A Proposal That Led to a Great Partnership

Fortis came into the partner model in an interesting way. Prior to 2010, Fortis trips were handled by our global network of affiliates – brick-and-mortar chauffeured companies with their own fleet of vehicles, garage, and staff.

Then Uber happened. Around 2010, Uber became a phenomenon – beginning as an Uber black chauffeured offering. It was later that they moved into UberX, using people’s personal cars for pickups and drop-offs.

The effect of the Uber phenomenon was that a lot of great chauffeurs started moonlighting, doing Uber black trips on the side. Especially chauffeurs that owned their own vehicles. Some even started breaking off and doing their own chauffeured business with Uber and other income.

As a result, Fortis started getting approached by more and more independent chauffeurs who wanted to work with us directly. We had chauffeurs drive to our headquarters in South Carolina from New York, Miami, and other places just to pitch us on working with them. Our reputation had grown to the point that chauffeurs were stalking us. While flattered, I was adamant that affiliates exclusively were the right partners for us. Until something happened that changed my perspective.

In 2013, my brother-in-law, Jeff, decided to pop the question to his then-girlfriend, Laura. She was a German flight attendant with Lufthansa and would be in Miami for a layover. Jeff planned to surprise her in Miami by proposing marriage in a park. I told Jeff that I would provide the chauffeur and would help him pull off the surprise.

I called our top affiliate at the time in Miami and asked for one of our top five chauffeurs. I was given one of the best – we’ll call him Jose. Then I called Jose and explained the trip and its importance. He would pick up Laura, say he was taking her to a surprise spa day, and then take her to a park where Jeff would be waiting with a ring. I gave Jose the instructions and even had him repeat them back to me.

Jeff went to Miami and they got engaged. Upon Jeff’s return, during the celebration, we were talking, and he was recounting how the proposal went. I asked about the trip we arranged for him with Jose.

“Oh, yeah. About that. That was the one thing that didn’t work so well,” Jeff said.

“What was wrong?” I asked.

“Well, the chauffeur told Laura when he picked her up that he was taking her to a park to meet a guy named Jeff. He blew the surprise.”

I was heartbroken. The specialty of our service and the specialty of this event converged and created a bad memory.

I apologized to Jeff.

Then I resolved to find a better way. Within a couple of months, I decided to give independent operators a try, signing our first two in our network. Within twelve months, the majority of Fortis’s spending around the world went to partners – independent operators rather than affiliate companies with fleets. We found that our service is best when we work with a small group we know and who make up a substantial amount of their income.

Our service standards improved. Our client engagement increased. And we were able to instill our brand principles in a smaller number of aligned chauffeurs.

The partner model was created by a botched trip on a wedding proposal. I am grateful for the lesson I learned in that service failure. And from what we learned by observing the shift in the marketplace that Uber had created.

Partners continue to be a foundation of our service over ten years later, and may have never been if not for a botched surprise.