Jamie Biesiada
For nine years, Irving Betesh worked in a job he hated. He was in wholesale apparel, working with children's licensed clothing.
"I was just absolutely miserable at my job," Betesh said. "I wasn't bad at my job, I was making a pretty good living, but I just had no passion whatsoever about my work."
Almost eight years ago, Betesh was about to get married. He was planning his honeymoon and worked with a travel advisor. He found the advisor to be really helpful; Betesh also enjoyed doing a lot of research about the trip on his own. He was always the type to plan group trips with his friends, anyway, so throwing himself into his honeymoon was a natural choice.
"That was my first glimpse into what a travel agent did," he said.
About a year later, he went to a Tony Robbins seminar, and he was inspired to do something he liked for a living. He quit his apparel job.
He had a family member who had just started out as a travel advisor. Betesh realized how much he would enjoy doing that, so he started his own agency.
Today, Betesh is the president of travel and membership services at his New York-based agency, IBC Private.
Betesh used his past experience with an agent to structure his agency. He remembered calling his agent every day and decided he wanted his approach to be membership-based, so he could create meaningful relationships with clients.
"I wanted to start an agency where I'm going to charge a membership," he said, "so that there's a feeling from the client also that there's a commitment," he said.
When clients are onboarded, they go through an extensive interview process so IBC can get to know them well and always keep them top of mind.
"It really just took off from there," Betesh said.
Initially, he charged a membership fee of $3,000. Today, the base fee for a couple and immediate family members to join is $18,000. Some clients, like corporations who want to offer membership to several executives, pay more.
IBC Private focuses on luxury travel. The agency also fulfills concierge requests. Betesh thought IBC's time would be split evenly between the two areas, but the travel portion has taken off. His clients range from affluent families to people in sports and entertainment.
Betesh said IBC's service and willingness to go above and beyond sets it apart. For example, while some agents might book a dinner reservation for a client taking a trip, "We specialize in that. We'll get you a dinner reservation that seems impossible [to get]."
He employs several full-time agents as well as a few part-time ICs. One staff member handles things like marketing and running the office. IBC has offices in New York and Oceanport, N.J.
"Our clients are extremely spoiled by us," he said.
Naturally, Betesh has gotten some strange requests from clients on the concierge side. Sometimes, it's something simple, like a client requesting a Kit Kat in their hotel room in the middle of the night.
On one memorable occasion, an NBA player had his car parked in a garage across the street from his apartment. He decided he wanted to drive it in the morning and called IBC to see if they could send someone to fill the tank with gas. They did.
On the travel side, Betesh has planned some spectacular experiences for clients. One was a bar mitzvah trip to London this January. IBC rented a medieval castle outside London and set up a number of authentic activities outside. Jesters performed, guests could try their hands at archery, armored knights rode around on horses, the works. Inside, they held a themed dinner at a 60-person table in the castle's dining hall. When the guests sat down at their plates, scrolls awaited with instructions that kicked of a murder mystery game. Betesh was nervous before the event, but the evening went off without a hitch.
Betesh's biggest piece of advice for other advisors is to provide an excellent level of service.
"The service is everything," he said. "It's the only thing that's going to separate you from another travel advisor, because there are a lot of great ones."