Operations Form Colorado’s Second Largest Corporate Service

DENVER — Hermes Worldwide closed a deal April 8 to buy a local competitor and occasional affiliate, Integrity Worldwide Transportation, creating Denver’s second largest corporate chauffeured service in revenues and fleet.

The combined operations will run a fleet of 35-plus chauffeured vehicles, ranging from sedans to minibuses. Financial terms of the deal and estimated annual revenues were not disclosed. Among corporate luxury ground transportation in Colorado, Hermes now ranks second only to Presidential Worldwide Transportation.

Hermes, co-owned by Jorge Sanchez, will eventually absorb the Integrity website and brand, operating under the Hermes name. Integrity Worldwide Transportation, founded in 2012 and based in the Denver suburb of Commerce City, was owned by Don Eisler, who will remain with the company as an advisor and senior chauffeur. One of the founders of Integrity, longtime Denver operator Gene Cookenboo, retired from the company before the deal with Hermes evolved.

Hermes Worldwide will move its operations to Integrity’s 11,000 square-foot facility once its lease expires, Sanchez told LCT. With the added clients, assets and employees of Integrity, Hermes Worldwide is now positioned to grow beyond its deep corporate client base into the private jet aviation, entertainment, and meetings and events client markets. Hermes is also switching to a cloud-based phone system and upgraded reservation software, making it better suited to its expanded, mobile-oriented, business clientele.

In addition to the Denver metro area, Hermes will serve clients in the state’s global tourist destinations of Colorado Springs, Vail, and Aspen.

The deal evolved after Eisler approached Sanchez about selling Integrity so he could transition into a more supportive professional role. While Eisler welcomes the extra freedom from supervising daily operations, he has no plans to retire and will chauffeur for the combined companies.

“Having been in the corporate limousine business for over 20 years I was seeking an opportunity to help expand on what Integrity was able to offer its clients and position ourselves to better compete in a highly competitive market,” Eisler said in a press release. “It was important we found a company to join forces with that is young, energetic and very integrity minded with a cutting edge knowledge of the new technology necessary to advance in this industry. After examining the local market, I felt Hermes best fit that profile.”

Sanchez told LCT Integrity provides the added boost to the company’s long-term expansion goals. The companies, which had shared affiliate work on occasion, proved compatible with their experienced chauffeurs and rate structures, he said.

“We’ve always known of each other, but not known each other,” Sanchez said. “His chauffeur staff has many years of experience. Collectively, we now have well over 75 years of experience. That’s important to us because it’s difficult to find good chauffeurs.”

Coincidentally, Hermes had outgrown its Denver location during the last two years and was looking for a larger facility in a challenging commercial real estate market in a city booming in population and jobs this decade.

“We were delighted when this opportunity presented itself to both find a new location and immediately expand,” Sanchez said in a press release. “The prior management team at Integrity leveraged their industry experience to quickly build an experienced team and as we did our due diligence, it was becoming more apparent this was going to be a great opportunity for the combined companies. We are excited to bring on their experienced employees and look forward to their contributions helping Hermes continue to realize our growth plans.”

The expanded fleet brings a wider variety of brands, makes and models. Among the offerings: Chrysler 300 sedans, Lincoln MKT sedans, Lincoln MKT Town Cars, Cadillac XTS sedans, Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans, a Hyundai Equus sedan, Chevrolet Suburbans, Cadillad Escalades, Ford Transits and vans, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans, Turtle Top minibuses and Grech Motors minibuses.

Sanchez co-owns Hermes Wordwide with his wife Rocio, qualifying it as both a woman- and minority-owned business. They founded the company in 2007.

Keywords

business deals   business expansion   Colorado operators   Denver   mergers & acquisitions   operation growth   

 

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Indian Trails Buys Five New Eco-Friendly Prevost Motorcoaches

Why You Shouldn’t Tip An Uber Driver

One of the best things about Uber is when you arrive at your destination, you can just wish the driver a good day and get out of the car. No fumbling with your wallet, no calculating tips, no waiting for the credit card to go through, no juggling a pen, no asking for a receipt. It’s a seamless transaction. The company charges your credit card and emails you a receipt.

For riders in California and Massachusetts, this simplicity may be coming to an end — but only if passengers let it.

To settle a lawsuit claiming it unlawfully categorized drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, Uber has agreed to pay up to $100 million and make some changes in its relationship with drivers. One change is it will let them ask for tips.

Unlike its competitor Lyft, however, Uber won’t collect the money on their behalf by letting passengers charge their accounts. Drivers will have to get the tips in cash or through a separate credit card transaction.

New York Post article here

Keywords

chauffeur gratuities   chauffeur tipping   employee vs independent contractor   independent contractor issues   money   operations   TNCs   Uber   

 

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Celebs Prefer Sprinter Vans Instead Of Stretches As The New Limo

It’s standard fare for a celeb to arrive to a red carpet event in a limousine — but what about when her gown is so massive, it won’t even fit inside one?

Such was the case at the Met Gala for at least three of the stars in attendance: actresses Claire Danes and Kate Hudson, and supermodel Karolina Kurkova. So how did they get there? In massive Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans, of course!

Taking a Sprinter van to the Met Gala isn’t exactly slumming it. Mercedes offers at least three luxury models with limo-like attributes, and the relatively ordinary Sprinter MC with bus seating isn’t too shabby, either. And of course, you get the added advantage of being able to stand up in them — which doesn’t necessarily sound like the safest bet…

Yahoo article here

Keywords

celebrities   Fleet Vehicles   industry trends   luxury vans   Mercedes-Benz   special events   Sprinter   VIP service   

 

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Uber Rumored To End Surge Pricing, Drivers Not Happy

Sometimes you call an Uber, and what you thought would be an $8 ride is going to be two, three, even four times more — the result of greater demand brought on by a blizzard, or a baseball game. Whatever the reason, surge pricing is not fun.

It turns out Uber is working to fix it — or, should we say, end it. The move likely will be great for riders, but not for drivers.

NPR article here

Keywords

driver pay   employee vs independent contractor   employee wages   independent contractor issues   surge pricing   TNCs   Uber   

 

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Syrian Immigrant Achieves American Dream With Limo Service

When Fariz Turkmani arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City in 1979, he spoke no English, had no change in his pocket to call a friend, and didn’t even know how to dial an American telephone number.

But the kindness of strangers made the difference.

“I put a dollar in my hand and showed people like I had to break it,” recalled Turkmani of that moment. “A janitor at the airport saw me and gave me the change and walked me to the phone.”

Today, Turkmani’s business revolves around taking people to the airport.

Tess Limousine & Airport Services Inc., with an office on the second floor of the Overland Park Marriott hotel, has a 15-vehicle fleet and eight employees who transport customers across the metropolitan area. The fleet includes Lincoln Town Cars, several stretch limousines, small passenger buses and a new Mercedes bus.

The Kansas City Star article here

Keywords

airports   business opportunities   Lincoln Town Car   Missouri operators   operations   stretch limousine   

 

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How Solid Are Your Instincts?

I work for a family business. The late Edward Bobit founded the parent company of LCT Magazine in 1961 after he left McGraw Hill Publishing. His story is noteworthy. A salesman to the core, he had a Jerry McGuire moment. The aha moment happened when he went to his company to present a great idea — a start-up trade magazine for the automotive fleet industry. The powers that be hated the idea. So Mr. Bobit, father of six kids at the time, quit McGraw Hill and launched Automotive Fleet on his own.

Today, that magazine continues to create spin off publications and has opened doors for acquisitions making Bobit Business Media the largest fleet media company in the world. Ed followed his instincts. He continued to run and grow his company using the power of gut feelings, being able to make snap judgments and quick decisions when necessary. Our company has survived mass disruptions, similar to those the chauffeured transportation industry has endured.

The art of entrepreneurship is to never evolve to the point where your instincts are snuffed out. We can’t be so process driven, so politically correct, so fearful of laws and regulations, that we forget we are owners of our destinies and standout against the “sheeple society,” primarily because we have strong intuition and guts. I don’t suggest we should disobey laws, but we need to trust ourselves instead of second guessing.

William Duggan, a pioneer in strategic intuition, said, “There are three kinds of intuition: ordinary, expert, and strategic. Ordinary intuition is just a feeling, a gut instinct. Expert intuition is snap judgments, when you instantly recognize something familiar, the way a tennis pro knows where the ball will go from the arc and speed of the opponent’s racket. (Malcolm Gladwell wrote about this kind of intuition in Blink.)

The third kind, strategic intuition, is not a vague feeling, like ordinary intuition. Strategic intuition is a clear thought. And it’s not fast, like expert intuition. It’s slow. That flash of insight you had last night might solve a problem that’s been on your mind for a month. And it doesn’t happen in familiar situations, like a tennis match. Strategic intuition works in new situations. That’s when you need it most.”

Change is happening everywhere. With it comes messaging and chatter about how to handle the change. There are people in this industry talking in circles and doling out advice and opinions on all matters involving these industry disruptions from employee retention to lawsuits to mobile apps. Keep a steady head and hand here. It’s important to gather information and facts as we navigate this paradigm shift. However, pay close attention to your inner voice — it’s what got you to where you are and no one has a better “feel” for what your company needs to do than you.

Keywords

Bobit Business Media   business management   Ed Bobit   LCT Publisher   leadership   Sara Eastwood-Richardson   

 

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Why Every Seat Has A Story

LOS ANGELES — I’ve gotten used to LCT trade shows and conferences by now, where I can always raid a deep silo of topics to write about. This month brings another LCT Leadership Summit in Miami Beach, my eighth one, and my personal favorite among LCT events, for reasons obvious to anyone who has ever attended. Summits and shows underscore how my job role reconciles the luxury ground transportation industry with the media world — two distinct fields brought together at this B2B magazine and website.

Last month, I enjoyed the rarer experience of being an attendee at a digital media conference, as opposed to part of the host team at a LCT one. I figured it would be far removed from the all-out, immersive LCT experience. What surprised me over the two days was how the leading topics at the media conference so strongly coincide with what we learn and hear at LCT events.

The theme that spans the digital media and chauffeured transportation worlds is how to develop customer service and communication oriented to the value and needs of individuals. The disruptions of technology and social media have splintered mass-group messages and marketing into more creative, targeted efforts that recognize and appreciate clients.

In chauffeured transportation, that traditionally has meant chauffeurs who know how to give personalized service, and remember what a specific client likes and prefers. In the digital media realm, we’re learning how to provide more information directed to the the digital visitor, or reader. Conference speakers all pointed to the same reality: Service providers and product producers all need to sharpen their e-messaging and e-marketing to stand out in more human ways. Here are some takeaways we can all apply to our businesses:

• Don’t talk about you, because it’s not about you. It’s about helping your audience, your clients. Become a resource for them first, and only then talk about how your service and products help them. No screaming sales pitches. Customers need to know you care.
• Be authentic. So much marketing and client relations now are gimmicky, fake, and oversaturated. Offering personality in your business is the clincher. You, as a business and as an operation, want to be like people — personable, unique, and distinct.
• Active listening helps you connect with others, like they are human beings, not just pieces of a profit center. It leads to connecting with your customers, and making them feel cared about.
• Personalization makes or breaks your business. Use names. Everyone has one, and nothing sounds sweeter to a customer than the sound of his or her name. 
• Understand your audience, your client-base. Expectations differ. Communicate and market accordingly. Don’t pelt them with 37 emails in four hours. Instead, ask how can you help your clients succeed? Make life easier? Learn something useful?
• Create engaging content that doesn’t feel like selling. Your brand is the sum of customer experiences. Allow responses to help determine your messages. 
• Define your company voice. What is your culture, your purpose, your story? Why do you like to do what you’re doing? If you covered up your company logo, would your company still sound like you?
• Live in the world of your customers, your audience. Craft a vision around solving problems, drawing upon your experience and expertise.
• Every seat has a story. That was the message from a manager at Southwest Airlines, who finds and tells inspiring stories of employees and customers that show a human side. He cited the customer service rep who drove hundreds of miles to retrieve a lost bag for a passenger so she could have her running shoes in time for a marathon, and the reunion of a captain who waved back at a young boy waving at him from along a runway fence. Both stories were told on video and social media. Does your company have hidden heroes and interesting customers?

I was most intrigued by the title of the last session, “Snowflakes In A Blizzard,” led by a Microsoft executive. Easterners may notice West Coast dwellers are fascinated with rain and snow, since we get too little of the first and none of the second. The title related to the science of how each snowflake looks unique under the microscope, but identical when whirling in a blizzard.

The speaker summed up the challenge for business owners and digital media providers: “People get depressed if they don’t feel unique and special, but they also need to be part of a larger group, like snowflakes in a snowstorm. When do your customers want to be reaffirmed? When do they want to feel part of a group?”
The answers are about as varied and unique as individual businesses. It’s up to all of us to bring about the better angels in a disrupted world.

Keywords

client markets   customer service   Editor’s Edge Blog   LCT editor   marketing/promotions   Martin Romjue   media   public relations   Social Media   social media marketing   

 

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