Think 5-star personal service, Think Galapagos

Beverley-based travel company Think Galapagos is celebrating after their customers gave them a definitive thumbs up on a national review site.

Think Galapagos is now ranked third in the world for holidays to Galapagos, thanks to five-star reviews across the board on www.reviewcentre.com.

The award-winning company is run by husband and wife team Santiago Bejarano and Rachel Dex from their Trinity Lane base, and has been in existence for nine years.

Santiago is a naturalist from Ecuador and Beverley-born Rachel lived and worked there for many years. But, after the birth of their first child nine years ago, she wanted to return to where she grew up.

The pull of Ecuador was still strong for both of them, so they set up a travel company to use their local knowledge and support the community, as well as drawing on Rachel’s PR skills.

“I had worked as a journalist in Ecuador and I came back and worked for a company in York for five or six years, while we got the company up and running,” Rachel said. “I was being sent on marketing courses and seminars, and I felt that I wanted to be doing that for my own business.”

Rachel and Santiago had started their business venture in the Galapagos by organising trips for UK photographers to travel out to the Galapagos Islands and experience the fantastic photographic opportunities the wildlife and landscape has to offer.

Think Galapagos now offers its group trips approximately three times a year, but its main customers are people who want tailor-made trips.

This is where Rachel feels Think Galapagos particularly excels: “People are often stepping out of their comfort zones by going across to South America. We offer a high level of personal service and will pull out all the stops. We focus on what the customer wants.

“There are some people with whom we just have contact at key points, and others from whom we get lots and lots of telephone calls. But I think that is what sets us apart and is the reason why we have such high rankings.”

It is this attention to detail which has seen them rise to the top and gain the customer award from Review Centre.

It is no surprise that their guests have given them so much positive feedback, and they felt it would add to their credibility if this feedback was visible on a third-party’s site, independently of their own.

“We wrote to previous guests and asked if they would write a review on the site for us,” Rachel said. “I was overwhelmed by the response. CEOs of major companies had taken time out to review us. We had over 60 reviews in a couple of weeks.

“We are now ranked three in the world, ahead of the big boys like Kuoni and Virgin Holidays.”

The success of Think Galapagos has enabled Rachel and Santiago to take on another member of staff and to diversify with Think Peru and Think Birding, whilst still ensuring their company values are met. Visit www.thinkgalapagos.com, www.thinkperu.co.uk or www.thinkbirding.com for more information.