Management Team
CEO
Eric Hrubant, Chief Travel Planning Officer & CEO
You’ll never have another friend like CIRE Travel. Besides possibly your parents, no one goes that extra mile or takes that extra step for you like we do. World events and such have sucked a lot of the ease out of corporate and leisure travel today. So when you have a chance to make travel just a little (or a lot) easier on someone, you take it. Nothing causes stress like an impossibly tight connection… so imagine one of my executive client’s surprise when Lufthansa personnel escorted him off the plane to a Mercedes waiting on the tarmac. He was whisked away to his next flight in plenty of time. Any travel planner can book flights and hotels, but I’ve developed a staff of compassionate travel allies, not simply planners. That’s something I’m really proud of. And it’s something you can rely on again… and again… and again. I understand the timely demands of corporate executives while traveling. Diane Sawyer, if you’re looking for a travel planner, just let us know.
Corporate Travel Leadership
Jason Villacres
“Let’s make it happen.” A motivational phrase my personal training clients heard me say many, many times. Now I use it in a different context with CIRE’s clients and travel industry connections, but it still applies. Me? I’m a trainer. Business owner. Entrepreneur. I motivate, diffuse situations and am great with people – or so I’m told. Eric said he could use my help answering phones. So I took him up on his offer. I support corporate travelers. I was one. Checked in and flown in their shoes. I get that business travel looks cool from the outside, but know the hiccups and snafus that can ruin your day. Avoiding them: goal #1. Solving them is #1 when you’re in a jam. Native New Yorker in a love affair with the outdoors. Earth is a big place, but accessible. Lived in Australia. Drawn to Paris. Iceland on the bucket list. Left my heart in Seattle. (Sorry, Mr. Bennett.) Point and click DIY travel planning lands you at Dulles when your hotel is near Reagan. I know. It happened to me. It won’t happen to you with CIRE Travel. Psst! Iceland on your bucket list too? Fly out of Boston. It’s cheaper than New York for now.
Rebecca Sanders
Thirty-nine countries and counting… and I recently went to Idaho, which means I have visited all 50 states in the U.S. My absolute favorites have got to be South Africa and Ireland abroad, and Montana, Alaska and New Mexico closer to home. Booked my first client trip domestically to Oklahoma City and internationally to Abu Dhabi. Believe me when I tell you that Iguaçu Falls in Argentina is nothing like Niagara Falls. I took the boat through the Falls and it’s definitely no Maid of the Mist tour. You literally ride underneath the Falls and it’s a crazy ride. I’m used to asking for (and getting) what I want because I worked for eight years as a fundraiser for nonprofit organizations across New York and New Jersey. Talking to hotel and airline reps on behalf of my clients for little perks is nothing compared to asking for money to support a cause. Trust me… I can be very persuasive on your behalf. But what stumps me most is cooking. I’m taking culinary classes.
Terri O’Brien
A plain hamburger. That’s all she wanted after a long day. A PLAIN hamburger was not on the room service menu. Called my hotel connection and it was delivered to her room. AND the hotel updated its menu to meet guests’ preferences. With travel, it’s the little things I can help with that matter most. All challenges accepted, especially when I hear, “Not available.” April storms canceling flights across the east. Still made sure a client arrived in Atlanta just in time for tee off at the Masters in Augusta. Known travel planning was my future since I was a little girl standing on the tarmac at Logan watching planes. My uncle worked for Eastern Airlines. Fast-forward 30 years. Leisure. Corporate. Group. For travel agencies. For companies. Three decades and not one day has been the same. Imagine the experience and connections made in 30 years! Not to mention my own travels. Too much to see and learn to pick a favorite. Though a fan of volcanoes, rain forests and seclusion. Africa. Europe. Central and South Americas. The U.S. – especially the 30 ballparks my mother and I visited to watch the Red Sox play and Maine, my second home that’s been in my family for more than 50 years. All this travel knowledge and my corporate connections are at CIRE’s clients’ fingertips from my hometown and CIRE’s office in Boston. At the end of a long business day, sometimes you just want a plain hamburger. I make that happen.
Leisure Travel Leadership
Katy Rebrovich
A couple was thinking the Canary Islands, Maldives or Seychelles for their honeymoon. No. No. And no. Mauritius has the exact feel and experience their hearts desired. mawr-RIH-shuhs – I’m a pronunciation whiz. Tell me what you want to feel. What photos you want to post. What experience you want. Rely on my knowledge to make it happen. Another couple dreamed of riding elephants in Tahiti and over-water bungalows. They’d have to take an elephant in their luggage for that to happen. Sent them to Bali where elephants live. My family didn’t have money for much, but family vacations? Always. We Brits fly. It’s what we do. My first memory is chasing lizards on our patio in Malaysia where my dad worked. My mum took photos of washing me in a bucket. Still break into a rash when a camera points at me. I have a theater degree, yet prefer dramatic trips. Became an expert in U.S., Caribbean and Canada travel. After that, I mastered exotic long-haul destinations. Took a job in America and moved from the U.K. to LA. Why LA? The Kings, Ducks and best weather. LAX was behind my first apartment. I reenacted “Top Gun” racing my motorcycle against A380s. If the Qantas flight landed already, I knew I was late for work. I get lost in a paper bag in LA, but navigate Bangkok like a champ. Traveled six countries in five years to scout destinations for my clients, but taken only one vacation. Honeymoon and leisure travel are my labors of love. Where are you sending me next? That’s what I want to hear from clients.
Esther Klijn
Junior year at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Studying abroad in Italy with 19 others. Notoriously budget-minded travelers, they handed me their credit cards and passports. I became the group’s unofficial travel agent. Nine months in Italy. Three in France. Four years of working toward my B.S. in wine and viticulture with a wine business concentration. Travel planning skills for students. Next step? A job. The appeal of working for a winery. Not so much. But travel? Very appealing! Who do I know? Reached out to a friend’s mother, an agent with Tzell in NYC. That conversation helped me find my niche and connected me with CIRE Travel. Future decided. Combine wine background with travel. Add a touch of luxury to travel by doing so for CIRE Travel’s clients. Be the person who is there for our travelers. Learn from the best and eventually start a wine travel business. Make wine more approachable. Botch the label pronunciation. Don’t hide the cheap wine you love. There’s nothing embarrassing about not knowing whites from reds. It’s all okay! #travelbusinessgoals
Client Service
Jamie Bennett
Backpacking in Milan, Italy my sophomore year at Rutgers University. Made a last-minute jaunt to view Leonardo da Vinci’s famous mural in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie’s refectory. Usually requires pre-booking, but took a chance on a ticket. Early the next morning, I was fortunate to get the last single ticket of the day for The Last Supper. It was an experience in more ways than one. First, as a dual major in communications and art history, I’ll remember forever the feeling of seeing it in real life. Second, I learned it’s one thing to hear and talk about something. It’s another to experience it in its environment. Becoming a travel agent, I help people experience the things they love as they’re meant to be experienced. In person. For now, I’m handling the fine details that make the big difference for CIRE’s clients. The future? Designing art vacations for travelers to experience art in the cities and places that inspired it or its medium. Paris is my favorite place. Venice may take that spot once I visit it. If you’re going to Milan and want to see The Last Supper, let CIRE arrange for tickets far in advance and be prepared: groups of 15 are allowed in at a time for 15 minutes.
CIRE Travel Around The World:
