Bellingham’s Luxury Tours: A Local Chartering Company Looks for a Jump-start
By Mead Gill - #Support Black Business
No one knows the Northwest of the Northwest like Tony Robinson, the owner and sole operator of the charter company Bellingham’s Luxury Tours. Built from his own love of the Whatcom County area, Bellingham Luxury Tours is Tony’s way of sharing his knowledge and passion with curious locals and tourists.
Tony started Bellingham’s Luxury Tours in 2017 with nothing but a passion for customer service and a charter bus, and quickly built a name for himself in Whatcom County and beyond. After a rough stint during Covid, Tony is ready to get his name back out there and continue expanding Bellingham’s Luxury Tours in the coming years.
A Master Guide of the Pacific Northwest
A Bellingham resident for the past 15 years, Tony found strength in curating experiences for people. Supported by his tight knit community in Bellingham, he devoted his life to bringing the magic of the Pacific Northwest to anyone willing to experience it.
“I love people. People are fabulous,” Tony said. “I want them to go ahead and see life and…see what it's like. Just relax and ride. Let me do your driving for you.”
Before kickstarting his charter company, Tony worked as a limousine driver and manager in the San Francisco Bay Area where he credits his ability to curate experiences for people who need guidance. “I've worked in customer service for a long time, so I know what it's like to go somewhere and not know where to go,” Tony said.
Tony’s appreciation for the glorious nature the Pacific Northwest has to offer fuels his motivation to expand his company. “Bellingham's Beautiful,” Tony said. “Just in my backyard, 15 minutes away, you got Lake Whatcom, you got Lake Padden, you got Lake Sammish, you got Whatcom falls…you got the border that's about 20 minutes from my house.”
Between showing off the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades down Highway 20, Tony charters groups for weddings, wine and restaurant tours, and casino hopping. “My motto is, don't drink and drive, relax and ride,” he said.
The Speed Bump of Covid
Despite a successful first two years, Bellingham’s Luxury Tours lost almost all customer traffic due to Covid regulations in 2020.
“When the pandemic hit, everything shut down, so I'm just trying to rekindle [the company] back from that,” Tony said. Lockdown forced Bellingham’s Luxury Tours to go on hiatus, losing valuable momentum that Tony had worked hard to gain for years.
“Pre-Covid I was doing two tours on Fridays, sometimes three on Saturday, two on Sunday, maybe one on Monday,” Tony said. Now he is lucky to get two or three bookings a week.
On top of unreliable business, one of Tony’s buses was vandalized during the pandemic which put his availability on hold indefinitely. He was forced to get rid of his bus and repair a new vehicle fit to his standards with a new refrigerator, TV, and windows.
Since completing repairs, Bellingham’s Luxury Tours has been tentatively reopened for seven months but is still trying to rebuild a reliable customer base.
“I've been taking little, little jobs,” Tony said. “Nothing really too big, nothing too heavy, but now I'm back up and running. So I'm ready.”
A Community Effort
Throughout the painfully slow process of reviving the company, Tony has turned to his community in Bellingham for support.
“Small businesses, we kind of support each other up here in Bellingham,” he said. Tony partnered with Bellingham Tourism to help spread the word that Bellingham’s Luxury Tours is back. He is currently relying on word of mouth and his own networking efforts to connect with local hotels and airports to help market his services.
The Road Less Traveled
Reintroducing Bellingham’s Luxury Tours to the community has been a challenge, but Tony has stayed positive throughout the process.
“Eventually I will do this full time,” Tony said, explaining his vision of chartering a second bus, expanding his workforce and increasing his outreach across Northwestern Washington.
Tony asks the community to stay curious about the Pacific Northwest and reach out to him if they are ever in the need of a quick ride or adventure.
“If you need somebody that needs to be shuttled around, or if…you want a tour of Bellingham, I'm your guy,” he said.
bellinghamsluxurytours@gmail.com
360-207-0140
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