“I still remember one of my first clients, an extremely wealthy 85-year-old art collector, describing what I had arranged for him as ‘beyond luxury’. On hearing this, I knew I had created a valuable business concept without even knowing it.“

Q&A with Ricardo Araujo from Ariodante

Seb: Hello Ricardo. Good to have you with us today. To start with, please tell us a bit about yourself.

Ricardo: I’m a classical musician and have spent all my life around music. I was born in Colombia and moved to Brussels as a child because my father was a diplomat. Although I started my international career as a pianist, I’ve always been obsessed with the colours of an orchestra and that’s why I ended up switching to focus entirely on conducting. I have worked with several of the best orchestras in Europe and was lucky enough to have some incredible mentors when I started my career such as Armin Jordan, Mstislav Rostropovich and, most of all, the great French composer Henty Dutilleux. I’ve always had a great passion for all the arts, history, education and anything related to culture. 

S: What inspires you in life? 

R: I don’t measure success by the amount of money I make or the size of my company. My goal has always been to give people something really meaningful. Today, what inspires me is to bring happiness, excitement or amazement to those traveling with Ariodante.

S: What led you to move from classical music to luxury travel?

R: When it comes to luxury travel, everything started as an accident. 

I met an amazing couple from Boston who were staying in London for a few weeks and shared my passion for music. Using my personal contacts, I managed to easily open some doors for them in the classical music and opera industry that are usually closed to everyone else. I gave that couple something truly extraordinary and inspiring and they started sharing their experiences with their wealthy friends in the US and I began creating experiences for them too. Each person wanted something different. This is how I started to create experiences with museums, theatres, art galleries, contemporary artists, chefs, sommeliers, etc. From London, I started expanding to involve other regions and in no time, other countries too. 

I still remember one of my first clients, an extremely wealthy 85-year-old art collector, describing what I had arranged for him as ‘beyond luxury’. On hearing this, I knew I had created a valuable business concept without even knowing it.

S: How would you describe Ariodante? 

R: We do what very few companies in the world can do. Instead of taking a client to a museum for example, we take him on a private visit to that same museum with the curator as guide and then we take him to see the reserves of that museum, and then dine with the director in the middle of the artwork. We create real bespoke meaningful travel experiences. We always go the extra mile to give our clients what no one else can, even if that means spending months calling the same person over and over until we get what we need. 

“How do I impress someone who has it all?” That’s the question I’m always asking myself when I start a new project. 

S: How do you create a tour for a client? 

R: Like any other truly luxury company working on high bespoke services or products, the most important part is to understand the person for who we will be working for. During our first meeting we want to know everything about the people who will be traveling. Who they are, their passions, their dreams, their aspirations etc. Everything matters. 

My team and I come up with initial ideas and then share those with the client. When the client gives us the go ahead based on those initial ideas we start by creating a storyline. Each project has a project manager that works with our own team as well as external providers. 

We then started contacting and negotiating with cultural institutions (private or public) to get the access we need, we extensively research the subject of the trip to find the right experts and the right locations and then, like a puzzle, the tour starts taking shape. 

During all this long process we always involve the client to make sure everything is perfect. 

Once the client is fully happy with what we’ve done, we then start the booking process. 

Our team is there for the client 24/7 during their trip checking everything and making sure everything is perfect and flawless. It’s a perfectly orchestrated affair.

S: Can you share the most extravagant travel experiences you’ve organised for a client.

Just before the Covid-19 crisis started we were working on two crazy projects. One was to spend the night in a transparent plastic bubble turned into a 5 stars hotel suite at the top of the Arc du Triomphe in Paris and the other crazy trip involved an original 1940s American tank we had to move to the French Riviera so the client could drive it. This was an incredible experience about the liberation of the South of France during WW2 where we manage to get access to historical places very few people know exist and speaking with experts and descendants of eyewitnesses of those events. Although it was crazy it was also an extremely moving experience.

Another extravagant experience that I really loved was a multiple parts tour scattered through a whole year to discover how a world class opera production takes shape. From the set and costumes design, the rehearsals to the opening night. We flew to New-York, Paris, London, Berlin, Munich and more to meet privately with the lead singers, the conductor, the director and many other people working on that opera production. The craziest part of that tour was a conducting masterclass where the client was able to spend an entire day learning how to conduct a world-class orchestra. As you can imagine, I personally had a lot of fun with that experience.  

S: How do you think the travel industry will evolve post covid?

R: The longer this crisis last, the more everyone in the industry will suffer. I’m not really worried for all the travel agents but more for all the small companies (usually self-employed people) that provide incredible services locally. Countries dependent on tourisms are being devastated and I worry about the long-term global impact this will have.

That being said, I hope we will move in the direction of more sustainable and meaningful travel instead of focusing on mass tourism. I think this pandemic is a great opportunity to rethink all this and offer travellers a more meaningful and responsible way of travelling. 

S: What was your biggest challenge setting up your business and what advice would you give to a young entrepreneur?

R: The most important advice I could give is simply to ask for help. No matter how smart or capable you are, everything is always 1000 times harder alone. 

S: What is your motto?

R: I want to die with memories rather than dreams, so I need to stop being scared of pursuing them!

 S: How can people reach you? 

Ariodante Website: https://www.ariodantetravel.com

Personal contact: ricardoaraujo@ariodante.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ariodante.travel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ariodante.travel