Work and ride
Tomasz Nowicki, the co-president of Limousine Service, admits that Poles don't make up the bulk of his clientele.
"When Poles think of a limousine service, they think of stretch limos and only for weddings," he says. "Ninety-five percent of our customers come from outside Poland."
However, those customers include some of the biggest names in business and the entertainment industry. Limousine Service counts U2 and Seal among their clients, as well as top executives from the world's largest firms, such as Microsoft, Citibank, IBM and Coca-Cola.
Though Poles typically consider limousines to be transportation for a bride and groom, Nowicki, who founded his company in 1995, says that more and more firms catering to the business client are beginning to spring up, as Polish entrepreneurs realize they can capitalize on foreigners' taste for riding in style. But according to Nowicki, business clients tend to shun the gaudy stretch limos that most Poles think of when it comes to a limousine service. Instead, they prefer riding in top-class luxury cars such as the Mercedes E- and S-classes.
"Foreign clients don't like to ride in stretch limos because frankly they look like a Christmas tree," says Nowicki, adding: "Business clients have class. They want to ride in a car with style."
If your needs are larger than a four-door sedan, the firm also offers "executive" minivans, vans, and coaches. All of the company's drivers are multi-lingual.
Inside the cars, business clients can find all of the amenities they would expect from the same type of service in the West. They can watch the latest stock-market reports on TV, make business presentations with the help of DVDs, even connect their laptops to the internet.
"You can't do everything with a Blackberry," says Nowicki, noting that Western businesspeople find the in-car internet connection particularly valuable.
For the business traveler who doesn't have time to fiddle with the details, Limousine Service can reserve hotel rooms and restaurants for clients, and can even provide body guards. If the customer has some extra time outside of the boardroom, an excursion to Chopin's birthplace in Żelazowa Wola, or to Kraków, Częstochowa, or even Lublin can be arranged.
"We can even come pick you up across the border in Germany or Italy," says Nowicki, adding that such orders usually come from clients in an emergency, such as when their flight has been cancelled. "Our clients often require our services at the last minute," he says. "It's a crazy business."
