- Dreamliner Luxury Coaches builds plush homes on wheels for touring A-list musicians and their crew.
- The company says it rents its 190 luxury tour buses to musicians like Drake, Doja Cat, and Olivia Rodrigo.
Your favorite musicians probably all use a company you've probably never heard of: Dreamliner Luxury Coaches.
Going on tour involves more than just moving a musician from one city to the next. This is where Dreamliner comes in. The Nashville, Tennessee-based company is no typical bus operator like The Jet or Greyhound. Instead, its bread and butter is providing touring A-list musicians and their crew with luxury hotel rooms on wheels.
You'll definitely recognize some of Dreamliner's clients
The company's genesis can be traced back to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, founder Rich Thomson purchased 12 tour buses from an individual who needed to get out of a personal guarantee. Three years and the acquisition of two more coach operators later, the company now runs a fleet of 190 buses and flexes a Rolodex of celebrity clients like Drake, Olivia Rodrigo, and SZA.
Country musicians — think the likes of Kenny Chesney and Chris Stapleton — rent these coaches annually, Jeremy Maul, Dreamliner's CEO, told Insider. He says he's also helped with all of The Weeknd's tours. According to Maul, even Taylor Swift's team has sought support from Dreamliner, although the singer has been known to travel in her private jets instead.
"We're the bus company you call when you've made it," Maul said, adding that about 95% of its clients are musicians. "We work with the big runs like the Beyoncés and the Zach Bryans."
Besides these celebrities, the company also has corporate clients that will rent for events like meetings and corporate trips. These luxury hotel rooms on wheels are so popular, Thomson says Dreamliner's fleet is on the road for about 300 days a year with the average tour running for approximately 60 days — or longer if it's a country artist.
What it takes to build a fleet of $1.5 million buses
Dreamliner's 190 buses include different layouts like crew, star, and executive. The latter is geared towards corporate clients while "stars" are designed for musicians. The typical "crew" bus — for travelers who support the main act — can accommodate up to 12 people.
For an average arena tour, an artists' team will rent between 10 to 15 buses. For stadium runs like Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, expect 15 to 20.
To build the mobile hotel rooms, Dreamliner typically acquires bus shells with only a dashboard, driver's seat, and steering wheel.
At the company's facilities in Nashville and Fontana, California, these bare-bone vehicles are then outfitted with plush amenities like mattresses with 900-thread-count sheets and bathrooms with showers.
Additions like Nespresso machines, smart TVs, and Le Labo candles create a true luxury feel. Some buses even come with a music studio for artists who want to record on the road.
Dreamliner's CEO says these post-conversion coaches are worth $1.5 million to $2 million each. Rent for one full-service "star" bus starts at $50,000 a month, which includes necessities like a driver, gas, cleaning services, and WiFi.
Following the recent acquisition of Hemphill Brothers, Maul says the company's only competitor is Senator Coaches, which predates Dreamliner. But he says there's a key differentiator between Senator and Dreamliner: The former is focused on massive rock bands like U2 while the latter targets younger artists like Drake and Justin Timberlake.
"We don't have a lot of small entry-level artists," Maul said. "Once you're a bigger band and you're on a larger or year-round tour, that's when you're going to want to work with us."