Embark Beyond's priority list has technological and interpersonal pieces

Travel Weekly

2 days ago

ALLENHURST, N.J. — Stepping away from the fourth annual Embark Day pool party at the Jersey Shore, Embark Beyond founders and partners Jack Ezon and Julie Danziger offered a look into the travel agency's current focuses: a new AI-powered platform, partnerships with luxury brands and their desire to move away from being known as a New York-based agency.
"We've really been focused on two main courses in our prediction of how to stay relevant in the next chapter," Ezon said, pointing to technology and "clienteling" -- the retail strategy of cultivating personal relationships with clients.
On the technology front, Danziger stressed that Embark sees it as additive for advisors.
"Agencies that don't embrace technology -- I think they're going to struggle in the next couple of years," she said. "But the ones who embrace it and figure out how to utilize it in the right way are really in for a treat."
In September, the agency will launch an AI-powered platform, Embark Blackbook, that takes its intranet "to another level," Ezon said. The platform, being built in-house, will be able to match client profiles with product profiles that Embark is currently building. It will also include a clienteling dashboard.
Ezon defines clienteling as "the luxury retail term for proactive, relationship-based marketing," and right now at Embark, "everything we're trying to do is build a clienteling mindset."
He wants advisors to be more proactive with customer relationships, something with which Blackbook will assist. It might suggest an article to send to a client because they love fishing, for example.
"It's not only about selling your product, it's about connecting with people," he said.
To that end, the agency has been bolstering its partnerships with luxury brands and creating experiences exclusive to Embark clients. For instance, they can go to Italy and meet with members of the Missoni family, who run the eponymous fashion house.
Embark is also working automotive brands, food and wine, among others. The agency is considering experiences with dogs as well as instituting a mahjong program surrounding the game that is enjoying a surge in popularity.
Advisors can also take advantage of new revenue sources negotiated by Embark for nontravel sales, like jewelry. Ezon said Embark is delivering high-end clients to activities like shopping experiences, so its advisors should make money on the transactions, too (commissions weren't a hard sell for the brands Embark has partnered with, he said, as "luxury brands have seen hospitality, more and more, as a perfect collaboration").
"We're trying to give our advisors more tools to talk to their customers in a deeper way, to things that they're passionate about," Ezon said. "So we have the technology, and we're creating the product to work around, to put marketing campaigns around, so that we can get a deeper trust and relationship with our clients that AI won't replace."
While Blackbook is in development now, Ezon said it likely always will be. He said it was designed to keep changing.
Hola, Mexico
Outside of technology and clienteling, Danziger said Embark is focused on developing new travel advisors and growing the agency. She is particularly excited about the diversity in new advisors.
"They're all bringing something so different to the table, and it's refreshing and it's exciting," she said. "The more we grow outside of a bubble, and the more different people, different cultures, we invite into our environment, the more exciting it is."
The agency also wants to expand its reach outside of the United States, and be less known as a U.S. or New York agency.
"I think that's where things are going within our industry," Danziger said. "It's more global and everything is more connected."
According to Ezon, Embark's first expansion will be into Mexico.