August 24, 2025 • 12 mins
Drowning in property management systems, booking engines, and CRM platforms? Alicia Szerszyn from Paradise Resort gets answers on balancing high-tech with high-touch.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Apoche Production.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello, I'm Naomi Simpson and Handpicked Season five is here,
and the entrepreneurs this time are not going easy on me.
Those questions just keep coming, whether it's about building a
brand in a taboo subject or what about sales, Oh yeah, sales, sales, sales.
We're all trying to find more customers. And what about
(00:34):
changing customer demands or balancing high tech with high touch.
These entrepreneurs and business owners are really really asking the
questions that will help every business owner and their team
just get more ideas on how to cope with everything
they're tackling in the day. Now. New episodes drop every Monday,
(00:57):
and remember to subscribe so that here the next Motus episode. Anyway,
join me on Handpicked on Mondays. Welcome to hand Picked.
I'm Naomi Simpson and today I'm speaking with Alyssia Surgeon
from Paradise Resort on the Gold Coast and she's been
there for nearly a quarter of a century and she's
(01:18):
seems so much change. But Alyssia is asking me the
questions every hospitality leader is facing today. How does she
manage tech, overwhelm keeping customers at the center. Let's dive
in first of all, what about Alicia. You give us
a bit of a background to your history and the
business that you're working in.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I'm delighted to be here and thank you for having
me on hand picked. So I work in a resort
on the Gold Coast. It's called Paradise Resort. It's family
friendly and amazing for young children. I've worked there actually
for twenty four years as of this November, worked in
multiple roles, starting as a food and beverage attendant, going
into sales and marketing, and eventually taking over the marketing
(02:02):
role about fourteen years ago. And I am excited to
ask you lots of questions because your background is in
tourism and hospitality as well, and this industry is forever evolving,
and sometimes it's really hard to keep up and stay
on top of what's actually happening.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It is and I think we've seen more change this
year than I've seen in Actually, guess what, it's twenty
four ms, twenty five years since I've founded Red Balloon,
so we must have started as.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Children at the same time.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
And it's a long time since I worked in airlines.
But you know, I think more than ever, everything is
data driven and we can't forget the customer who's in
the center of that. So maybe we'll move to your
first question. What would you like me to attempt to answer?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Absolutely well, As I said, in tourism, we're juggling so
many systems. We've got property management, booking engine, CRM, social.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Media, get feedback.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
The list is absolutely endless, and it's easy to get
buried in tech and data. How do you keep up
with the evolving technology without it becoming overwhelming, and how
do you keep the customer experience at the center.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So let me tackle the last bit first. I think
the most important thing is to remember, of course we're
talking about people, and in the business that we're in,
we're in the business of joy, in the business of
holidays and people having a great time, and so that
journey is really important. And I find that if I
get removed from literally physical people or listening to customer calls,
(03:40):
it can become a lot of spreadsheets and a lot
of data collection with not realizing what's the impact. So
one of the things I actually did years ago when
I worked in an airline was set up an advisory
board with our most frequent travelers and it was just
literally around table and an opportunity to understand what it
was like for them. When COVID happened and I went
(04:02):
back into the Red Balloon business for business, I did
the same thing. I just got on the phone and
started listening to customers. So if you can find your
listening posts within the business, because you can overlay effectively.
And this isn't research, it's just getting the vibe of
the thing, you know, feeling what's important to customers. And
(04:24):
it's amazing what you can learn, and it's amazing what
they'll tell you, which will give you insight into product
development for instance, or value ads or how you differentiate.
But that personal touch cannot be underestimated. So then if
I think about the systems that we use to support it,
the challenge is bringing it all together. And I might
(04:44):
talk about one of the other businesses that I sit
on board with. They're a startup and they have so
many different systems and they are using a project management
system that links everything in so that they've got one
dashboard and then they go off. At Red Balloon, we
use SharePoint, the Microsoft system. They're using a platform called Monday.
(05:07):
But it is really worth investing in making sure that
your critical numbers.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
What's important to you.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Your customer velocity, your occupancy rates, your value ads are
at the top. I think the funnest thing I ever
did was actually highlighting the number of customers we served
every day, the number of people who were going on experiences,
because it made it real for everybody. And that was
a scoreboard right in the middle of the office. So
(05:36):
it is worth understanding. You know, I know the sub
of the platforms you're using are you're using our local
agent product to help you sell more product, so that's
a great way to earn some revenue. But also in
terms of listing your products with Red Balloon and Big
Red Group, so yeah, I would suggest you look at
one of those effectively integration products to bring it all
(05:59):
into one dashboard and then you go off into the systems.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Amazing. That's great advice. Thank you. I love the advisory
board as well. That's something that I think we need
to do more of.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
So going on to my next question, I think you
are an absolute powerhouse in Australian business and have built
incredible business and a great personal brand.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I'm a great fan. What personal rituals or.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Boundaries have been essential for you to avoid burnout while
growing your brand and businesses.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Oh look, I think this is do what I say,
not what I do. I've never claimed to be perfect that.
In fact, for the first twenty years of having read Balloon,
I was push, push, push, run, run, run, and there
was always another Christmas and everything was urgent, and even
the exercise that I did do it was again it
was like, can I get my heart rate higher? Can
(06:46):
I push myself harder going to the gym, working out,
you know, doing half marathons. And then I realized I
have to have some ying and yang, and so I
started meditation and yoga, and now I have a morning
ritual that is absolutely precious to me. So don't try
and get McCallum before nigh. It's not going to happen.
(07:07):
Whereas before I was like, well if that's the time,
I just put it in. I have to have me time.
And it's a lovely ritual of walking dogs, doing strength workout, icepaths.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I do those.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Oh my goodness, I was in it this morning. I
was like, why am I doing this? And I do
it to protect my brain and I know why I
do it.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And then I.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Always a nutritious breakfast lots of protein and then I'm
set for the day.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Thank you. I think that's something we all need to
remind ourselves.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You have to keep it daily, trying yourself as if
you're a important customer. I've realized I'm no good to
anybody if I'm dragging my bag of bones around somewhere.
So you block it out, and it's as important as
going to the dentist or a critical appointment.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
You have to block it out.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Amazing. Thank you for that again. As you said before,
Red Balloon has been.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Around for such a long time, more than two decades,
and remains a trusted name despite waves of startups and
new competitors entering the space. It's being key to staying relevant,
innovative and evolving and connected to the customer expectations.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
You know, there's probably a lot of questions in one there.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well, thank you again because I'll take that as a
compliment and look as a leader you, I don't believe
in faking it till you make it. You either really
believe in the contribution you're making to community or you don't.
And in the same way as I was talking about
connecting to customers before, it's about staying close to what
is our product, which is our fabulous operators such as yourselves,
(08:37):
who we promote the product. And what keeps us special
is the people that we have in the field who
work day in, day out to make sure that our
three and a half thousand small businesses that we represent
have great, relevant and exclusive product.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And that means that it's very.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Difficult for somebody to just come and copy what we do,
especially on the Red Balloon brand. I also remind myself
of the economic impact that we're having with community. It's
hard being in small business, and when I first started,
I knew it was about delivering customers and taking a
(09:19):
clip of the ticket because you're effectively we've built a
brand for a whole industry that you don't have to
pay for but you get the benefit from. So marketing
is expensive. So that was the first thing, was to
create a brand for an industry and deliver customers day in,
(09:40):
day out, and that's what we do. But secondly is
when we're delivering customer to you, well, they don't just
buy from you.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
In the local area.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
They're going to other restaurants, They're going on other experiences
and activities.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
They might go out to the hinterland.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You know, they'll do other things which has an overall
economic impact and we really saw that after COVID was
how we were driving economic growth throughout regional and rural
Australia by delivering that. So the first thing was to
deliver a marketing engine for our partners, and the second
(10:18):
thing was about the platform because as you mentioned, building
your own website, cybersecurity, being available for AI, making sure
that you have stated the art, payment gateways, and so
in providing platforms to companies such as yourself, it's further
(10:39):
to our cause our causes to shift the way people
experience life. That's not just consumers, it's also our supply
partners because we sit in the middle. So becoming a
platform business has been part of what we believe is
our commitment to community.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
That's amazing and I think as I started in the
times where websites didn't even exist, so you know with
milk websites and databases and it is it's absolutely cool
to have that digital presence these days and that's the
foundation of so many businesses.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
If we have time, I have another.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Question, Yeah, what is one decision you made early on
that shaped your leadership style and created the company culture
that you have now.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I think allowing myself to be myself, to really own
my mistakes and say, oops, I got that wrong, but
I tried something. And I think people want to be
around people who are clear, who are honest, who allow
themselves to be vulnerable, but also show real commitment. I
guess when one sets one purpose, you can become quite
(11:44):
pig headed. And the most important thing is actually to
stay really clear on what you said you were going
to do, but keep listening and responding, so to be persistent,
but to be able to adapt. Like the world today
is nothing like it was twenty years ago, so I
would say that that would be key. Listen and respond.
(12:06):
Remain curious, know who you are. You asked me for
one thing, I've given you a list about ten.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I love that. Retaining curious is definitely my motto.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
It's wonderful. Oh look, Alyssie, we've had such a great conversation.
Thank you for coming on hand picked and I look
forward to seeing you next time in the Gold Coast.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Amazing. Thank you for having me and Aaomi. It was
lovely to meet you.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So thanks to Alyssia who asked the tough questions. She
might have been in business for twenty four years, but
how things have changed. Her insights on balancing high tech
systems with high touch service are exactly what we need
to talk about. Remember, technology should enhance human connection, not
replace it. Thanks for listening to hand Picked and don't
(12:55):
forget to subscribe episodes drop Mondays
Apoche Production.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Hello, I'm Naomi Simpson and Handpicked Season five is here,
and the entrepreneurs this time are not going easy on me.
Those questions just keep coming, whether it's about building a
brand in a taboo subject or what about sales, Oh yeah, sales, sales, sales.
We're all trying to find more customers. And what about
(00:34):
changing customer demands or balancing high tech with high touch.
These entrepreneurs and business owners are really really asking the
questions that will help every business owner and their team
just get more ideas on how to cope with everything
they're tackling in the day. Now. New episodes drop every Monday,
(00:57):
and remember to subscribe so that here the next Motus episode. Anyway,
join me on Handpicked on Mondays. Welcome to hand Picked.
I'm Naomi Simpson and today I'm speaking with Alyssia Surgeon
from Paradise Resort on the Gold Coast and she's been
there for nearly a quarter of a century and she's
(01:18):
seems so much change. But Alyssia is asking me the
questions every hospitality leader is facing today. How does she
manage tech, overwhelm keeping customers at the center. Let's dive
in first of all, what about Alicia. You give us
a bit of a background to your history and the
business that you're working in.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Oh, thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I'm delighted to be here and thank you for having
me on hand picked. So I work in a resort
on the Gold Coast. It's called Paradise Resort. It's family
friendly and amazing for young children. I've worked there actually
for twenty four years as of this November, worked in
multiple roles, starting as a food and beverage attendant, going
into sales and marketing, and eventually taking over the marketing
(02:02):
role about fourteen years ago. And I am excited to
ask you lots of questions because your background is in
tourism and hospitality as well, and this industry is forever evolving,
and sometimes it's really hard to keep up and stay
on top of what's actually happening.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
It is and I think we've seen more change this
year than I've seen in Actually, guess what, it's twenty
four ms, twenty five years since I've founded Red Balloon,
so we must have started as.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Children at the same time.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
And it's a long time since I worked in airlines.
But you know, I think more than ever, everything is
data driven and we can't forget the customer who's in
the center of that. So maybe we'll move to your
first question. What would you like me to attempt to answer?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
Absolutely well, As I said, in tourism, we're juggling so
many systems. We've got property management, booking engine, CRM, social.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Media, get feedback.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
The list is absolutely endless, and it's easy to get
buried in tech and data. How do you keep up
with the evolving technology without it becoming overwhelming, and how
do you keep the customer experience at the center.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
So let me tackle the last bit first. I think
the most important thing is to remember, of course we're
talking about people, and in the business that we're in,
we're in the business of joy, in the business of
holidays and people having a great time, and so that
journey is really important. And I find that if I
get removed from literally physical people or listening to customer calls,
(03:40):
it can become a lot of spreadsheets and a lot
of data collection with not realizing what's the impact. So
one of the things I actually did years ago when
I worked in an airline was set up an advisory
board with our most frequent travelers and it was just
literally around table and an opportunity to understand what it
was like for them. When COVID happened and I went
(04:02):
back into the Red Balloon business for business, I did
the same thing. I just got on the phone and
started listening to customers. So if you can find your
listening posts within the business, because you can overlay effectively.
And this isn't research, it's just getting the vibe of
the thing, you know, feeling what's important to customers. And
(04:24):
it's amazing what you can learn, and it's amazing what
they'll tell you, which will give you insight into product
development for instance, or value ads or how you differentiate.
But that personal touch cannot be underestimated. So then if
I think about the systems that we use to support it,
the challenge is bringing it all together. And I might
(04:44):
talk about one of the other businesses that I sit
on board with. They're a startup and they have so
many different systems and they are using a project management
system that links everything in so that they've got one
dashboard and then they go off. At Red Balloon, we
use SharePoint, the Microsoft system. They're using a platform called Monday.
(05:07):
But it is really worth investing in making sure that
your critical numbers.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
What's important to you.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Your customer velocity, your occupancy rates, your value ads are
at the top. I think the funnest thing I ever
did was actually highlighting the number of customers we served
every day, the number of people who were going on experiences,
because it made it real for everybody. And that was
a scoreboard right in the middle of the office. So
(05:36):
it is worth understanding. You know, I know the sub
of the platforms you're using are you're using our local
agent product to help you sell more product, so that's
a great way to earn some revenue. But also in
terms of listing your products with Red Balloon and Big
Red Group, so yeah, I would suggest you look at
one of those effectively integration products to bring it all
(05:59):
into one dashboard and then you go off into the systems.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Amazing. That's great advice. Thank you. I love the advisory
board as well. That's something that I think we need
to do more of.
Speaker 4 (06:08):
So going on to my next question, I think you
are an absolute powerhouse in Australian business and have built
incredible business and a great personal brand.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
I'm a great fan. What personal rituals or.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Boundaries have been essential for you to avoid burnout while
growing your brand and businesses.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Oh look, I think this is do what I say,
not what I do. I've never claimed to be perfect that.
In fact, for the first twenty years of having read Balloon,
I was push, push, push, run, run, run, and there
was always another Christmas and everything was urgent, and even
the exercise that I did do it was again it
was like, can I get my heart rate higher? Can
(06:46):
I push myself harder going to the gym, working out,
you know, doing half marathons. And then I realized I
have to have some ying and yang, and so I
started meditation and yoga, and now I have a morning
ritual that is absolutely precious to me. So don't try
and get McCallum before nigh. It's not going to happen.
(07:07):
Whereas before I was like, well if that's the time,
I just put it in. I have to have me time.
And it's a lovely ritual of walking dogs, doing strength workout, icepaths.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
I do those.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Oh my goodness, I was in it this morning. I
was like, why am I doing this? And I do
it to protect my brain and I know why I
do it.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
And then I.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Always a nutritious breakfast lots of protein and then I'm
set for the day.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
Thank you. I think that's something we all need to
remind ourselves.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You have to keep it daily, trying yourself as if
you're a important customer. I've realized I'm no good to
anybody if I'm dragging my bag of bones around somewhere.
So you block it out, and it's as important as
going to the dentist or a critical appointment.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
You have to block it out.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Amazing. Thank you for that again. As you said before,
Red Balloon has been.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
Around for such a long time, more than two decades,
and remains a trusted name despite waves of startups and
new competitors entering the space. It's being key to staying relevant,
innovative and evolving and connected to the customer expectations.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
You know, there's probably a lot of questions in one there.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Well, thank you again because I'll take that as a
compliment and look as a leader you, I don't believe
in faking it till you make it. You either really
believe in the contribution you're making to community or you don't.
And in the same way as I was talking about
connecting to customers before, it's about staying close to what
is our product, which is our fabulous operators such as yourselves,
(08:37):
who we promote the product. And what keeps us special
is the people that we have in the field who
work day in, day out to make sure that our
three and a half thousand small businesses that we represent
have great, relevant and exclusive product.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And that means that it's very.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Difficult for somebody to just come and copy what we do,
especially on the Red Balloon brand. I also remind myself
of the economic impact that we're having with community. It's
hard being in small business, and when I first started,
I knew it was about delivering customers and taking a
(09:19):
clip of the ticket because you're effectively we've built a
brand for a whole industry that you don't have to
pay for but you get the benefit from. So marketing
is expensive. So that was the first thing, was to
create a brand for an industry and deliver customers day in,
(09:40):
day out, and that's what we do. But secondly is
when we're delivering customer to you, well, they don't just
buy from you.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
In the local area.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
They're going to other restaurants, They're going on other experiences
and activities.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
They might go out to the hinterland.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
You know, they'll do other things which has an overall
economic impact and we really saw that after COVID was
how we were driving economic growth throughout regional and rural
Australia by delivering that. So the first thing was to
deliver a marketing engine for our partners, and the second
(10:18):
thing was about the platform because as you mentioned, building
your own website, cybersecurity, being available for AI, making sure
that you have stated the art, payment gateways, and so
in providing platforms to companies such as yourself, it's further
(10:39):
to our cause our causes to shift the way people
experience life. That's not just consumers, it's also our supply
partners because we sit in the middle. So becoming a
platform business has been part of what we believe is
our commitment to community.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
That's amazing and I think as I started in the
times where websites didn't even exist, so you know with
milk websites and databases and it is it's absolutely cool
to have that digital presence these days and that's the
foundation of so many businesses.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
If we have time, I have another.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Question, Yeah, what is one decision you made early on
that shaped your leadership style and created the company culture
that you have now.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
I think allowing myself to be myself, to really own
my mistakes and say, oops, I got that wrong, but
I tried something. And I think people want to be
around people who are clear, who are honest, who allow
themselves to be vulnerable, but also show real commitment. I
guess when one sets one purpose, you can become quite
(11:44):
pig headed. And the most important thing is actually to
stay really clear on what you said you were going
to do, but keep listening and responding, so to be persistent,
but to be able to adapt. Like the world today
is nothing like it was twenty years ago, so I
would say that that would be key. Listen and respond.
(12:06):
Remain curious, know who you are. You asked me for
one thing, I've given you a list about ten.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I love that. Retaining curious is definitely my motto.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
It's wonderful. Oh look, Alyssie, we've had such a great conversation.
Thank you for coming on hand picked and I look
forward to seeing you next time in the Gold Coast.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
Amazing. Thank you for having me and Aaomi. It was
lovely to meet you.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So thanks to Alyssia who asked the tough questions. She
might have been in business for twenty four years, but
how things have changed. Her insights on balancing high tech
systems with high touch service are exactly what we need
to talk about. Remember, technology should enhance human connection, not
replace it. Thanks for listening to hand Picked and don't
(12:55):
forget to subscribe episodes drop Mondays
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