Case Study | Butterfield & Robinson

The Company

Founded in 1966, Butterfield & Robinson operates small-group departures and private travel experiences for a discerning global clientele. The company has built its reputation on meticulous planning, exceptional service, and a deliberate focus on quality over volume. Trips often span multiple countries, vendors, guides, and logistical touchpoints, placing significant demands on the systems that support sales, operations, finance, marketing, and human resources.

For more than 15 years, Butterfield & Robinson has relied on PEAK 15 as the technological backbone that supports its complex, high-touch operations with consistency, accuracy, and long-term resilience.

The Challenge

Before adopting PEAK 15 in 2010, Butterfield & Robinson operated within what Director of Information Technology, Pavel Gorbunov, describes as a fragmented collection of systems. Core trip operations were managed with a combination of Excel spreadsheets, SharePoint files, custom-developed internal software, and an early, highly limited version of a different tour operator platform.

This environment created persistent challenges:

• Manual documentation and communication: Butterfield & Robinson’s team had to rely on PDFs sent by email, faxed forms, and scanned documents, increasing friction and error risk.
• Data fragmentation: Lacking a single source of truth, sales, operations, and finance teams worked across different systems with limited shared visibility.
• Operational risk and business continuity concerns: Custom, self-hosted legacy systems were increasingly difficult to support.
• Limited scalability: Scattered systems led to complicated processes.

When Gorbunov joined the company in 2011, the company was self-hosting, with custom software and files stored in multiple locations. PEAK 15, at that time, provided an integrated and scalable CRM that could flexibly operate as full-spectrum software while centralizing tour operations across departments and replacing fragile, unsupported systems with a mature, supported platform. As the platform was implemented, the IT department disconnected legacy systems, reducing risk while consolidating operations into a single platform.

The Solution

At a key moment when clarity and stability were the very qualities that mattered most to Butterfield & Robinson, that’s exactly what PEAK 15 delivered.

“We needed to move away from tools that introduced uncertainty or single points of failure,” says Gorbunov. From the outset, PEAK 15 enabled Butterfield & Robinson to manage critical workflows across several departments in an integrated platform:

• Inquiries and bookings
• Invoices and payments
• End-to-end sales workflows
• Trip operations and logistics
• Precise marketing target list generation
• …and more

Consistency and reliability were immediate benefits that have grown over time. “It’s a dependable platform that has evolved with us for more than a decade,” Gorbunov continues. “Most of our departments have come to count on PEAK 15. The software and support meet all our needs and impact nearly every aspect of today’s operations.”

The Results

Since partnering with PEAK 15, Butterfield & Robinson has built a centralized operating model that supports complex trip execution, disciplined decision making, and long-term business continuity.

As PEAK 15 expanded its features and capabilities over time, it evolved from Butterfield & Robinson’s CRM into a critical operational platform that now underpins how the company runs trips, manages data, and coordinates work across departments. Over the course of 15 years, shared data, automation, and trusted reporting replaced manual effort and fragmented systems. Today, the platform’s impact is felt across the entire organization.

Reliable IT Infrastructure Backed by Exceptional Customer Support

Back in 2011, custom systems and fragmented infrastructure introduced unacceptable business continuity risk for Butterfield & Robinson. The need to eliminate single points of failure was a primary driver when searching for a technology partner, as a mature and supported platform would reduce that risk substantially. It was a deciding factor in Butterfield & Robinson’s choice of PEAK 15.

Gorbunov says that having a supported product behind the business is essential because the system is so critical to every aspect of operations. His team handles issues internally when possible. When it’s not, requests to engage PEAK 15’s support are filtered through two internal owners. Conversations are deliberate and structured, resulting in an effective use of everyone’s time and quick resolution.

He’s been pleased by the deliberate and structured support PEAK 15 has provided, saying, “I haven’t had a single instance in 15 years where PEAK 15 wasn’t there to help.”

Cross-Department Implementation

PEAK 15’s broad capabilities are leveraged in nearly every department at Butterfield & Robinson:

• Sales creates and manages contacts, bookings, payments, and core sales workflows in one system, with performance data feeding monthly and yearly reporting.
• Travel Experience maintains traveler profiles, preferences, and service history to support personalized, high-touch trip delivery.
• Operations runs day-to-day trip execution, including vendor contracts, transportation calendars, inventory management, forecasting, and equipment logistics.
• Finance generates auditable financial data, calculates gross profit by departure, and automatically computes commissions used by both finance and operations teams.
• Information Technology maintains a centralized, supported system of record, manages integrations, and reduces operational risk by eliminating fragmented and custom infrastructure.
• Marketing uses PEAK 15 as a governed data source to feed the marketing automation platform, synchronize traveler and booking data, and support targeted campaigns.
• Human Resources evaluates guide performance using structured peer and traveler feedback, with reporting that informs hiring, development, and termination decisions.

Reporting as the Foundation of Operations

One of the most significant long-term impacts of Butterfield & Robinson’s relationship with PEAK 15 has been more informed decision-making driven by data.

With a total of over 100 reports consistently maintained and always accessible, departments can view and analyze the data they need in just a few clicks. Gorbunov reports that:

• Leadership tracks the number of travelers and average travelers per trip, along with the revenue generated by each trip. These data points combine to support the company’s efforts to stay profitable while offering an intimate, curated experience to each trip’s small group of guests.
• Operations is the single largest consumer of reports. Teams rely on more than 20 PEAK 15 reports generated on schedule throughout the year to manage vendor contracts, transportation calendars, inventory, forecasting, and equipment allocation.
• Travel Experience improves itineraries with satisfaction metrics, including NPS, pre-trip service, on-trip service, and value metrics, which were layered into PEAK 15 workflows around 2015.
• Finance relies on PEAK 15 for auditable data, including gross profit calculations by departure, automatic commission calculations for internal trip planners, and financial validation.
• Sales focuses on monthly and yearly performance metrics sourced from PEAK 15’s single source of truth to track progress against targets and maintain consistent visibility across the business. These views support ongoing planning and coordination while ensuring sales data remains aligned with the company’s goals.
• Human Resources relies on PEAK 15 to evaluate guide performance, by combining peer feedback and traveler evaluations into structured reports. These insights play a critical role in hiring, development, and termination decisions.

Scalable Operational Excellence Grounded in Automation 

At Butterfield & Robinson, scaling successfully is defined as more than just increasing annual traveler count. Handling complexity and automation while maintaining service quality and keeping operations stable are also growth goals. 

With PEAK 15-supported communication in place, Butterfield and Robinson is achieving this goal. The system delivers over 7,000 automated emails each quarter, managing staff notifications along with guest-facing, vendor, and internal communications. 

Gorbunov explains that automation is required to accomplish these tasks, clarifying that even the best employees could never maintain such volume manually. 

Managed Data Flow 

In September 2025, Butterfield & Robinson’s internal and external data flow became fully grounded in PEAK 15’s Beacon API. Gorbunov says that, outside of a handful of advertising platforms, not a single data point flows without it. Every smooth exchange of information is currently powered by PEAK 15’s API, including:

• Public website trip content via the CMS
• My B&R, a custom traveler portal
• Online bookings
• Financial data feeds, including accruals, billing, and revenue
• Marketing automation synchronization
• Reporting pipeline

A Technology Platform Purpose-Built for Travel Operators

At Butterfield & Robinson, success is defined by reliability, service quality, and the ability to run exceptional trips without compromise. PEAK 15 serves as a partner on that mission, enabling consistent operations with a fully-integrated system that provides:

• A single source of truth across departments
• Scalable automation for complex workflows
• Trusted, auditable reporting
• API-driven flexibility
• Reduced operational risk

Ready to see what PEAK 15 could do for your custom, FIT, or hybrid multi-day tour operations? Schedule a demo today.