Our correspondent talks to the director of the Atlanta office of Go to Russia Dimitri Bogachev

– The company was started 10 years ago with one person ordering visas for its first clients from his home office. Today, Go To Russia is a respectable company with offices in Atlanta, San-Francisco, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev. How did this magical transformation of a home-based business into a highly professional travel-management company happen?

– The secret of our “magical transformation” is in constant development, expansion of travel services, keeping up with the technological progress, and always making our clients’ needs the first priority. The company’s owner Alexei Khodorkovsky deserves a lot of credit for constantly pushing Go To Russia to develop. It was thanks to Alexei’s drive that our company has evolved from a small visa agency into a full-service travel-management company. Alexei started working alone from his home office in October of 1998. In the beginning, he was processing just a few visas. In 1999, the company partnered with a large Moscow travel agency, and from that time on we have started offering multiple travel services.  With time, we have added more staff, got a separate office, and a more functional web-site. In 2003, we have opened up the office in San-Francisco, in 2005, an office in Moscow. In July of 2008, we have opened our own Atlanta Sheremetyevo Hotel near Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, and since then it’s has become very popular with transit passengers. Today, a team of 50 travel professionals works at the company’s offices in Atlanta, San-Francisco, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, and Lithuania.

–  There is a number of agencies specializing in traveling to Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union on the market today. What makes your company stand out among them?

– Our main difference is that we offer the complete package of travel services which we process in-house. You won’t find that the same agencies that process visas and arrange tickets also book your hotel room, pick you up at the airport, and register your visa. Most American travel agencies, for example, do not handle passport and visa processing and usually either refer their clients to visa agencies, or take client’s documents and send them to a visa agency themselves. Visa agencies, in their turn, do not offer travel services. The staff at Go To Russia offers all these services through our several departments. So, a client  won’t need to contact different agencies for different services, and the whole trip can be arranged in one place.

Our relatively narrow specialization (Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union) also makes us somewhat unique among the average travel agencies. We mostly advertise Russia, considering it a promising market for leisure and business travel. And, of course, we are happy to offer our services to the immigrants from Russia and the countries of the Soviet Union wishing to visit their home countries.   

–  What is your main clientele? Is it the Russian-American living in the United States and visiting the home country from time to time? Or, is it an American businessman working with Russia? Or an American man looking to find his soul mate in Russia?..

– All of these categories of clients use our services. We also have a lot of requests from adoptive families, students and teachers, journalists and missionaries. We work closely with a number of large corporations that send their employees to Russia on business. We also have a lot of clients looking to find their life companion in Russia. Our staff has extensive experience in dealing with various categories of clients and can find a personal approach to every one of them, understand their situation and satisfy even the most unusual requests. Sometimes, as “an extra service,” our staff members have to give geography lessons, teach computer basics, and even provide psychological help. Some clients  do not know how to pronounce the name of the city they are visiting in Russia. Some need assistance with spelling “Atlanta” in our address. Some think that to send a copy of their passport by fax, they will need to get their original passports to go through the fax machine. For some, providing a passport photo means cutting it out from their passport. Some get surprised when we tell them that in Russia, people do not use the photos of themselves in bikinis in passports and that a photo in the passport of their Russian “bride” sent to them by e-mail most likely had been cut out of a fashion magazine.

–  As I understood, Go To Russia largely caters to business people. So, what can you do for, let’s say, Joe from Texas, who decides to find partners in the oil industry in Russia. Can you help him decide what trade shows he needs to take part in, organize his company’s presentation in Russia?.. Can you help him find business partners? 

– Our specialty is travel, i.e. we can help Joe from Texas or any other state get a U.S. passport, a visa to Russia, arrange tickets and accommodations in Russia, pick him up at the airport, organize tours and tickets to performances, assign a guide or an interpreter on his request, etc. Business partner search and arrangement of presentations are not our specialty yet, although you have just given us a great business idea. As far as trade shows, conferences, and other business events taking place in large Russian cities, especially in Moscow, because we serve their participants (foreigners as well as business people from Russia),  our employees at the Moscow office usually know well when, where, and what is happening and are always glad to share this information with interested customers.

– You must have quite a few corporate clients... These clients usually prefer the whole complex of travel services. What can they get from you?

– Our corporate clients know they can trust us with all aspects of their trip to Russia. Many companies working with us, have access to their individual online accounts through our web-site. Online orders simplify the process of booking of various travel services, especially visa support (visa invitations for clients applying for their own visas) or apartment booking. The prices we offer to our corporate clients are lower than the retail prices. We also offer special discounts and bonuses to our corporate clients.

Almost all of our corporate clients need visas. We can arrange the tourist visa to Russia as fast as in two days, a business visa valid for up to three months as fast as in three work days, and a business multiple entry visa in a week. Of course, the shorter processing time is, the more expensive the visa service is, however, for many business customers time, is more important than money. In any case, our prices are among the lowest on the visa service market.  In addition to visas to Russia and the countries of the former Soviet Union, we also offer visa assistance with visas to China, India, Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt, and a number of other countries. We also help with U.S. passports for U.S. citizens, refugees, and Green Card holders.

Many of our customers  coming to Russia for a week and longer prefer staying at our serviced apartments, where they are guaranteed home-like comfort, ideal service and prices lower than in hotels. Go To Russia manages dozens of serviced apartments centrally located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and offers apartment accommodations in many European cities through its web-site www.apartmentres.com.  The idea of serviced apartments is getting more popular with corporate clients and leisure travelers. In addition to standard features like fully-equipped kitchens, ACs, furniture, and all necessary household items,  our apartments in Moscow and St. Petersburg offer free Internet access, unlimited free international and domestic phone calls, and cable TV (with channels in foreign languages). Our clients also like that, for instance, in Moscow, we provide  24/7  support over the telephone, take care of visa registration, can arrange a car with a driver, tour guides and interpreters, and often offer various discounts and bonuses. Thus, now all our Moscow and St. Petersburg apartment guests staying for six and more nights will receive “the anti-crisis packages” – a bottle of Russia vodka, red caviar, and a metro trip card.

– Many Americans traveling around Russia are afraid that something unfortunate can happen to them and that they will be left there helpless and alone. What if your client loses his/her passport, or misses a flight or a train? How can you help them in these situations? 

– We are always ready to help our clients in any situation they find themselves in, and with offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Kiev we can do it more efficiently. First, we always encourage our clients to think positively but be aware of basic safety measures during their travels. Sometimes it is hard to break the existing stereotype of Russia as being an unsafe country, and we try to educate our clients on all possible problems they might encounter during their trip (loss of passport or issues with the local police, to name the most frequent ones), but, at the same time, the client should feel comfortable enough to enjoy his stay in Russia. We always stress the importance of carefully checking all the travel documents (validity, correct spelling, etc.) as this is usually the main reason for problems with the local police. We also strongly recommend not to drive in Russia, not to carry passport, money, and other valuables in easily-accessible travel pouches, avoid walking in less– touristy areas in the middle of the night – the most basic things that come to mind when traveling and the most common ones to get ignored by travelers. If an unpleasant situation does happen, we always do our best to help our clients – some need assistance with visa registration in the less-frequently visited places (the Caucasus region, for example), others need the departure permit in case if the visa is lost or expired. We also help find a new flight if the original one is missed or canceled, return and exchange train and airline tickets, assist with an interpreter in cities where we have no representative offices. Our ticketing department staff often spends long hours on the phone with airline representatives, trying to help our customers solve their problems. Our staff members deal with situations where clients need to exchange, cancels, or return tickets very often. For instance, for some adoptive families the process of adoption gets extended, or, on the contrary, gets completed earlier than planned, and they need to change the departure date. Some clients’ visas are expiring, but they need to stay in Russia longer and we are prepared to get urgently a new visa invitation and arrange a trip to neighboring Finland or the Baltic states for a client to apply for a new visa at the Russian consulate there. We also deal with “change of heart” situations quite often – when a foreign gentleman arrives in Melitopol, for instance, planning to spend a week with a potential future wife, but after the first date  both realize that they are not meant to be together. A man finds himself in a small remote place with nothing to do, so we come up with the travel itinerary for him to enjoy his week in Ukraine and to avoid the penalty for changing the departure date. We can probably write a whole book about the situations our travelers get into sometimes.

– You have recently opened the hotel near Moscow with hourly room rentals. Can you tell me more about it?..

– Our new Atlanta Sheremetyevo Hotel opened last summer and since then has become extremely popular with transit travelers. The hotel is in a 10-minute car ride from Sheremetyevo Airport and located in a residential area of Sheremetyevo village on a guarded and secured territory. Hotel guests enjoy the complementary shuttle services from both terminals of Sheremetyevo airport. The hotel is a three-story building with the restaurant (serving Russian and European cuisine) and bar, a separate two-story cottage with a Russian sauna. Our hotel is ideal for transit passengers because we offer hourly rates. A lot of our clients, such as adoptive families, use the benefit of hourly rates when they travel with children adopted from remote cities (Kemerovo, Samara, etc.). In addition to standard furniture, we offer baby cribs in many rooms. The prices for the rooms at Atlanta Sheremetyevo Hotel are lower in general than in hotels located near the Moscow airports. Using a six– to twelve-hour rent also helps save money. So far, no client of ours could resist a free pick up at the customs and shuttle to the hotel, accommodation in a comfortable private room for about USD 60 for six hours (which is very reasonable for Moscow standards), a nice warm shower, a hot meal at a restaurant, and, if time permits, even relaxation in the sauna. 

– VIP-travelers is a separate group of clients. They don’t want just a tour, they ask for a submarine tour,  or they don’t want just the airline ticket – they want to fly a MiG. Do you cater to clients of this category?

– We have clients who are willing to spend the money to satisfy their whims. Our clients flew MiGs, rode tanks, and rented the most expensive hotel suites. VIP-halls in Sheremetyevo, Pulkovo, and Borispol airports are very popular with such clientele. These halls guarantee speedy passport control, check-in, security and customs control without the hassles of dealing with airport officials. We have served pop-stars, the CEOs of large companies, film industry executives, etc. Of course, such clients need special treatment and most importantly speedy service. When at 5 pm I get the order for VIP-service for Patricia Kaas who will be arriving in Domodedovo the next day, I must immediately contact our Moscow office, even though it is very early there. When I get a call from a visa agency in New York that asks me to get a visa invitation for Donald Trump’s trip to Kazakhstan in three days, I know that someone in Almaty will have to wake up in the middle of the night to fill this order.

– What are the most popular routes in Russia among American travelers?

– Moscow and St. Petersburg with no doubt take the first place in popularity. These cities attract millions of visitors with their abundance of sightseeing opportunities, as well as with the largest number of foreign companies’ representatives. In addition to the tours in these two cities, we also offer trips to the Golden Ring Cities, river cruises to Kizhi and Valaam islands. Also, the Transsiberian railroad trip is very popular with stops in Yekaterinburg, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, and often is continued to Mongolia and China. The most popular route for these clients is Moscow-Beijing. Ukraine is also a popular destination, especially after it stopped requiring entry visa for U.S. tourists.

Main office:

309 Peters Street SW, Unit A,

Atlanta, GA 30313

1-888-263-0023 or 1-404-827-0099,

ext. 31. Fax: 1-404-827-0435

San Francisco office:

1804 Union Street,

San Francisco, CA 94123

1-888-217-1178 or 1-415-593-4455.

Fax: 1-415-593-4456

Moscow office:

Go To Russia Travel/InterGrand

24/6 Bolshoy Sergievskiy Pereulok,

107045 Moscow, Russia

Tel. 7-495-739-5681, 7-495-225-5012, Fax 7-495-624-7637

www.GoToRussia.com

www.AllRussianHotels.com

www.ApartmentRes.com

www.AllRussianTours.com

www.TicketToRussia.com

www.AtlantaHotel.ru