By Liz Hunter

The eyes of the world have been on the United Kingdom this year. Between the royal wedding, the culmination of Britain's most popular wizard Harry Potter, and the recent summer scandal at the News of the World, ­England has been in the spotlight for most of 2011 and you won't likely see it fade away anytime soon.

The United Kingdom (U.K.), and in particular London, is incredibly deserving of attention-especially that of the limousine industry. If you handle any kind of corporate work, chances are that your clients are traveling to London often (and hopefully you've capitalized on the business by garnering a reliable affiliate). London is the world's largest financial center alongside New York City and Tokyo, and 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies have offices there. With approximately 8 million residents in the Greater London region, it is the largest urban zone in the European Union. London Heathrow Airport is the world's fourth busiest, shuffling 66 million passengers annually through its gates.

But of course, London has more than this to offer travelers. The city is home to some of the world's most visited tourist attractions and beacons of English culture including Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tower of London, Piccadilly ­Circus, the London Eye, not to mention the iconic red phone booths. Plus, who doesn't fancy the accent?



London is also home to one of the limousine industry's largest companies: Tristar Worldwide Chauffeur Services. Founded in 1978, Tristar grew quickly when it started providing complimentary limousine service to business class passengers for airlines, a practice it continues to this day. From there, Tristar branched out into corporate work, road shows, and events. Today, the company has two offices in the U.K., two in the U.S., one in Hong Kong, and a franchise in Paris. These brick and mortar operations put Tristar at the top of the list when it comes to companies in our industry with a global presence and the expansion isn't slowing down.

Tristar Chief Executive Dean De Beer has been with the company for 15 years. A CPA by trade, De Beer was living in South Africa when a friend asked him to have a look at a limousine business he had just acquired. De Beer-who was looking for an excuse to return to the U.K.-gladly took the offer and expected to be there no more than three months. But as De Beer puts it himself, he "caught the bug," and became fascinated with the business. "I loved the link the business had with travel," he says. "On the face of it, it looks so simple, but once you scratch below the surface it's a lot more complex."

With more than 500 vehicles and 650 employees in the U.K. alone, it doesn't get much more complex than that. Add in the offices in Boston, New York City, and Hong Kong and you're looking at a network spanning 80 countries and 500,000 passengers. "Our three-hub operation is a key differentiator," says De Beer. "No other network really has the size of operations in these three locations like we have. It allows us to focus on service in certain areas. Each division looks after itself and knows the culture and service clients expect." Language barriers aren't an issue either. Eight languages are spoken in its international division. If any special instructions are necessary for an affiliate in Italy for instance, they will be communicated in their native language. In Asia, Tristar's employees speak English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

Tristar's roots run deep when it comes to working with airlines. Tristar developed a relationship with Virgin Atlantic early on by chauffeuring its business class passengers to and from Heathrow Airport in London. "Our relationship with Virgin Atlantic is as close to a partnership as you can get in a business arrangement," De Beer says. "They have always been very focused on service and they have challenged us to improve and mold our own service levels." De Beer says those passengers began asking how they could use Tristar's service if they were flying on another airline. These requests became the motivation the company needed to expand into the corporate market in the late 1990s. It also inspired Tristar to offer two tiers of service to its clients.

The executive service, according to De Beer, is effectively a high-level airport transfer business. "Cars are literally running in and out of Heathrow all day," he says. This level of service is ideal for airlines and other corporate clients attending meetings. The vehicles used for this level include Volvo S80s, MPVs (U.K. version of an SUV), and Mercedes Vianos. The premium service offered by Tristar gives the customer total flexibility. "This level of service was introduced to meet demand. Clients were phoning up and requesting a specific chauffeur at specific times," says De Beer. Premium service uses Mercedes E or S class sedans and the chauffeur is of the highest standard-more like an on-board concierge-says De Beer. Along with this tier comes Tristar's one-minute premium service pledge. "If we're one minute late for any reason, the journey is free. That's how confident we are. I believe it's a unique concept and we're extending it to a lot of key cities in Europe through our network," he says.

Tristar's location and well-trained chauffeur staff certainly put it in a comfortable position to make a guarantee like this one. Its London office is approximately three miles from Heathrow and 15 miles from central London. Here is where most of the U.K. employees are located, and all maintenance and body shop work is done on-site. There is also an office and small fleet just outside Manchester, which serves the north west of England and is home to part of the contact center. In London, only about 30 vehicles at a time are stored on site at what is called "The Barn," but the majority of the vehicles are taken home by chauffeurs. "In the morning we collect passengers all across London and bring them out to the airport, arriving just in time to meet inbound passengers off the red-eye flights from Asia, America, and Africa. In the evenings we try to time it so they can take a client home on their way back," says De Beer. Of course, superior confidence in the chauffeurs is also a requirement, but that's a given at Tristar.

There are several stages to the chauffeur training process, of which De Beer says the company is very proud. It begins with recruiting people who are suited to doing the job in the first place with knowledge of London's roads and an understanding of customer service. If offered the job, there is a six-day induction training program covering all aspects of the role: customer service, health and safety, car maintenance, and route familiarity. "Groups will travel together to the airport so there is no misunderstanding which terminals they need to go to when a client is in the vehicle," says De Beer. "We also familiarize them with the routes to use to get to our top clients' offices. An assessment will take place on one evening when a chauffeur in training will take a manager home and pick him up again in the morning. The manager will decide if the chauffeur passes."

Once the trainee is deemed fit to go out on the road, De Beer says he is allocated to a special shift, called a "Nursery Shift." This is similar to what is known as a "soft opening" in the restaurant business where it is common knowledge that the staff is just then being let out on their own to serve. At Tristar, the entire staff knows which chauffeurs are on these special shifts and takes extra care and attention with them, allowing them extra time to get to jobs and answer any questions they might have along the way. Once their confidence is strengthened, chauffeurs enter into the executive level of service at Tristar. From there they can be promoted to the Premium Team depending on their abilities and another tough selection course.

De Beer says Tristar chauffeurs are proud to wear the uniform, which is provided by the company: a dark gray charcoal suit, five white shirts, and a silk company tie. The uniform is renewed every 18 months or so. "We rebranded in 2006 and switched from a polyester tie to a silk tie and the response was amazing. Everyone is proud to wear it and it has been a worthwhile investment," he says.

Another important investment made by Tristar is its chauffeur rest area, or what we might call a lounge. Because the office is located so close to Heathrow, Tristar wants its chauffeurs to come back to the office and have somewhere comfortable to relax between rides. In the rest area, chauffeurs can check out books from a library, check their bank accounts (or Facebook) at five Internet stations, or get something to eat from the canteen, which serves hot food, sandwiches, and beverages. "The rest area is also our opportunity to communicate with the chauffeurs," says De Beer. "We have a message board where we post office communication or any updates on new accounts or road works."

The attention paid to chauffeurs doesn't stop there. Chauffeurs can be rewarded or recognized with "Ace Cards" for a variety of different reasons, like an immaculate car or being particularly well-dressed. Ace Cards are handed out by managers and can be used as currency to buy meals in the canteen.

Chauffeurs are just one piece of the puzzle for Tristar's success when it comes to staff. Tristar has whole departments dedicated to customer service and human resources. The company is accredited by the Investors in People program, a division of the U.K. Commission for Employment and Skills that helps businesses reach their target goals. Five people in total are in the HR department, led by Kathy Coshan. "Clearly with the number of people we have they play an important part in recruitment, initial and ongoing training, business policies, and discipline," says De Beer.

Thanks to their dedication, most Tristar employees have been with the company at least 10 years, says De Beer, including his upper-level management team. Group CFO Andy Hohne is a 10-year veteran of the company and takes care of Tristar's financials. Chauffeurs report to COO Doug Claringbold, who manages Tristar's complex logistics across the brand. "He makes sure we deliver the level of service as efficiently as possible," De Beer says. Global Business Director Anthony Withers Green is in charge of the sales team and making sure new business is continually coming in. CIO Darren Allsop has a challenging job with the sophisticated technology that Tristar uses, and De Beer says he keeps Tristar current with the market.

"There is a lot of opportunity for people to move forward within the business, and we are always keen to help those who are motivated," says De Beer. And to keep them motivated, Tristar makes sure to do several things throughout the year for employees, like holiday parties and an annual company-wide barbecue in August. Not only are families invited, but you'll see De Beer behind the grill serving up food for the crowd while a bigger competition goes on-the 7-a-Side Football Tournament. Tristar and all of its local affiliates have teams competing for the trophy. Everyone looks forward to it and the winner gets bragging rights for the year.

The solid foundation of dedicated employees and customer service priorities has put Tristar in a position to expand its reach through affiliate work. "The beauty of our business is we have people specifically focused on their area of our network in each of our operational hubs," says De Beer. "We go through a rigorous process of appointing a service partner, and it is very rare that we have not been to the city to speak with the owners, check insurance, and review their customer base. We'll also conduct some mystery shopping." When he looks at other networks, De Beer says he can confidently say Tristar has physically been to more of its affiliates than any others.

Its affiliate network in Europe is particularly strong. "We continue to visit our partners throughout the course of our relationship," says De Beer. "In September we will have a European affiliate meeting in Frankfurt where we'll talk about what's working or ways to improve." Tristar does have a franchise in Paris. Another big market and popular destination for its clients, opening an office in France was a great opportunity for Tristar to step in and directly handle more of its European clients and guarantee that high-touch service. Patrice Carmignac, who has been in the industry for over 30 years, is the company founder and president and together with his General Manager Nada Vignevic, they run a fleet of nearly 60 vehicles, providing high-level limousine services to a cross section of clients from financial institutions, foreign dignitaries, and five-star hotels.

In 2006, Tristar made a huge move in opening an office in the U.S. "We were sending over $1 million worth of business to the U.S. and whilst we were happy with our affiliates handling the work on our behalf, we felt if we had our own presence then there was probably more we could do," De Beer says. "International expansion can be risky unless you have the right people, but we were fortunate to find someone who shared our vision." That person was Mike Fogarty. A 17-year veteran of BostonCoach, Fogarty was responsible for cultivating its affiliate network from the beginning and trusted Tristar as the company's London affiliate. Fogarty struck up a relationship with the Tristar management team and shared their global strategy. In late 2005 he left BostonCoach to make the move to establish Tristar's owned presence in the Americas.

Creating an affiliate network across America was the priority, says Fogarty, Tristar's U.S. CEO. The first 90 days of Fogarty's time with Tristar was spent on planes establishing relationships with affiliates for a Tristar contract. "One thing we did was not ask them to do something we wouldn't do for them," says Fogarty. "I had heard feedback that a lot of companies felt affiliate contracts could be one-sided, so we made ours a reciprocal agreement of service standards. It makes it easy to do business when we can call and ask the owner personally to put his best chauffeur on the job for a specific client."

Fogarty tries to visit the major markets as frequently as possible and stays in touch with the secondary markets. He utilizes trade shows in between visits to meet with affiliates.

Tristar chose Boston as its first U.S. location not only because it is a key market, but also because Fogarty lived there and had no desire to move his family from the home they'd known all those years. Tristar Boston opened in January 2006. Fogarty selected office space on a corporate campus to help his employees feel part of a community, since the Boston office would be a smaller organization for the first few years. "We were more focused on building a professional sales and reservations center with a good work environment as opposed to building a fleet," Fogarty says. Initially, Tristar Boston figured its concentration would be on point-to-point business then move into the high-touch. By late 2008, however, Fogarty says he realized they couldn't compete on price with the larger fleets in the area, but Tristar could differentiate itself on the fact that it was a smaller organization and could provide customers flexibility that larger organizations were not delivering. "We switched our focus to events and institutional road shows. That's when we really started to grow, and 2010 was our best year for revenue growth," he says.

In January 2011 Tristar opened a second office, this time in the Big Apple. "New York was always in our mind because that is a major market for our international clients, but it just took us a little bit longer to get there," says Fogarty. Between both offices, Tristar has 25 vehicles running; 10 in New York and 15 in Boston. Tristar uses Mercedes and Volvo products in Europe, but here in the U.S. the vehicles are more in line with the typical limousine company. Boston and New York offer Lincoln Town Cars, Royale Ford Fusions, GMC Suburban LTZ (in Boston), Van Terras, a road show van, and Cadillac Escalades (in New York).

Fogarty has a strong support staff helping him in these two offices. Patricia McLean is the call center manager and previously worked for Dav El and BostonCoach. "She brings a tremendous amount of experience and contacts to the position, and she delivers a consistent level of service on the phones," says Fogarty. His brother Brian is the general manager in Boston and is responsible for managing events and road shows, Tristar's largest area of growth. His team includes Operations Manager Andrew Tighe, Tony Sullivan, Lissa Chavarria, and Matt Cena. "They all do a phenomenal job," says Fogarty. The Boston management team is rounded out with Tom Gaige, accounting manager. In New York, So Lim Ting is the operations manager and Tim Reilly is vice president of sales, whom Fogarty says is "critical with getting the Tristar brand out in the U.S." He adds, "New York functions really well on its own. When I am there, I get to dedicate my time to customers, not operations, and I'm happy about that." Recently, Lauren Konigsberg joined the New York team as business development manager reporting to Reilly.

Fogarty and De Beer speak approximately four times a week, and Fogarty travels to the U.K. nearly six times a year, which has tapered off as time has passed. De Beer comes stateside several times annually as well, but they are not the only ones hopping across the Atlantic every so often. The IT, finance, and sales staffs will travel periodically. "We cross pollinate because we want our teams to develop strong relationships," says Fogarty. "We want them to experience London as part of their training so they have the confidence to explain it to customers when they are selling into that market." Open communication between the offices is key. "The more interaction the better sense of team work you have and there's a lot of knowledge being shared," he says.

Keeping with the Tristar tradition, employees are recognized through a rewards program and annual events, like the recent New York office July 4th cookout. "If we have a strong month we'll bring in lunch for the team, and we'll also hand out small gift cards to our call center staff if a customer recognizes them for doing something extraordinary," Fogarty says.

Tristar has clearly settled in well in America, but the company quickly had its eye on expanding once again, this time in the Far East. Tristar's Hong Kong office opened in 2009 and now has a staff of five. "Hong Kong is the third leg of the stool in terms of our global strategy," says De Beer. "It's a vitally important market and we've effectively mirrored the set up of some of our biggest clients whose offices are located in New York, London, and Hong Kong. We very much see Hong Kong as the spring board into China." Gary Au is the operations manager for the region and he is well supported by Account Executives Pearl Wong, Bonnie Lam, and Kerry Fu. Terry Ng has recently been appointed as an operations supervisor to manage their new ­Mercedes S Class fleet.

De Beer says adapting to the behaviors of clients in different countries, like China, has required some tweaks to Tristar's service and operation. "For example, we've noticed a big difference in the reservation process in Asia. Bookers are very demanding about the response times for quotes, yet often make numerous changes once they have made a booking. The trail of e-mails for one reservation can be phenomenal."

One can only imagine the technological demands of a company Tristar's size. Tristar U.K. and Asia use a proprietary software system and Odyssey is used in the U.S. offices. De Beer says the systems are integrated and allow full visibility on what's happening on any of the rides at either end. "We have the ability to access each other's systems in the event one office might be down you can still see what's happening," says Fogarty. A majority of bookings come in electronically and there is an increase in reservations coming through a special portal Tristar has linked to Virgin Atlantic.

Because the fleet in the U.S. is still relatively small, Fogarty says technology in the vehicles right now is minimal, but rides are dispatched via Nextel. He is currently exploring potential GPS tracking technology. On the other hand, chauffeurs in the U.K. fleet have very sophisticated PDAs that handle all aspects of in-car communications. The PDA monitors the beginning and end of shifts, allows for pricing adjustments during the ride (such as parking or tolls), and displays satellite navigation. Great Britain has been hands-free in vehicles for approximately 6 years now, so Tristar developed special icons for the PDA that allow the chauffeur to give it one tap to complete a task or call the office.

One truly amazing advantage of the PDA technology is the role it plays with its airline passengers. Through a Virgin technology link, chauffeurs can begin the airport check-in process while the client is in the vehicle. "We tell the Virgin desk at the airport how many bags the customer has and they are able to track the ETA of the vehicle because all cars are real-time tracked," says De Beer. Tristar has access to a special upper-class passenger entrance called the Wing. When the vehicle arrives, the client is immediately greeted by a Virgin staff member with luggage labels already printed. "The customer never has to queue to check in," says De Beer.

Smartphone apps are an area that Tristar is continually looking at. "One has to be careful of not just creating an app for the sake of it," says De Beer. "We have to look at how those technologies can help improve business and the customer experience."

Tailoring service to enhance the customer experience is not uncommon for Tristar. One of those areas includes the company's environmental policies. While it might not be a deal breaker in the U.S., it is not unusual for clients to request information regarding what Tristar is actively doing to reduce its carbon footprint. "We've spent a lot of time and effort on the environment," says De Beer. "We've brought consultants on board to ensure that our policy is about making sustained improvements in emissions rather than knee-jerking into hybrids."

The fleet of Tristar's Mercedes are all BlueTEC diesel, which get 35 miles per gallon (compared to the Town Car's 17 or 18), and De Beer says the company has vastly reduced it emissions per POB (passenger on board) mile. "Anyone can say they reduced emissions in this economy if they lost clients, but we looked at not only getting better vehicles, but driving them better. We introduced initiatives like putting nitrogen in the tires, which improves fuel economy, and implemented technology to better link work thereby reducing the amount of unnecessary mileage. "There is always more we can and will do, but to a certain extent we are at the mercy of manufacturers deciding what engines they are going to introduce."

On the U.S. side, Fogarty says the environmental issue fell to the wayside among American clients as a result of the recession. "It seems to be returning in recent months with the uncertainty in the fuel market," he says. "The Ford Fusion hybrids have been well received by our clients and we believe that is a good alternative at this point based on what's out there. Because the same clean diesel technologies offered in the U.K. are not available in the U.S., it's hard to find the same fuel savings they get."

When it comes to vehicle options in the U.S. limousine industry, Fogarty says it will be a while before an auto manufacturer establishes dominance in the race to replace the Town Car. "The Mercedes E Class is a solid workhorse and is the standard in Europe, and there's an opening for the brand here in the U.S.," he says. "That and the Volvo S80 are options we're considering, but we'd also like to see what GM has to offer. I think we're going to see a lot of mixed fleets for the next few years. A lot of companies are going to be making a play for the market share."

Both Fogarty and De Beer stay at the forefront of the industry, especially through their participation in associations. De Beer sits on the board of the National Limousine Association and is a member of a small London association called the London Private Hire Car Association. Fogarty is a vice president of the Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association (TLPA). "It's the largest for-hire ground transportation organization and has great influence when it comes to national issues that cut across industry lines," says Fogarty. "It's important for us to have a say at the table and the TLPA has a respected, tenured voice in Washington." Tristar also belongs to the New England Livery Association, Global Business Travel Association (where it will exhibit this month), and Meeting Professionals International.

The world's attention will once again be on London in 2012 when the city hosts the Summer Olympics. "We believe it's going to be a fascinating time," says De Beer. "Things are starting to fall into place and we're seeing an increase in inquiries for that time period." Tristar is just now beginning to look at how it will need to bolster its resources to handle the demand, not just on the vehicle side, but with manpower as well. We have to make sure we keep them all motivated during what is going to be a very intense 20-odd days. Everyone is going to be working incredibly hard and we need them to make sure we all stay service-focused over a sustained period of time," De Beer says. Fogarty will most likely be in London to assist, which is something he is particularly looking forward to.

Tristar's activity level shows no sign of slowing. Just last month, it announced it has joined forces with Royal Caribbean Cruises to provide passengers with chauffeured transportation to and from the ports. The cruise line joins Tristar's list of working relationships that includes Virgin Atlantic, Emirates Airlines, and Delta Airlines. While there is no hint of where Tristar is eyeing up for its next location, De Beer says the company is always watching where the flows of business are going. "For now, America is growing nicely. Our baby in Hong Kong is becoming a toddler, and then we'll see where we might go next," he says. ” LD