How many of you are familiar with the popular statement: “Nothing good comes easy”? We at BeeYond Travel can surely raise our hand, both hands actually. We had shared for a while now the “We Have Grown” news, but we had to work behind the scenes to make the right implementations before unveiling the new BeeYond Travel!
Growing is what makes us better and as reliable as you would expect when traveling overseas. But what do we mean when we say we have grown? And how did we do it?
Let’s backtrack a bit to 2016, when the first drafts of the villa rental company were drawn. We simply want to be the best Vacation Villa Rental out there. While dreaming with our head up in the clouds, we always kept our feet grounded.
We were aware that for the kind of service we wanted to offer, we needed to pick a small area and become the best advisors for the most discerning clientele. We picked one of the most beautiful countries in the world: Italy. Then one unique region: Puglia. This region offers tourism options all year long. The majority of people travel during the summer months, but there is another large percentage of people who choose to travel off season too. These travelers are not big fan of hot temperatures and dislike crowds; or many other reasons. Puglia, has much more to offer than just beach: history, culture and traditions can be felt everywhere, food it top notch, and we all agree we do not need to wait for summer to eat well.
Once we picked our beautiful corner of world, we literally moved there in 2017 and for 2 years we lived exactly like the locals and we explored every single corner of this amazing region. This was a stretch well worthed. We have met and selected the best professionals to help us out in this incredible journey. Thanks to our alliances, we were able to see the tourist traps and learn how to stay away because authenticity is key to us when delivering a certain level of luxury.
Professionalism is also key. Puglia for instance is packed with beautiful villas, but finding gorgeous villas and owners who can actually run those properties in a professional manner was not that easy. Unfortunately, many people think they can open up a restaurant, and be called Restaurateurs. Or refurbish a beautiful old farmhouse and be called Hoteliers. We know well it is not the case so we made sure we looked at the whole picture before “shaking hands.”
Along the way, our clients kept requesting more than the unique villas we offer. We decided then to offer tailored vacations with villas, transfers, tour guides, experiences, and anything in between that would create an amazing vacation.
BeeYond Travel, based in NY, evolves into Outgoing Tour Operator. After getting the necessary “checks” – insurance, certification, inventory, booking engine, proper staff, etc. – we are now proud to be probably the only Outgoing Tour Operator. Specializing in this small region capable of offering excitement all year long.
While we are in NY orchestrating unforgettable vacations, there is a Team in Italy coordinating the operation. The Team is directed by Paola Puzzovio. We are very humble so we will just say that she is the best local tourism expert in Puglia, a pioneer of enogastronomy, the first one to preach not only about food and wine but enogastronomy as an expression of culture of the local community. She is the person every traveler would want by their side while on vacation. We are so proud to have her on our Team making sure our travelers can experience a vacation in a way that they will remember forever.
The website got a new “engine.” Although it looks very similar to the previous version (we kept it that way because we all love its simplicity), under the “hood” multiple tools, and widgets. It allow us to keep track and manage inventory, reservations and payments all using the strictest encryption to guarantee your data is safe while on our site.
We have added new pages dedicated to Tours and Experiences.
We have also added a new page dedicated to Cruises. We now offer day sailing excursions in Puglia and just because we like to always bend rules. Even our own, we offer week-long sailing cruises to the Eolian Islands aboard some very unique sailing yachts; one in particular can accommodate up to 12 people; we call it the Orient-Express of the sea! Check out the new page.
We have changed some numbers but we continue to keep our Italian number to make it easier for our suppliers and travelers to reach us from Italy.
We promise to continue to evolve and we will continue to listen to our guests and suppliers because thanks to them we are who we are today. More tours and more experiences will be added but if you have specific places in Puglia where you wish to go or specific experiences you wish to book, let us know, just send us a request.
We hope you will enjoy the new BeeYond Travel and please keep your feedback coming.
Happy Travels,
The BeeYond Travel Team
