Urban Escapes Wins Shine A Light Competition from AmericanExpress

Well…not quite yet but hopefully.

You see, Urban Escapes is a company here in Manhattan that connects young professionals with two key things generally hard to come by living in the Big Apple: the outdoors and new friends.  And, they’re up for an award.  Actually, $100,000 award being given by AmericanExpress and NBC Universal to 3 companies that meet the key criterion of being Innovative, building a Community and having a strong focus on Customer Service.  Below, I’ve excerpted their nomination (written by yours truly).  If you find it compelling, we’d love you to take a few minutes and vote for Urban Escapes.  They need only 50 nominations by this Sunday to advance to the next round of judging but in an ideal world, we’d like to have over 100 votes.  So…read the below and then VOTE!

Living in New York in your twenties is not always an easy thing. It’s often a challenge to meet other young, successful professionals and to get settled into a life in the city that never sleeps. Each year, young people flock to the city in search of finding their dreams but what they more often find is a city that’s overcrowded, increasingly expensive and centered around the bar scene. For many, it can be hard to escape from the “bubble” of New York City. Urban Escapes provides a solution to this problem through unique excursions and adventures outside of the city. Geared towards adventurous young professionals looking to connect with nature and one another, Urban Escapes builds a community of like-minded people through their outdoor activities and excursions. The team leads hikes, camping trips, cookouts, wine tastings, white-water rafting trips and much, much more. They organize all the meticulous details so you – the busy young professional – just have to show up and be ready to have a great time.

Innovation is at the core of Urban Escapes in not only their concept but their execution as well. To keep their business growing, Urban Escapes ventured off the beaten path and partnered with another relatively new company called Groupon to offer a special deal on a River Tubing and Wine Tasting Adventure. This is actually how I first heard about Urban Escapes – I purchased a Groupon for this particular trip down the Delaware and guess what – their plan worked – they now have a customer for life.

The Urban Escapes guides are top-notch and completely focused on their guests. Not only are they attentive, well-trained and experienced guides, they also focus on fostering a sense of community on the excursion. These are not just people being paid to lead a tour group but rather passionate, driven people who are enjoying the excursion just as much as the people they’re leading. You truly feel like you’re all on the outing together, which makes this company unique from any tour group I’ve been involved with ever before. Beyond the actual event, the team at Urban Escapes stays virtually connected with its clientele through social media and the use of Facebook, Twitter and Flckr, and more directly connected through hosting social “alumni” events on a regular basis in the city.

I simply can’t say enough about Urban Escapes and the team – they are out to genuinely be innovative in their work, build a community among their clientele and excel at providing outstanding service to their customers. More companies should take a cue from this group and operate in a manner that is as focused on the customer as Urban Escapes does.

Thanks for reading and hopefully I’ll be writing about our win in the next few weeks.