Black Tomato has launched a new service called The Rider to help families communicate their needs and requirements ahead of their trip. 

The new service takes inspiration from the entertainment industry, where a ‘rider’ is the personal list of things that musicians and actors request for their green rooms and hotels.

Black Tomato clients can formulate their own ‘rider’, where they can request specific items like private gym equipment or iPads for kids and share key information such as allergies and intolerances, food and drink preferences and whether they are travelling with pets.

Black Tomato co-founder Tom Marchant said The Rider was an “evolution” of what the luxury travel brand had already been offering the family market, which makes up more than 50% of its total sales.

He said: "At Black Tomato, the family market is our centre of gravity, accounting for about 55% of sales. For us, we’ve always been about the details, but formalising our service for keeping tabs on how our family clients prefer to travel and ensuring we have each family’s essentials - large and small - to help inspire and shape every tailor-made family adventure, is a natural progression and a key part of any Black Tomato family trip.

“Going beyond knowledge such as allergies and intolerances, we’re focused on the nitty-gritty and intimate information, such as specific nap times, favourite drinks and snacks, and car seat preferences, to favourite music and games, and important items such as black out blinds in bedrooms – which any sleep deprived parent can attest the value of. 

“As a parent myself, I know first-hand how having these fundamentals taken care of paves the way for a relaxing, smooth and comfortable time away for all."      

Black Tomato said The Rider had already been used by an avid astronomer client who wanted a high-quality reflector telescope at their private villa buyout; a traveller who wished to have a particular brand of bourbon in every room they stayed in; and a family with a child prone to car-sickness, for whom Black Tomato arranged alternative options for transfers and collections, as well as motion sickness tablets.