Travel EverythingHouse, Travel Magician, Travel Alchemist... This is the industry's highest evaluation of Ricardo Araujo.
While many travel agencies advertise that poor travel can also have a good experience, he has taken a different approach, specializing in the super-rich business worth more than $400 million: "I don't do this to make money." ”
Travel dreamer
Travel dreamer
The heirs of a large American family approached the door and hoped Arroyo would tailor a trip for them.
Arroyo spent six months and millions of dollars to plan the trip, and finally decided on the trip.
They will embark on a three-week voyage along the route described in the epic Odyssey, but before the journey begins, Arroyo is looking for a mermaid.
Although the trip he planned was perfect, Arroyo, who has obsessive-compulsive disorder, wanted to make it the icing on the cake.
When he heard that the client's granddaughter liked mermaids, he immediately had the idea to let her see mermaids with her own eyes.
Arroyo knew in his heart that mermaids did not exist, so he found a perfect mermaid performer online and flew her from Scotland to Capri, Italy.
In order to make the mermaid amazing, he rented a submarine, drew the direction in which she swam as the submarine passed, and asked her to rehearse it repeatedly every day. He also brings professional security on standby to prevent the mermaid from swimming too close.
After two weeks of travel, it was finally time to witness the miracle.
The girl and her mother boarded the submarine to see the deep-sea fish, and on the way back, the mermaid followed the route and swam "accidentally" in front of the submarine window, and after seeing this scene, the girl was so excited and crazy that she jumped up and down with joy until she returned to New York.
The girl's mother probably didn't want the child to believe that mermaids really existed, and was unhappy with the gorgeous arrangement, but Arroyo was relieved, "I've never seen a happier child than her." ”
Ordinary people travel, at most, they are walking around some attractions, or staying nearby for a while to relax their minds, but Arroyo always tries to create miracles.
Witnessing mermaids is just one of the miracles he has created, as a travel planner, he has helped the rich achieve many seemingly impossible travel experiences, overnight at the Arc de Triomphe, private visits to the Vatican to ride the Pope's car, entering the Danish military zone to enjoy the scenery, spacewalks outside the International Space Station...
To this day, he still dreams of breaking records and creating more fantastical travel adventures, "It's not about money, it's about meaning, I'm here to create extraordinary experiences for customers that will last a lifetime." ”
Speaking of which, before 2016, Arroyo never thought that he would set foot in tourism.
"My passion has always been classical music, and I never asked myself what exactly I was going to do in my future life. I became a composer and conductor only because I loved it. ”
But it was also under the guidance of music that he did this by mistake.
Originally, his life was to conduct world-class orchestras all over Europe, but Arroyo had a restless heart, and in 2014, he went to London to start a business, wanting to make an app that uses AI to teach people to learn musical scores.
That's right, it's the AI that recently brushed the screen!
Unfortunately, the project soon failed, and he had to work a number of part-time jobs to earn money, such as teaching music and philosophy at King's College or participating in radio shows, including hosting experiences on Airbnb.
Arroyo peddled the experience of taking visitors to classical concerts and giving them music explanations, but it was rarely frequented until 2016, when a wealthy elderly couple from Boston bought his service.
Both are avid classical music lovers, and Arroyo hates them for meeting late. According to the process, he first took the old couple to dinner, and then went to the Royal Opera House in London to teach them basic music knowledge before attending a concert.
His professionalism and enthusiasm soon impressed the old couple, and the next day, the two invited him to the Royal Opera House, where Arroyo said he was happy but sold out.
But a few hours later, the couple called him and said that not only had they been given three tickets, but they were also the best seats in the room, "and it was then that I understood what money could buy." ”
In order to thank the old couple for their hospitality, he proposed to take them to visit the backstage of the opera house, because there were friends who knew in the background who owed favors to others, and he could just push the boat along the water to thank them, which could make the old couple excited.
They toured the orchestra pit, accidentally strayed into rehearsals, and ate food they had never eaten before in the cafeteria, "for them to be able to see the life behind the scenes of the theater with a real conductor, it was the best and most incredible moment of their life, like having Christmas." ”
After returning to Boston, the old couple began to introduce their friends over, passing on ten, ten, and hundred, finding more and more customers, but Arroyo's requirements for self-service became higher and higher.
"It seems to me that rich people already have everything, and what's the point if I come up with something ready-made?"
So in 2017, Arroyo's own travel agency came into being, named "Ariodante Travel".
Usually we go to travel agencies, most of them are 599 yuan a three-day tour, if it is a customized tour, it probably costs more than 10,000 yuan.
But Arroyo only does the business of the super-rich, "My target customers are people with personal wealth of at least 400 million US dollars (about 2.8 billion yuan). They were rich enough to write blank checks, allowing me to design the perfect trip with my hands and feet free. ”
If you check out the iconic Arc de Triomphe in Paris, it's nothing more than wandering around and taking a tourist photo as a souvenir, but here in Arroyo he can achieve everything that seems impossible.
"Imagine you're watching an amazing BBC documentary, but you're at the centre of it."
There were wealthy couples who wanted a romantic getaway in Paris and even came up with the idea of spending the night atop the Arc de Triomphe.
At first glance, this idea sounds obviously unrealistic, but Arroyo, who received 1.8 million euros (about 13.5 million yuan), is full of confidence. He approached the French government to bargain directly, which did not go well at first, and Arroyo would not compromise easily.
He haggled over and finally obtained permission to stay overnight, and then spent months negotiating with French architects to build an almost invisible all-glass suite on it.
But that wasn't the end of it, Arroyo even equipped the room with a bottle of champagne for the year the couple got married. With meaningful champagne and starry night skies, who says it's not the ultimate romantic getaway?
However, the price of romance is not small, this bottle of champagne was specially bought at the Hong Kong auction, for about 20,000 US dollars (about 140,000 yuan), "20,000 US dollars, 1 million US dollars, as long as the experience is perfect, it is all worth it, because it is a beautiful experience they will never forget." ”
But in addition to money, Arroyo's ability to build connections cannot be ignored, especially museums and cultural institutions.
If we want to get close to Picasso, the easiest way is to go to a museum to see his work, which is not necessarily the real thing, but Arroyo has prepared an ultra-luxurious experience for guests.
In the Paris ballroom where Picasso got married, he asked a Michelin-starred chef to prepare a sumptuous lunch and found Picasso's surviving son to accompany the guests.
Meeting guests who like Leonardo da Vinci, Arroyo challenges himself even more.
Knowing that some of Leonardo da Vinci's manuscripts were never publicly displayed, because they were so fragile that no insurance company dared to take them easily, Arroyo spent 6 months finally finding the secret vault where they were stored and successfully convincing the other party to let the guests take a closer look.
Many customers say that he is really "crazy", but in fact he is fully capable of making money easily, but never asks how the customer makes money. He felt that no matter how much money he made or how big the company was, it was not the only measure of success.
"My goal has always been to bring something truly meaningful, and what has always inspired me is to bring unparalleled joy and wonder to those who travel with Ariodante."
Arroyo did, and the super-rich who found him would still marvel at the travel experience he brought even if he was well-informed.
But he also occasionally rolls over.
A business partner once joked that he could design an adventure to the northernmost point of land. Located at the northernmost tip of Greenland, it had never been reached by land, let alone by car, but Arroyo immediately put it into action, and he wanted his guests to set several world records.
Without finding a client, he spent eight months preparing and consulted with more than 120 experts to discuss its feasibility.
He first sent reconnaissance planes to take pictures and survey the route, and even persuaded the Danish military to let them fly into the military base; Get the team to get satellite permission and get a tank that can drive on icy ground; The accompanying team is even more luxurious, scientists, photographers, doctors, chefs, to ensure the various needs of customers during the trip.
Everything is ready, only the customer is owed.
In December 2021, a friend recommended a Russian billionaire to him. This person is passionate about scientific research and is willing to pay 22 million US dollars (about 150 million yuan) for this adventure, and as a result, the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, and Western governments announced a list of sanctions against Russian oligarchs.
In the past, money could help him solve almost most of his difficulties, but this time it couldn't help him turn things around, and his trip was forced to be canceled, and Arroyo was very sad about this, "I thought, God, am I cursed or what?" But he hasn't given up on that record-breaking expedition, and as long as they wait for another customer who is willing to pay, they can still go.
Although the Greenland adventure did not take place, Arroyo devised a new fantasy trip: the theme was "1920s-style murder mystery in the Mediterranean".
40 guests will learn Charleston dance dressed in Paris, enjoy the services of a Michelin chef on board the plane, and then be transported to an old ship to experience a murder mystery in real life.
The ticket price starts at 400,000 US dollars (about 2.75 million yuan), which is nothing more than a luxurious version of the script kill, but there are still many rich people willing to pay, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience." ”
But even with a lot of money, Arroyo rolled up in the sky in order to achieve those fantastical trips.
Before each trip is decided, he chats with guests to understand their interests and dreams, and then calls the client's personal assistant, driver and chef to learn the details of the client's life.
He then writes a plan based on it, studies how to make it possible, and finally discusses travel expenses.
"For this to all work and work harmoniously, we need a lot of work and preparation. It's like a synchronized swimming championship or ballet. Every detail must be perfect, every part of the experience must start (and end) at the right time, and everyone must be in the right place at the right time as part of the experience. ”
Even though custom travel is so tedious and balding to look at, Arroyo is passionate about his work, "I want to die with memories instead of dreams, so I need to stop being afraid of pursuing my dreams!" ”
But in the end, I still want to sigh, the happiness of rich people is really unimaginable, but they still seem to need dreamers like Arroyo.
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[1]https://www.thedailybeast.com/ricardo-araujo-is-the-travel-guru-who-makes-the-richs-wild-dreams-come-true
[2]https://beingdigitalnomad.com/ricardo-araujo-travel-agent-people-worth-dollar400m/
[3]https://businessintriper.com/entrevistas/entrevista-a-ricardo-araujo-founder-of-ariodante-travel-the-most-exclusive-and-luxurious-world-travel-agency/
[4]https://www.superyachtstories.com/experiences/the-dream-maker-how-ariodante-founder-ricardo-araujo-makes-the-impossible-possible/
[5]https://galleonpropertysearch.com/marketing_insights/travels-for-the-super-wealthy-an-interview-with-ricardo-araujo/