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Do you need an extra hand on site?
Au Courant staff are trained and experienced at handling programs of any size and scope. No matter if it is a business meeting, incentive trip, or training session, Au Courant is there for you. We can provide professional Travel Directors both domestically and internationally.
Our independent travel staff are consistently recognized by our clients as the top in the industry.
Displaying professionalism and a high attention to detail, they are able to seamlessly integrate with clients’ in-house teams while on site. They become an extension of you and your team; ready to lead or assist any area of your event. Au Courant Travel Directors have consistently saved our clients between 25-100+% of staff fees on programs in areas where we manage budget items (Food & Beverage, Transportation, Rooms, etc.).
Our Travel Directors have worked with top tier clients including Fortune 200 financial, pharmaceutical, computer software, and automotive companies. The majority of our staff have operated such high profile events as the Olympics, the Masters Tournament, the Super Bowl, and the Grammys. All of our staff are well-trained, have years of work experience, and carry individual $1 million general liability insurance policies.
Au Courant has staff
in over 20 states
and in most major event cities, including New York City, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Denver, Atlanta, Dallas, and Orlando.
Why Hire our Travel Directors?
One of the most significant benefits we see for clients is relieving internal staff fatigue. When your internal staff are out on each other’s events they not only lack enough time to devote to their own jobs and events, but there also tends to be a higher rate of burnout and turnover as a result. Internal staff tend to work 12+ hours a day on site, while also trying to keep up on their normal workloads. Our Travel Directors are prepared to go on site and work those long hours, knowing their time on the event will come to an end; whereas your staff have to return to the office on Monday morning geared up and ready to begin the week catching up on all the work they had to set aside while out on site.
When you debrief how smoothly are your events running? Do you even know? Is the feeling “glad that is over” rather than “that was a successful program and we are ready to hit the ground running on the next event?” Are your staff aware of what is going on in every area of the program, or are your onsite internal staff stretched too thin to be able to monitor all areas? One requirement of Au Courant Travel Directors is a full program debrief (what went well, what did not go well, unresolved issues, areas that could use improvement) from each area Lead that can be used by your planners to improve next year’s program.
Pre-existing relationships. Au Courant Travel Directors are full-time, independent travel staff that are continually in the field. One client cited that it was great when on a recent trip his Food & Beverage Lead had been at the program hotel two weeks prior, for a different client. That staff member was able to come in knowing the venue’s areas for improvement and had creative solutions for hitting those weaknesses head on; which not only saved the client time, but money as well.
Historically, over the past few years when partnering with companies on larger programs, we find that our staff negotiations overall, on areas where we can control budget items (food & beverage, and occasionally rooms, transportation, etc.), result in cost savings that range from 30% on the low end to up over 100+% of staff fees.
Our staff come in and have the ability to be paired with local DMC or hotel staff in order to forge a relationship for the duration of the program. As a result of these relationships they are often able to negotiate concessions on site that otherwise would not happen; although some may be small (complimentary beverages/snacks for the client office, discounts on menu upgrades, complimentary executive transfers, etc.) they add up over time.
As full-time on-site event staff we are used to managing the day-to-day oversight of billing. Billing is freshest in your mind when reviewing every day, rather than receiving a 500-page bill 10 days post program. As an example, General Session was reset with bottled waters for the afternoon session, but only 250 seats of the 325 were used in the morning. That results in the savings of 75 bottled waters multiplied by $5.50++, which is roughly a savings of $520 on just that one event!
While DMCs do have their place, would you want a $15/hour DMC staff running your important event? They are great to come in for the day to assist with collating packets or stuffing name badges, but would you want someone you had never met advancing your top VIPs’ room, managing their transportation, or handling their schedules? Would this be the person that you would want handling your $1 million food & beverage budget? DMC staff are fine in areas for which they are typically hired (providing local information, making dinner reservations, etc.). Our staff can easily manage them for those tasks as we have done in the past.
Staff Roles & Responsibilities
Lead Trip Director
- Overall point person for client
- Staff support and scheduling
- On-site program logistics
- Collect soft copies of all billing, collective negotiated savings, collective program debrief, and program collateral
Activities
- Reconfirm participant sign-ups on site, upon arrival
- Reconfirm all activity counts, maximums, and minimums
- Track activity sign-ups and cancellations of all participants
- Work with Transportation Lead to provide accurate confirmation for dispatch
- Oversee billing with all suppliers
Food & Beverage
- Set guarantees with the client (if applicable)
- Create F&B grid for billing management
- Oversee all F&B functions
- Note all special dietary requirements, create a letter for attendees, and work with the hotel
- Responsible for all billing (hotel and DMC)
Hospitality Desk
- Assembly of welcome packets
- Schedule hospitality desk staff
- Establish and maintain a Master Log
- Resource for all program information
- Provide hotel and, if necessary, local information
Materials/Gifts/Signage
- Maintain Shipping Log
- Work with hotel shipping & receiving to get all boxes delivered
- Track all incoming and outgoing shipping charges and sign off on a daily basis
- Track and record lost packages
- Manage shredding company
- Work with Meeting Facilitators/Meetings Lead on expectations of material distribution, set up, and collection
- Manage facilitator’s expectations of material placement. Set up a sample room for visual to ensure everyone understands how the rooms should be set in advance (if applicable)
Meetings
Pre-Days:
- Review meeting grid against client agendas to ensure all rooms and times are accurate
- Meet with hotel banquets on-site to review room sweep procedures
- Communicate with production company (if applicable)
- Create signage for all meetings (if applicable)
- Review AV requirements and room sets with the hotel (unless client’s team is handling)
- Work with production for microphone wrangling and Q&A needs
Program Days:
- Oversee all areas of the meetings including meeting staff, signage, and meeting grid
- Directional to and from meeting rooms
- Schedule a meeting at the end of every day with the hotel’s convention services and the AV contact to review the next day’s meeting grid
- Monitor rehearsals and be available for pop up F&B at rehearsals
- Map out plan to get attendees seated
- Oversee that room sweeps are complete prior to banquets breaking down the rooms
Billing & Wrap up:
- Review and reconcile AV billing
Rooms
- Create rooms grid
- Keep track of all changes (date in, date out, room changes, etc.)
- Oversee rooms attrition
- Manage releasing rooms back to hotel to avoid extra charges
Transportation
- Reconfirm all arrivals/departures with DMC
- Coordinate and manage all transportation equipment with DMC
- Meet with VIP staff to pinpoint their needs
- Ensure that there is a system in place for any lost luggage, at the airport, within the hotel, and through the DMC
- Distribute an arrival list to the front desk and bell stand of the hotel
- Meet with bellman to organize the delivery of arriving luggage
- Manage the standby vehicles at the airport (if applicable)
- Oversee and create any bus announcements for Program Lead/Client to approve
- Organize bag pull and luggage storage
- Oversee transportation billing with DMC (have a preliminary bill provided and review prior to the conclusion of program operation)
VIP Management
- Create VIP grid and phone list
- Reconfirm arrival and departure information for all VIPs
- Advance VIP sleeping rooms
- Verify and check amenities in suites
- Create a VIP welcome note to be placed in room prior to the VIPs’ arrivals
- Oversee private VIP on-site or off-site dinners
- Manage drivers’ schedules
- Reconfirm VIP activities (spa, golf, etc.)
- Oversee VIP seating at all group dinner functions
- Manage VIP billing (spa and amenities) with all suppliers used during program operation