited about what lies ahead.

Learning from those around us

One of the strengths of Conference 2026 was that learning didn’t come solely from the easyStorage leadership team. Our partners continue to play a huge role in helping franchisees build stronger businesses, and throughout the day delegates heard from organisations supporting the network across marketing, operations, technology, finance and franchising.

The team from The Bridge, Tim Morris and Nikki Senior, shared valuable insights from across the franchising sector.

Their message was refreshingly honest. Every franchise network experiences growing pains. Every successful franchisor has challenges to overcome. What impressed them most about easyStorage wasn’t that every problem had already been solved. It was the willingness to acknowledge challenges, invest in solutions and continuously improve.

They also highlighted something many franchisees perhaps take for granted. The willingness within the network to help one another. Compared with many franchise systems, easyStorage has built an unusually collaborative culture where sharing best practice is encouraged rather than guarded. That observation echoed many of the conversations taking place throughout the conference itself.

Delegates also heard from valued partners including StableLogic, Rocketer, Coconut Marketing, Cleveland Containers and others, each demonstrating how their expertise continues to support franchisees as the network grows.

Whether discussing technology, digital marketing, infrastructure or customer acquisition, there was one common message. Nobody succeeds alone. One Team isn’t just about franchisees. It’s about everyone pulling in the same direction.

Looking behind the storage door

One of the most valuable sessions of the afternoon was the Senior Leadership Team Q&A.

Rather than carefully scripted presentations, delegates were given the opportunity to ask honest questions about the business, future strategy and areas they wanted greater clarity on. The discussion covered everything from growth and operations to marketing, investment and technology.

What stood out wasn’t simply the questions. It was the openness of the answers. No difficult topics were avoided. No question felt off limits. That level of transparency says a great deal about the culture easyStorage continues to build.

As networks grow, it’s easy for leadership to become distant. Conference demonstrated the opposite. The Senior Leadership Team remains approachable, accessible and genuinely committed to listening to the people running businesses on the ground every day.

Perhaps that’s another sign of a business that’s maturing. Not because every answer is already known. Because everyone is prepared to find them together.

Celebrating what great looks like

Every conference has moments that make people smile. For many, the awards are those moments. Not because of the trophies themselves. Because every award represents countless early mornings, difficult decisions, customer conversations and hours of hard work that nobody else sees.

Standing on stage to collect an award may last only a few moments. The effort behind it often spans years.

This year’s winners represented the very best of what easyStorage has become.

Congratulations to all our 2026 award winners:

• Brand Ambassador Award – Alan Kerrison & James Meddick from Bath, Bristol & Cheltenham
• Franchise First Award – John McGloughlin from Berkshire
• Growth Award – James Norris & Mike Groves from Sussex, Kent & Hampshire
• Customer Service Award – Bilal Qamar from South Mimms & Chalton
• Marketeer of the Year – Daniel James from Dorset
• Best Newcomer – Jia Cheong & Mag Tan from Rochester
• Franchisee of the Year – James Norris & Mike Groves from Sussex, Kent & Hampshire
• Colleague of the Year – Mohammed Awan, Sales Manager
• TV Personality Award – Richard Shaw & Oliver Wood from Huddersfield
• Mindset Matters Award – Andrew Sieprath from Leeds

The applause each winner received spoke volumes. People weren’t simply celebrating success. They were celebrating one another. That’s a subtle difference. But an important one.

One last evening together

As the formal proceedings drew to a close, attention turned to the final evening.

The conference dinner provided another opportunity to relax, catch up and enjoy each other’s company away from the meeting room. Stories were exchanged. Ideas continued to flow. New friendships were formed. Existing ones became even stronger.

Of course, no easyStorage conference would be complete without a little friendly competition. This year’s quiz once again brought plenty of laughs, a little healthy rivalry and more than a few questionable answers before James Norris from Sussex, Kent & Hampshire emerged victorious. It was the perfect way to round off two unforgettable days.

Thank you

Events like Conference 2026 simply don’t happen without an enormous amount of work behind the scenes. Our sincere thanks go to every member of the easyStorage team who helped organise the event, our speakers who shared their experience so openly, and our partners whose continued support helps make our network stronger every year.

Special thanks also go to:

Cleveland Containers, DSOC, Coconut Marketing, Adaptainer, Newmark Capital Markets, Rocketer, StableLogic, Astute Access, Machins Solicitors LLP, Primis Installations, Basil Fry, FASTSIGNS, S Jones Containers and finally easyGroup.

Your support continues to play an important role in the success of our franchise network, and we are grateful to have you alongside us on this journey.

So… have we grown up?

Looking back on Monaco, Tony’s opening comment feels even more relevant than it did on Friday morning. Have we grown up? Absolutely. Not because we’ve stopped learning. Not because we’ve reached the finish line. But because we’ve learned what really matters.

The technology that’s helping franchisees work smarter. The partnerships that strengthen our network. The willingness to challenge ourselves and keep improving. The investment in innovation. The honesty to ask difficult questions. The confidence to think bigger than ever before.

Most importantly… the people. Because buildings don’t grow businesses. People do. That has always been true. It was true when Sir Stelios launched easyJet more than thirty years ago. It’s true today as easyStorage continues to redefine what modern self-storage looks like.

And if Conference 2026 proved anything, it’s that OneTeam is far more than this year’s conference theme. It’s the culture that’s driving easyStorage forward.

Tony commented on how we’d grown up. We have. And somehow, it feels as though we’re only just getting started.

Written by Nicola Hudson, Franchise Development Manager at easyStorage.

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