This blog talks a great deal about the Langhe and Piedmont—but sometimes it also tells you about me, Claudia, the founder of SlowDays.
I like to describe myself as a local travel consultant and a travel artisan. Since the end of the year is traditionally a time for taking stock, I feel the need to define the boundaries of what I do.
In our fast-paced world, constant input comes at us from every direction and can easily distract us. It is sometimes difficult to explain what we do and communicate our role and profession in the right way.
We live in the age of new kinds of work: jobs that can no longer be summed up in a single word and are reinvented day by day. Sometimes answering “What do you do?” is fun and makes you feel part of an evolving world. At other times, doubts arise: “Am I offering something that people genuinely need?” and “How can I explain my work fully, so that nobody expects something I cannot provide?”
The doubts arise because the world of tourism, which I entered about three years ago, is enormous and boundless.
There are countless ways to offer travel, so you start thinking that what you do is not enough and that you could—or should—offer more, and do it differently. Perhaps you should standardise the service to reach more customers. Or expand into other regions, inevitably knowing them less thoroughly.
Some days, what you have “created” and “designed” seems like very little. After all, finding a room online and booking a restaurant or a winery tasting is not particularly difficult: anyone can do it from their sofa. And the truth is that all of this is absolutely correct!
Local consultant: then “certain customers” come along
and say things such as, “Without you, I would never have found that place.” They tell you their weekend was organised perfectly, with exactly the right experiences and enough time to enjoy each one fully.
They are delighted that you understood what they wanted and that the day you organised was the highlight of their entire holiday. They want to return the following year, stay longer and bring their friends. In short, a review that brings a tear to your eye is always just around the corner!
Then there are the people I work with—the invaluable pillars behind the success of the whole experience. They tell me that my customers are always interested, friendly and thoroughly satisfied with what they are doing. They enjoy working with me because it is clear that I put passion into my work, and customers somehow sense that.
And that brings me back to the “right path”.
I stop being distracted by the “thousand winning formulas” for selling a product and concentrate on making mine even more beautiful and authentic. I visit the winery I do not yet know, chat with a truffle hunter and explore another part of Piedmont that I want to understand better.
Why do I do all this? Because I believe that my product must always contain something of my soul and must always be tailored to the person who decides to contact me. This involves a great deal of work behind the scenes and also means that I can assist only a relatively limited number of customers.
In an age dominated by online portals selling every kind of experience—and rooms whose bathroom tile colour you already know before you arrive—I believe that a local consultant can still do a great deal for you. Anyone can promote themselves online, but who selects what is genuinely best for you?
Who can tell you whether that winery is usually crowded or whether its hosts will have more time to devote to you? Where can you find reasonably priced wine if you would like to buy a few bottles?
Who can make sure that your truffle hunt is not a packaged “tourist experience”, but something authentic that you will remember forever? Who knows the guides and sommeliers who will accompany you and can ensure that they are both personable and knowledgeable?
I believe I can modestly say that SlowDays, as a local consultant, can do this—and certainly puts every effort into doing it well.
Is this approach for everyone?
Perhaps not. It is for people who trust me and tell me about themselves; who are willing to answer all my questions and understand that we build the experience together and that it will rarely be standard. This also means not asking me the colour of the bathroom tiles—or rather, if there is a colour you truly dislike, tell me and we will avoid it ;-)!
Joking aside, I am an artisan, as I have said before, and people entrust artisans with creating a unique piece. For everything else, there are supermarkets! Each to their own, and we can still be friends.
Would you like to rely on a local consultant to organise your holiday? Explore our food and wine tours, our cycling holidays, or discover the area on foot. And if you would like to read the story of a wonderful holiday, read this article too.
Speaking of reviews, you can read some of them here.
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