Do you need an extra hand on site?

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.