Consistent Customer Referrals Can Sustain Growth With Emmanuel Burgio, Principal and Founder of Blue Parallel
Emmanuel Burgio is the Principal and Founder of Blue Parallel, a boutique travel company that specializes in providing luxurious adventure experiences to destinations that include Latin America, the Mediterranean, and Antarctica. Emmanuel graduated from the London School of Economics and then worked in investment banking in New York City. Due to his passion for adventure and discovery, he eventually took a year off to travel the world. The profound experiences he gained on that exploration inspired him to create Blue Parallel.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
Emmanuel Burgio reveals why he left investment banking to launch Blue Parallel
What type of traveler does Blue Parallel attract?
Blue Parallel’s most effective method for growing its customer base
Emmanuel shares what he learned from leading his brand through the pandemic
The difference between the types of bookings Blue Parallel received before and after the pandemic
Where Emmanuel envisions Blue Parallel to be in 5-10 years
Advice Emmanuel is glad that he ignored
What you’ll learn in this episode:
For a midsized business focused on luxury travel experiences, growth can take place through an aggressive marketing campaign. For others, it may occur as a result of providing a quality product that turns first-time customers into repeat clients who grow the business through word-of-mouth referrals.
According to travel expert Emmanuel Burgio, the latter scenario has sustained growth for his luxury travel brand. He explains that his primary focus is on the quality of the experiences they offer since that's the best way to generate returning clients and get referrals. Emmanuel notes that relationships with travel advisors are also valuable because they repeatedly contact his company with return clients.
On this episode of From Persona to Personal, Roger Hurni sits down with Emmanuel Burgio, Principal and Founder of Blue Parallel, for a conversation about growing a luxury travel business organically. Emmanuel shares the type of traveler Blue Parallel attracts, how it gains repeat and new clients, and his vision for the brand over the next five years. He also discusses his passion for travel and the benefits of allowing employees to work remotely while living in their chosen location.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
This episode’s sponsor:
Today’s episode is brought to you by Off Madison Ave. At Off Madison Ave, we create meaningful moments of brand trust and influence how people interact and engage with brands.
There is a science behind tapping into your audiences’ desires and motivation. After all, if you’re not changing your audiences’ behaviors, you can’t truly unlock all of your brand’s potential.
The proven models and methods of Behavior Design are the strategic foundation for your brand’s success.
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:02
This is From Persona to Personal podcast. Today's episode is brought to you by Off Madison Ave. Off Madison Ave creates meaningful moments of brand trust and influences how people interact and engage with brands. The science behind their approach taps into your audience's motivations and desires. After all, if you're not changing your audience's behaviors, you can't truly unlock all of your brand's potential. Now, let's get started with the show.
Roger Hurni 0:35
Hello, everyone, I am Roger Hurni, the host of From Persona to Personal where I get to use my expertise in consumer behavior to engage with top business leaders who are propelling their brands forward. Before I get to today's guest, this episode is brought to you by Off Madison Ave. At Off Madison Ave, we use behavioral science to create meaningful moments of brand trust, which influences how people interact and engage with companies. Our behavioral approach taps into your audience's motivation and prompts them to shift behavior. After all, if you're not changing your audience's behaviors, you truly can't unlock all of your brand's potential. These proven behavioral models and methods are the strategic foundation for your brand success. Is it offmadisonave.com. To learn more. Now, before I introduce today's guest, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to him through another guest I had on the show Catherine Heald, who is the founder of Remote Lands. So Catherine, if you're listening to this episode, thank you for the introduction. Our guest today is Emmanuel Burgio who is the Founder and Principal of Blue Parallel, it's an award winning bespoke luxury travel boutique. And his mission is to take discerning time constraint travelers to the most spectacular natural and cultural wonders of Latin America, the Mediterranean and polar region. Now Emmanuel’s international background is this: he was born in the Netherlands and he grew up in the South of France, studied in London, London and began his career in New York. As a fellow New Yorker, I can completely appreciate that. This means that traveling has always been simply a part of just who he is. So in 2003, he decided to set up his own travel luxury company. And sorry, he's decided to set up his own travel company, and combine that with adventure and luxury. Emmanuel, welcome to the show.
Emmanuel Burgio 2:24
Thank you, Roger.
Roger Hurni 2:26
I messed up your intro a little bit there. But did I get anything wrong? Or is I correct?
Emmanuel Burgio 2:31
You're good. All right.
Roger Hurni 2:34
I'm gonna have to try very hard to not break into Spanish with you on the show for our English listeners. You've had a, I feel like you're a brother from another mother because I travel as much and I'm sort of jealous and living in multiple places like that. I'm kind of curious with that background. What made you believe there was a market for the type of company you wanted to build and Blue Parallel?
Emmanuel Burgio 3:01
All right, well, my background was actually not in in travel. Just talking a little bit about myself as as you mentioned, I was actually born in the Netherlands. When I was about eight years old, we moved to the south of France, this is where I grew up. And this is where I get my accent from.
Roger Hurni 3:19
I don't get you what accent I don't, I don't hear an accent
Emmanuel Burgio 3:22
French reg X year French accent I think you're going to gain. And then after finishing high school in Canada that I studied economics in London. And then after graduating from the bachelor degree in economics, I got a job offer in New York City where I worked in investment banking for a couple of years in the m&a group have also been a well established bank. After two years, working like a slave sort of speak, I told myself that I just wanted to take some time off. I just wanted to take a sabbatical year and travel around the world. And and this is really what inspired the creation of blue parallel, you know, back in 2003, you know, so once once, upon returning from from that sabbatical, and backpacking trip around the world, this is when I told myself well, there is an opportunity here to focus on UNESCO World Heritage Sites, whether there are natural wonders or manmade wonders, and into specific destination that everyone should at some point, you know, check off their live from To Do List, offer a service and a product that would be aligned with the profile and the needs of my ex bosses right back in the banking day. So this is how it all started. You know, I didn't have any experience of the travel industry, but I had experience working for very demanding professionals that work very hard to please their clients, and whenever they become clients, they expect the same type of service in return. And I understood the level of service that they wanted to that they would expect. And this is what I decided to read a company that will kind of be a bridge in between the two different worlds that I got exposed to, you know, as a traveler, and as an investment banker. And this was the inspiration for a blue paranoia.
Roger Hurni 5:19
So, a couple of things to unpack there, one, I can't even begin to tell you how many investment bankers I've interviewed, or former investment bankers who are now CEOs of some other company, I think in the investment banking world must just rip through people who think like, there's no tomorrow because all of you just quit that career and go decide to follow your passion. I just an observation, there's not a question there. Just an observation.
Emmanuel Burgio 5:45
It's a, it's a good observation. I think I, you know, out of university, this was my first job and my only job, you know, as, as an employee may in and before I started my company, and, and, and you're right, I think you got thrown into something that is very, it's very time consuming a lot of commitment a lot of hours. And, and that at some point, you know, you kind of need to decide for yourself, hey, you know, looking at, let's say, my boss was a managing director, we had a beautiful, you know, office was deal toys. And, and, and thinking, Well, is it is it who I want to be in, in 1015 years from now? Or do I want something different, and I think it's important to be able to make those decisions. And my decision was No, I, I cherish life too much, I want to be able to see the world I, I enjoy free time as well. And so I couldn't see myself continuing, working that many hours and then feeling a little bit like if I was a slave of the organization I was working for. And so I think that triggered a change of path a change of worse, and I'm not surprised to hear that you have been exposed to many other individuals who went through that singing, you know, thought process.
Roger Hurni 7:04
Yeah, it's, it seems to definitely be a trend, I would disagree with you that you it's not that you didn't have travel experience, you may not have travel experience running a travel based company, but when you travel, the the understanding of the human condition and how people live and the things that people want to see in the world that are really unique. That is the experience that you really needed to start Blue Parallel, in my opinion, do you think that was a huge help?
Emmanuel Burgio 7:31
Absolutely. Because I needed I think what really kind of fostered all this was, was a passion that I had for for travel. And it's a fashion that I was able to fulfill, you know, after a couple of years of investment banking, you know, added us pocket money to be able to go and see the world and then being exposed to to destination that I never heard off before. And you know, whenever you are a young you know, 20 plus something and and and then you have a little bit of time to you know, to take a break, you have that short vacations and you're not necessarily thinking about you know, going and explore the world, right, so So then suddenly, I had time I took a year off, and then going to places like Machu Picchu in Peru going to places like Patagonia and seeing glaciers and going to Fraser Island in Australia and sank the, the soul floods in Bolivia, those are those are places that I'd never heard of before. And then I was really moved by the sheer visual beauty the visual impact of those destinations, but also being immersed with with different cultures. I remember spending a night in in someone's home on on the shores of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and there was no electricity there was it was very basic and, and but then to me, it kind of reinforced that the passions were tribal. And then I told myself Wow, not only do you have a credible destination that are visually impacting but also there are people out there that live a very different lives that I used to be exposed to. And I think this is the beauty of of traveling is to be able to immerse yourself and being in touch with with people that you would never meet you know otherwise. So that so that was also very important to me. And whenever we we create, you know, new products and new destinations. We always want to keep that that authentic theme into our programs, right so So yes, it's important to stay in incredible accommodations and to be able to have a private experience and, and be pampered with gourmet picnics. But I think it's also important to learn about the semis and inlab plan to learn about indigenous communities in Costa Rica in Panama and we like to operate whenever possible the theme into our programs.
Roger Hurni 10:02
I really couldn't agree more on on the traveling. I'm curious as to the you kind of mentioned this in one of your other answers, but can you give me a good profile, the type of traveler you attract?
Emmanuel Burgio 10:16
Yeah. So it's, I think, in general, I would say, from a national, from a national it point of view, most of our travelers would be coming from the United States, I think the, they have been successful in their professional life, or they're successful in their professional life in the sense that they, they are busy individuals, and whenever they take a vacation, they don't want to take any chances, right, they just want to make sure that there's going to be a team that will be at their service. So if unforeseen circumstances occur and you don't travel, a lot of things can happen, you know, you've got to have civil disturbances volcanoes erupting, you could have strikes, you could have a boat that has a mechanical failure. And so and so those individuals were busy, and we don't have that much time available, when they travel, they want to have that peace of mind. And they want to be able to have that sensation that hey, whatever happens, I'm going to have a team that is going to be able to help me out, you know, provide alternatives, find solutions. And, and so, in also, our trips tend to be active. So we have many travelers who are in their 40s, and their 50s. And they have a busy lifestyle, but they also like to be active. And so whether it is scuba diving in the Galapagos Islands or hiking in the Atlas in the mountains, or going biking in Patagonia, those are those are all experiences that we activities, and we like to incorporate into our programs. So So individuals who are curious want to learn about other civilizations about you know, natural or manmade wonders, individuals, we're busy. And we're we like to, to have a luxury, vacation, but we also like to be active and to be immersed in with other learn about other cultures,
Roger Hurni 12:15
perfectly understandable to sounds like me, I believe I'd probably be your ideal, ideal customer. So you started in 2003, by the way, congratulations on 20 years of being in business, thank you. Things are going great probably and then 2020 hits, pandemic hits, things probably shut down. What was it like going through that? And did you have any lessons learned?
Emmanuel Burgio 12:40
Yeah, it was a nightmare has put it in a simple way, it was a complete nightmare. Because everything started shutting down, right. And so borders starting to shut down. We were lucky, in the sense that we did not have any travelers were stranded in any given untrim. So we had a number of travelers one back home, you know, just prior to the borders closing or travelers who decided to cancel or postpone their trip, right? So so so then there was a, a sensation of uncertainty, because we didn't know if it would be, you know, just month and we're six months will be a year it will be five years, we'll be like no one really knew. And so this is what was very difficult, because we had a number of, of trips that were in the books, and so we didn't know what to tell our clients, if they should, you know, just postpone, or some of them wanted to cancel, but then we had already made payments to our providers on the ground. And while we were able, you know, in a survival mode to give us a credit or a voucher, and so, so we had, like, you know, talk to our clients, you know, one by one, on a case by case basis, and kind of explained to them what the situation was, and then offer them, you know, different options available. So, so this was a stressful, a stressful time, we also had to downsize the team, we had to enter into a survival mode type of situation. And then we started seeing some light at the end of the tunnel, back in the summer of 2021. This is when Europe started opening up to us travelers. And so this gave us you know, you know, some some some oxygen, we were able to see some light at the end of the tunnel. And then my priority then was to try to bring back the team members that had to let go bring them back, and I think had been successful in most cases in achieving this. And this has enabled us to then have another type of stress and other type of worries that we started getting inundated with with request. And we realized that we were short staffed but also many of our providers many of the hotels many of the of the years that we were working We're just to demonstrate examples did not have the proper staff in place to provide the level of service that we want to offer our clients. So, so we had to be very diligent in accepting requests or declining requests. That is the first time that we told our solo our trailers sorted, we know we're not going to be able to arrange, you know, last minute trip to Croatia, because we don't ever have any guys or we don't have any, any, any boats. And, and so, so we had to be diligent about that. And, and then the things started to open, you know, more and more, and then we were able to bring back, you know, again, more and more stuff and to grow. And, and I think now we're at a stage where, you know, we don't want to talk about pandemic anymore, it's behind us. It has been, you know, a very stressful events, and unhappy where, you know, we're now able to, hopefully, that we won't have to worry about this again.
Roger Hurni 15:55
Yeah, have you seen an uptick in the number of bookings, I mean, I've done a lot of work in the travel space. And I've seen a shift in visitor behavior, traveler behavior, pre pandemic, to now, before there was always an audience that would want to do luxury adventure travel. But that seems to have increased in some of the research I've done, simply because the pandemic made us realize, hey, life can be short, I want to see more places, I want to find more unique places, not that people don't want to go to Paris in London, or, you know, the key places that people typically go, but it feels like they're looking for those off the beaten plat path places more. So I was wondering if you've seen an increase in the amount of bookings post pandemic then prior to it now.
Emmanuel Burgio 16:54
Right, so everything you described is exactly what we've been doing from day one, right and off the beaten path and and destinations, insider experiences away from the crowds that that connection with nature, whether that. And so staying away from the crowds, or this is what we've been doing from from day one. So so you're correct, we've seen an uptick, whenever the majority of us travelers felt safe about traveling abroad again, then we've seen an uptick in your request. But also what we've seen within within our sector within our niche, what we have seen is, is is an uptick in requests from families wanting to spend time together, right, and so in uptaken, and that translated into a chartering a private yachts, where, you know, this kind of guarantees, you know, kind of time spending together and avoiding the crowds we've we've seen that, you know, happening in Greece, but in other destinations as well. We've also seen is a tendency to maybe spend a little bit more signing on the ground or even longer vacation and I think people are, are valuing time now more than maybe they used to do along the lines of what you describe. And so So fortunately, I think we have been in the, in that space and in luxury adventure in in remote destinations. So I think we have been able to benefit from that uptick of travel following the pandemic. And again, we've seen some some specific trends as well within that space.
Roger Hurni 18:37
Yeah, have you? Well, what would be your best business marketing strategy for attracting new clients? How are they finding you? Or what kind of proactive work are you doing to get new clients?
Emmanuel Burgio 18:53
Alright, so we have a majority of travelers who are either returning travelers or were who came to us through referrals. And, and, and many of ways actually, you know, got in touch with us and through a travel advisors, right, and so we are part of a consortium called virtuoso. And so over the years, we have really been able to establish great relationships with a number of travel advisors who have you know, caught be contacting us for several trips sometimes for the same clients. Right. And so, so a lot of a lot of the business we had is repeats. And as far as attracting new customers, you know, we've at some point we kind of be wasn't our primary goal because we were just very busy the way the way things were already. But I think kind of moving forward as we're, you know, growing our team and we want to build a scalable and sustainable business model. That's the goal. I think what what is important is to, again, focus on the quality of the product we offer, because that's the best way to get this returning clients. And to get those referrals. I think we have been engaging as well with a number of travel advisors within the travel community. And so establishing those personal relationships that that makes travel advisors, trust us and be able to put a face on a name. And that's very important as well. And we also have been investing into websites, we have a beautiful website, we just created recently, a section called videos where we have been putting together beautiful one minute videos on pretty much all the destinations where we operate. And so that's important as well, so that anyone who hears about us can go to, you know, can go live and learn more about what we do and what we offer. And in one minute, you can really get a flavor of what our offerings are on any online, particular destination. So those are some of the some of the actions that that have been, you know, most important to us when we think about, you know, growing the business and then getting more, you know, customers and in the pipeline. So
Roger Hurni 21:14
it sounds like the marketing is sort of the basic, I don't mean to say it's basic, but you have the building blocks, like the websites and the social media channels, but really the bulk of your business comes through referrals and repeat clientele.
Emmanuel Burgio 21:26
Exactly, exactly. We're not was not been very active in in terms of marketing initiatives in order to capture new direct customers, I think I think something more happening organically.
Roger Hurni 21:43
So what does the what does the future look like now for for blue parallel? I mean, what is three or five years? Is it? Is it more destinations? Is it other services? Can you give me? Look, it's just a tool. So I have some insight into the business plan ahead?
Emmanuel Burgio 22:01
Sure. No, the I think one thing that I've one thing that I've learned is that it's impossible to plan. But hear that in the travel space. You know, we prior to the pandemic I was I was planning to lounge and a blue pearl polar because right now we have you know, we have portfolio of three, we have three different portfolios of destination, we have Latin America, this is where we started, then we added the Mediterranean. And about two years ago, we added our poor destinations. And this was in the making in 2018 2019. It was supposed to be launched in 2020. But we just had to choose to wait and delay all of this. And I think right now our priority is to make the business scalable and sustainable. And so I think we're going to, we're going to consolidate what we already have in terms of destinations. And in terms of products, I think that's going to be the priority. And we're going to have more team members that are going to be trained, they're going to be hired and trained and that we're going to send you know, all destinations so that the knowledge can can spread it across, you know, the team and so, so we're not depending too much on any given individual within the team. And so So I think that's going to be the main the main goal in the short term, right. And I think once we once that has been accomplished, that at that point, we will think about, you know, adding some some destinations, I think we will always look at this. In order to make those decisions, we're looking at the demand, right. And so for example, if if we start seeing that we have you know, that there is one country in particular that is getting, you know, attention and then we're getting requests for the country or the but we don't currently have an offering for for that this destination that we're going to give it a priority. Right. And so it's all it's all demand based.
Roger Hurni 23:58
So the that's the practical side of it. And that's great. I'm also curious as to your vision, your hope if you could fast forward in time, five years or 10 years, where would you love to see Blue Parallel be outside of the practical right now?
Emmanuel Burgio 24:22
Right. Yeah, I think the vision would be for for for for for me to have a team that is going to be capable of doing a lot of the things that I'm that I'm still doing on a day to day basis right. So I would like to be able not to be necessarily in the front seats, you know that much I would be able to manage a team and will be able to choose implemented visions rather than being you know, spending most of my time on on day to day things. Right, right. So Oh, so that's that's how I view you know my role in if you ask me it five years from now, but also what I don't want to change the our DNA sort of speak, you know, I want people to continue associating blue parallel with very high end customer journeys and niche product, working with with a few customers every month that are at our, you know, the need a lot of attention to detail. And so that's, that's the vision, I don't want to change the business model, I just want to be able to do it in a way that is going to be more efficient. And so that's, that's, that's, that's going to be the first the first you know, goal, and hopefully, we'll be able to get there, you know, before the five year time. And then once once that is in place, then that I would love to be able to continue developing a new product, think about what our clients do enjoy doing and then try to, to, to use the same ingredients of what are of the products that have been successful today the end and apply them to to other destinations.
Roger Hurni 26:08
Yeah, makes perfect sense. I get that a lot with with CEOs, when, in particularly when I'm at doing like behavior strategy work for like, Alright, how do I shift the behaviors of my own employees so that there's less of my time involved in operating the business and and you're you're at that feels like you're at that classic growth stage, where you need to be working on the businesses that are in the business and have that team underneath you to really operate effectively and efficiently.
Emmanuel Burgio 26:38
Exactly. I think we're not a startup anymore. And we're not a big company, we're in the middle. And so I think it's important to to, to hopefully be able to reach that stage where, where things are scalable and sustainable. You have, and that will be a win win situation for for me, but also for my team members. And I think that's going to be a key to our future success.
Roger Hurni 27:02
That's great. That's great. I you had been wonderful with your time. I have one last question. So we are getting out of time here on the podcast. I like to end every show this way. Because I always believe that what you don't do is as important, if not more important than what you do do. And you can answer this question in my personal perspective if you want, but what's the worst advice you've ever gotten? That you said, I'm not going to do that now. And hopefully, it was you know, someone saying go start a travel luxury travel adventure company.
Emmanuel Burgio 27:34
So the summer so I just wanna make sure I just do that correctly. What is the worst advice that I received from someone yet? Let's say you didn't take and then it didn't take so so thankfully didn't take that advice. This is the immediate and we think about it.
Roger Hurni 27:51
Like with me, while you're thinking with me, my mom thought I would be good working in a shopping mall where there was a cart where you could have an art background. She only said to me one day, you know, this is after I had already started a company had been in business like 10 years, you know what you should do? Because you'd understand what I did, you should do Rogers, you should, you should be at that cart in the mall where you get to draw people's kids names and into illustrations. And you'd be really good at that. Like, while I would be really good at that, I don't
Emmanuel Burgio 28:24
know anything and I Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a 11111 thought so, when when the when the pandemic struck. I was I was living in what Osiris, right and my wife is Argentine. And we were living in Buenos Aires and, and I grew up in the South of France. And I was one at some point to give my kids as well the opportunity to be able to be ocean and by the sea. Right. And so it was tough to be in what as Rs during the pandemic, there were restrictions in place in Argentina. So I thought, you know, all the stars are aligned, you know, now is the time to do it. so and so. But talking to some of the talking to my parents and talking to friends and they were well, you know, that's you're not going to be able to, to recreate your business this way. And it's not going to work to have, you know, the piano in one country and to have the pianist in a different country being the pianist and the piano being you know, all my team members. Right. And then I did a lesson I think I went ahead and and relocated and and by the way many of my team members did the same thing. And now fast forward I'm telling myself hey, we now have a different organization you know, we meet with you know, it's a virtual organization. Everyone worked from home and at 10am every, you know, Eastern Time or 9am Eastern time we we will meet every morning and now I have team members who live and work in many of the destinations we were we upgrade. And I think looking backwards I think we're much better off now. Um, I think we're it's easier to to recruit talents than that no one is to be tied to one specific destination, you know, before we had, you know, two different offices and two different continents. And so I think that's a that's an advice or it's that it's a poor advice that I received from from her relative saying, hey, you know, the piano and the pianos it should be at the same place. I'm happy. I didn't listen to it. Because now I see that there is a different way of running a business and it hasn't been a, you know, there's been a positive change for us. They're excellent.
Roger Hurni 30:35
I always find good advice inside of bad advice. And I think you nailed it right there. There's always a better way to run a business and when people tell you, thank you so much, Emmanuel for being on the show. I had been speaking with Emmanuel Burgio. He's the founder of Blue Parallel, Emmanuel, where can people learn more about you and Blue Parallel?
Emmanuel Burgio 30:55
Oh, I recommend you visit our website. So it's blueparallel.com. Right. And then you find plenty of information about you know, what we do and then the destination we serve, and some beautiful videos as well. So this is what I would recommend. You do check our website.
Roger Hurni 31:12
Excellent. Excellent. Again, thank you for being on the show. Everyone. I am Roger Hurni, the host of From Persona to Personal, we'll catch you next time.
Outro 31:21
Thanks for listening to From Persona to Personal, the podcast that takes a closer look into how organizations personalize their marketing. We'll see you again next time and be sure to click Subscribe to get future episodes.
