How a Corporate Travel Agency Broke Into the Film and TV Business
How several times have you been streaming a clearly show and been struck by an awe-inspiring scene or other-worldly landscape? Perfectly anyone had to guide the travel for the film or Tv set crew and actors to get to that locale, right? It is journey administration leaders like Richard Meyerson who are meeting that need – and bringing in the major bucks in the system.
Meyerson is president of Traveltrust, a journey administration firm based in Encinitas, California, with 22 staff members across the state, and 4 satellite offices (in St. Petersburg, FL London and Manchester, United kingdom and Hong Kong).
Traveltrust has specialised in company, assembly, and group vacation due to the fact 1983, and they keep on to profitably serve that marketplace phase. Then in 2016, the company’s executive vice president came throughout a new option to ebook travel for the film and Tv set business enterprise, and without delay, by 2017 they extra an entertainment division to their journey management providers.
The crew at Traveltrust has handled the vacation arrangements for among 20 and 1,000 individuals for each movie or Tv job, to sites like Hawaii Bogota, Colombia and Atlanta, Georgia. We wish we could share some of the videos and shows they’ve been concerned with, and the travel budgets, but that’s all hush-hush (it is the enjoyment business enterprise, following all!).
Essential workers moreover 24/7 service moreover referrals equals success
One particular of the good reasons this specialized niche has been so financially rewarding for Traveltrust is that “unlike corporate journey, Tv set and movie journey does not sluggish down for the duration of the holidays and other usually slower moments – especially through the pandemic, as entertainers were regarded as important staff. Think about how all of us were sitting down at residence needing some diversions!” points out Meyerson.
Calls for are superior when you are working with Hollywood and the networks. Vacation preparations for staff members and devices have to always be managed precisely and run like clockwork simply because, in the leisure market, “time expenses money. They hire nearby crews for filming, staging, catering, etcetera., and if the principal actors/crew are not there, then the ‘show are unable to go on’ – and all the waiting around all around expenses cash,” claims Meyerson.
“The expectation by the TV/film crew is that you never rest and are constantly available,” he adds.
That comprehension of and perseverance to meeting clients’ needs is a critical component of the equation, and why Meyerson claims a single of his firm’s techniques to results is its people today. “Our workforce regular 21 decades with Traveltrust, and are the reason we have produced it nearly 40 many years in the industry!” he says. “Each staff feels like they very own the small business, and all appear to be to have an innate motivation to retain the company likely and becoming much more prosperous just about every working day, so they do regardless of what it requires to make that come about. Decisions are built at their desk.”
Additional demonstrating Traveltrust’s motivation to supplying above-the-top company, when questioned his very best piece of advice for other journey advisors, Meyerson claimed: “Think of the degree of service you have obtained from a seller when you have been the client, that was memorable. Exceed that, and your consumers will be yours for daily life.”
He gave an instance of how his group routinely surpasses anticipations. When one of their client’s flights was canceled, she was blown away when she been given a simply call from her Traveltrust agent to convey to her that they experienced already safeguarded her by placing her on a further flight – and she was excellent to go. Unnecessary to say, that client was at any time grateful.
Having fully contented consumers is specially essential in the enjoyment marketplace, wherever private referrals most usually do business enterprise. “We are very pleased that our freelance purchasers just take us with them when they leap on a new venture,” says Meyerson, whose main strategy of marketing for their entertainment journey niche is by term of mouth.
Meyerson began his occupation as a tour operator and assembly coordinator in 1977. Immediately after settling in San Diego, he opened the 1st Traveltrust in 1982, which has remained a fully independent agency for 39 yrs. Meyerson has witnessed the radical transformation of the vacation business over the past four decades. Shifting as needed with current market adjustments, he and his global group continue on to perform tough to supply higher-good quality, thorough vacation services to their valued purchasers in both the company world and the entertainment arena.
How fortuitous that a senior member of Traveltrust’s group uncovered a beneficial vacation specialized niche, again in 2016, that expanded their reach into a secondary marketplace. It is a fantastic reminder to continue to keep your eyes and ears open up for new alternatives and alliances as we shift into 2023.