When you book a trip with Bob Rogers Travel, you work closely with several members of our team throughout the trip planning process:
- Your Travel Consultant, who works to understand you and your program, connecting your “why” to the custom itinerary that will bring your travel dreams to life
- Your Trip Operations Manager, the detail-minded powerhouse behind every booking, attraction, and reservation
- Our home team, experts in safety, operations, payments, and more, working behind the scenes to make every trip a success
But once your group has packed their bags and hit the road, a new kind of expert becomes the leader of the pack: your dedicated Tour Director.
Tour directors are travel professionals who are hired to accompany your group 24/7 and bring your itinerary to life. As destination experts, they act as the point-person for all your needs on tour – keeping everything on track and problem-solving in the moment.
Today, we’re chatting with Terry Twitchell-DiCastro, our Director of Field Operations, to talk all things tour director. Let’s get into it!
Why Tour Directors Matter
Every BRT travel experience offers a dedicated tour director who stays with your group from the moment you arrive at your destination until you head home. That means you’re never on your own to navigate your itinerary, solve challenges, or make sure you’re staying on schedule.
“Tour directors play a crucial role in helping us deliver moments that matter,” explains Terry. “They are responsible for guiding groups through various travel programs, ensuring that participants gain valuable insights and enjoy their journeys. Tour directors are experienced professionals who bring authenticity and expertise to the programs, enhancing the overall experience for travelers.”
BRT tour directors are responsible for:
- Logistics Management: They handle the on-tour logistics of travel, including accommodations, transportation, and scheduling.
- Safety and Support: They ensure the safety and well-being of participants throughout the trip.
- Communication: They are strong communicators with superior interpersonal skills.
- Travel Expertise: We select tour directors with deep experience in travel, as well as education and performance.
“Problems arise on every tour that the group is never aware of,” adds Terry. “It’s the job of the tour director to take care of issues that pop up before the group even knows about them.”
How We Choose Our Tour Directors
A great tour director is simultaneously a destination expert, an experienced problem-solver who can adapt on the fly, and an engaging host and leader for you and your students.
When partnering with tour directors, we emphasize experience – on the road, in the classroom, and with performance and education groups. Additionally, we look for the following qualities:
- Professional, yet fun-loving
- Positive and energetic
- Confident and outgoing
- Open-minded and approachable
- Disciplined and forward-thinking
- Resourceful and quick-thinking
- Nurturing and warm
- Flexible
Once selected, we walk our tour directors through our policies and procedures, including our crisis management protocols. They participate in our ongoing professional development and complete our certification process as a Certified Student Travel Organization (CSTO) from the Center for Student Travel Safety, an affiliate of the Student and Youth Travel Association (SYTA).
Additionally, many of our tour directors have graduated from the International Tour Management Institute (ITMI), International Association of Tour Directors and Guides (IATDG), and/or TripSchool. They are also licensed as guides in cities that require it.
“Many of our tour directors join the BRT family through referrals,” shares Terry. “Each one is background-checked and completes CSTO requirements. Typically, tour directors have prior experience working with youth (teaching, camps, coaching, mentoring, etc.) and have a passion for working with educators and young people.”
How They Make Every Tour Great
There’s a little matchmaking magic when it comes to assigning a tour director to a group. If a group requests a specific tour director, we do our best to make that happen. (Understandably, top tour directors are in high demand – one more reason to book your trip early!)
Otherwise, we assign our most experienced and highly-rated tour directors based on location – because that local expertise really makes a difference in the details. Tour directors have the inside scoop on everything from local events to traffic, keeping tours on schedule for every itinerary item. They confirm and reconfirm appointments with our partners to make sure everything is ready before the group arrives. And when things happen on tour, our tour directors are prepared for every scenario.
“Our tour directors are empowered to make decisions that are best for the trip and the safety of the group,” says Terry. “When they need assistance, they communicate directly with the Travel Consultant and Trip Operations Manager who own the tour. They are also supported 24/7 with the BRT emergency line for urgent matters.”
Thank you to Terry Twitchell-DiCastro for sharing our team’s process for choosing and working with tour directors – we’re proud to work with some of the best! To learn more about the tour directors we work with and how they make every travel experience exceptional, reach out to our team. We can’t wait to connect with you!
