Interview with Beat Bopp, travel advisor at Signature Travels

Exclusively Yours, a sales agency specialising in luxury hotels, brings you an interview with Beat Bopp, travel advisor at Signature Travels. Today, Beat takes us on an exciting and spellbinding journey to the Peloponnese, where he was lucky enough to enjoy an unforgettable experience at the Euphoria Retreat resort.

Can you introduce yourself and the agency?

My company Signature Travels is based in Zurich, the old part of Zurich. We have been established more than 10 years ago. We create very special experiences all over the world, with no particular emphasis, but the emphasis lies particularly on creating something which is not very common and maybe not very known, so we leave the main roads. 

And everything we do for our clients is really handmade and created from scratch, so every client has a different story. Our clients are mainly based in Switzerland. They are either Swiss or they are Swiss based, so we have a lot of Anglo -Saxon clients. And we also have Asian clients who are based in Singapore and Hong Kong. Our staff is based partly in Switzerland and to a large extent outside of Switzerland, so in Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Berlin and Barcelona.

How was your experience at Euphoria Retreat in general? 

I had a really good day, though very short but intense. I was able to really get a good feeling of the place and I think this is the key factor. The place has kind of a really special vibe because of the location. That's one thing and the second one is certainly the building and the third one is the people running the place. 

Are there any particular elements that you really were impressed with in the spa?

I think their concept, they call it the 3G EL method. What they do there is really very unusual. It's kind of a combination between traditional methods also including Chinese medicine and what I particularly liked was the fact that before you actually start with treatments they do an analysis and according to that analysis they create a program for you stay, so for your treatments. 

I think this is very interesting. It was also the outcome of my analysis. It was very interesting. There were some things which were confirmed. I already knew about me but also new things. I didn't know also considering of course finally the nutritional part which is also very important.

The cuisine is one of Euphoria Retreat's strong points. How did you find it?

I think their approach is really very interesting. It's not like in other similar places where it's very strict. So you get your food plan and you eat what they decide according to the first analysis they do. So you then are not able to change things. Whereas here the approach is different. So according to the analysis, you might get some indications. But finally, the restaurant setup is healthy food. And you can eat whatever you want and you can eat the amount of food you eat. 

It doesn't really matter. You can also drink alcohol if you wish to. But they offer very nice special drinks they create every day. So every day they are newly created drinks. And it's up to you what you would like to do. I think it's also important that it's actually you. You have to decide what you want to reach your day. And with this analysis, I think you have a very good pace.

Have you done some activities or?

Yeah, they actually have a very nice schedule of activities. So this is once you arrive there with the introduction, they will give you an activity schedule. And then you can have a look at it. And they can decide if it is you would like to join. These activities are normally together with some other guests of the hotel. But if you would like to do some private, this is also. What I think is really nice is it's a very good combination of things you do at treatments and also including a lot of activities in nature. 

And this is that combination. I think it's also very important when you go to a place like this and you would like to do kind of a detox that the nature plays a very important role. And this is something they can offer there in a very good way. They have their private forest and they have lots of places you can go to. You can do walking. You can even bike if you wish to. You can combine it with cultural activities. So it's really up to you how much activity you would like to do. If you'd like to stay there and relax more. 

Did you enjoy the room product?

Yeah, I like the room product very much. It's kind of modern, but very nice. It gives you a good feeling of the place and the area. It's not just a room product where you don't know where you are when you wake up in the morning. It's really something that is connected with the place.

What kind of client would you imagine over there?

I think that there is quite a good range of people in these places. It's easier to convince women to go to places like this than convincing men to go there. But here, I think that's also a bit of a difference. Also, as a man, I think you would feel if you would go on your own. I mean, you can go there as a couple or you can go on your own. 

But I think it's also a place which is not too feminine. So it has also that masculine part, which is sometimes missing in other places. This is part of the concept. I think this is something I like and I'm into clients about it. I realize that men are definitely also interested to do something like this. Because it's not so fixed to something. So you are more flexible.

Can you give me a little bit on the Peloponnese?

The region of the Peloponnese is still not really very much known to the, let's say, to foreign travelers. And you can see that the different areas of the Peloponnese are now really developed for more tourism, also for more luxury tourism, and for a good reason, because it's beautiful landscapes, beautiful change of flatlands and mountains and coastal areas. So if you want to, you can really combine stays in completely different areas. So you could go to the sea, you could stay in the mountains, or you could stay somewhere like the Euphoria Retreat, which is really in the middle of the countryside. So the main advantages is certainly that you come to a place where it's still very real. 

So it's Greek, it's real traditional Greek. As if you go to an island, of course there are more people first, and it's much more developed, and maybe even there it's not as original as it should be. And this is in the Peloponnese area where I have been going to, I thought it's really very untouched. And they also have a good feeling for developing the right type of luxury tourism, which has not been existing on the Peloponnese, it didn't really exist. And I think the area has a really very good chance of attracting more people in the future.

A big thank you to Beat and the whole Signature Travels team for their confidence. We're delighted to be able to pamper Signature Travels' clients throughout the year with the sales and marketing support Euphoria Retreat has entrusted to us.