The Limos.com Forum Has Moved!!!

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Loca...rides05.3e3306c.html

Says many of the wineries are not allowing limos on their properties due to having drunk patrons. I'm not sure how I feel about this -- people rent limos so they can drink without worrying about driving. On the other hand, who wants rowdy, obnoxious people ruining a wine tasting?

We don't see much discussion in the industry on how to get and keep THE EDGE. Having THE EDGE means your clients don't even consider nor notice your competition. Relationship building is a major component of building and maintaining THE EDGE in any successful business.

Luff is preeminent in the relationship building it takes to be successful in the livery trade. Very professional move Jim !

I spoke with the operators in Temecula yesterday. I shared with them the problems that we had. Yes, Dean, the wineries have the final say. Here was my strategy:

First, I called each of the wineries that WE prefer to go to based on parking, food facilities, ambience etc. I called them and got their fax number to share my letter posted below.

Next, I picked a Sunday and we loaded as many of our staff as available, specially reservationists and took them on a wine tour as a company outing. I let all the wineries know in advance.

We were treated to behind the scenes tours and gave the wineries the opportunity to explain their expectations to us.

I brought along $1000 to buy wine at every winery we went to. We stayed long and "bonded".
We joined their wine clubs.

Now, I am not only the limo company but a customer as well. We are real people with names and faces. We call the wineries and tell our new found friends we are coming, how many are coming and what time we plan to be there (approximately). We update them on the day of and they warmly greet our guests/passengers and take them to a private area where space is available.

Sometimes you have to work at building a relationship and heading off problems as they arise. I saw it coming after grumblings from the wineries began popping up.

The wineries do have the final word..

Jim: Classy letter. Nice way to handle it.

This is a copy and paste of a letter we send out with the confirmation for wine tours:


Wine Tour Information



Dear Client:

Thank you for your recent reservation or inquiry about our Central California Wine Tours, one of our most popular packages.

Increasingly, many wineries are turning limousines away from sampling due to intoxicated behavior problems and little or no purchases from the passengers. Since these trips are so popular, we have developed some passenger guidelines.

In order to help you have an enjoyable time, we would recommend that you plan your Bakersfield departure at 10:00am which provides you with an arrival time of approximately noon. Enroute, you will be provided with a fruit, cheese and cracker platter to help prepare you for wine tasting. The only alcohol served will be a single bottle of champagne as well as soft drinks and bottled water. The complimentary alcohol bar will be stocked only when you leave Paso Robles. Tasting and enjoying fine wine simply cannot be done while intoxicated. We will usually depart Paso Robles at 6:00pm to return to Bakersfield.

The eight wineries we have selected for you are in the business of making as well as selling wine and we strongly encourage you to purchase wine that you enjoy. There is something magical and special about wine bought directly from the people who made it! If you are planning a day of "free drinking” without making any purchases and your party becomes intoxicated to the point of unruly or disrespectful to our host wineries, your trip will be terminated early without refund.

It is our intention of providing a day of luxury for you, in a luxurious limousine or limo-bus. Your chauffeur will make every effort to help your group have a wonderful time. We realize that after a day of wine sampling, you may become intoxicated. We are grateful you have chosen to have a safe trip home with a chauffeured vehicle and assure you our only intent in providing you with this information to keep you safe and to provide our host wineries with the opportunity to sell their products to true wine lovers.

We wish you a wonderful trip!


Limousine Scene

That's why I prefer Baja wineries. I go to the valley of Guadalupe, San Tomas Valley, etc. The wine is better, cheaper, and the foreign growers are happy when I bring clients, especially drunks. Drunk people spend more money!

But we have to beware - there is a per-person limit on bringing bottles of alcohol back into the USA. Good thing there are a lot of good hiding spots in my limo! The clients love it!

I once took customers around PA for different wine tasting, the second winery we went to, they refused to let them inside. My clients were not inebriated, they were just out for an afternoon of wine tasting celebrating their mothers' 80th birthday. My clients purchased a bottle from every winery we went to, about 6, and the last one they bought 2 cases. It was a lot of fun, good group of people. I cannot comprehend how these wineries can almost refuse those arriving in limousines, at least they had the good sense not to drink and drive and play it safe. People still do drink and drive during the day, why would going to wineries be any different? Even if patrons were going from one winery to another, more than likely they would have over the .08 level with 1-2 glasses at each establishment, right? Are the authorities monitoring those leaving these places in their own transportation for drunks/inebriated persons, trying to drive?

Sounds like a typical liberal position. Don't blame the drunks that drank the alcohol, blame the limo company that brought them.

Once or twice a year we run across the same thing - people drink too much at tastings and a winery (usually the last one) will call me to complain about bringing 'drunk people' to them.

Main problem is it's hard to say who is going to get that out of control after 3-4 wineries. It's not like we monitor how they are behaving in the winery and sometimes they seem fairly normal (for drunks) in the vehicle. It is rare but it does happen.

There were some recent stories in New York about this problem. The patrons arrive at the wineries already loaded .