Agent keeps VIPs on the go

A day in the life of a VIP travel consultant.

Todd Hobart, BCD Travel VIP Consultant
Todd Hobart, BCD Travel VIP Consultant

By 7:30 a.m. most weekdays, BCD Travel VIP Consultant Todd Hobart already has hit a trail or clocked laps in the pool at his home in Naples, Florida. It’s the best way, he says, to kick off work days filled with managing travel arrangements for high-touch travelers whose schedules almost never run as planned.

BCD offers a range of prestige travel services that can be customized to suit clients’ needs. Todd’s dedicated role is part of a fully custom VIP traveler offering for a particular customer. “VIP travelers are easy,” he says. “They travel all the time. They’re savvy, and they know that some elements are just out of my control.”

But Todd and his fellow agents work hard to keep a lot under their control. He is part of a five-member virtual team serving global clients. The team works staggered eight-hour schedules beginning at 8 a.m. CST. Each morning, the team prioritizes their individual and collective days. They check a communal inbox for VIP travel issues and plan how they’ll manage the workload.

At 8:45 a.m., the five agents review the daily Reservation Summary Report. Pulled from BCD’s DecisionSource® reporting platform, the document is used to reconfirm VIP travel happening in the next 24 hours. For certain clients, the team relies on another DecisionSource report, called “Travelers on the Same Flight,” to make sure they haven’t exceeded the number of executives the company allows to travel together. Then the team uses the GDS to review details like rental car reservations or limos.

On this day, Todd’s first to-dos include finding an ink-free room for an executive with an uncommon allergy and booking another high-ranking senior leader on every airline offering first-class refundable flights at his preferred departure times.

Todd began as a VIP agent in 1992 when he was working in Ohio. His first assignment was to manage travel for two mega-profile supermodels and their entourages. The hands-on nature of VIP work suits him, he says, because he likes to help.

After making sure the executive’s room has been cleared of newspapers and any other potential ink offenders, Todd double checks car service for the company leader who’s booked on multiple flights. A driver must be there to meet the high-profile traveler, no matter his time of arrival. Behind the scenes, the VIP team works together to cancel and get refunds for the flights that the traveler didn’t take.

“Learning your clients over time is key,” Todd says. “It’s at the heart of VIP work. You have to develop a deep level of intimacy and always convey competence to your clients. They want us to offer solutions.”

Sometimes, those solutions are far outside of the box. Two days after the September 2011 tragedy, when airplanes weren’t flying and rental cars were impossible to find, Todd booked a 29-foot moving truck for some executives who needed to get from New York City to their homes in Columbus, Ohio.

This day’s demands are simpler.

Todd confirms that some renowned snowboarders who represent a luxury eyewear brand have a transport car big enough to accommodate their equipment. After that, he contacts an airline to sort out an executive’s preferred seating arrangement.

Then comes a bit of global diplomacy. Todd speaks with the concierge at a high-end Parisian hotel to verbally identify a patron. He reassures the hotel that the casually dressed gentleman in their lobby is, in fact, the president of an upscale casual-wear retailer. The traveler is wearing the signature jeans and T-shirt that are the hallmarks of his company’s line.

Todd shares the Paris conversation with the rest of the VIP team as a best-practice note, in case they take a similar call.

A final email lands in Todd’s inbox at the end of the day. This one is different. It’s a heartfelt thank-you from an administrative assistant whom Todd regularly helps out. “Those are the emails that motivate me,” he says. “It’s my reward for this work.”

At 5 p.m., Todd does a last sweep of his inbox then logs off his computer.  As part of his dedicated agent agreement, he keeps his cellphone handy, in case his VIP clients run into travel problems he needs to solve. Then Todd and his wife end the day at their own preferred destination: a nearby stretch of sandy beach.

 

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