03 Sep Powered by Performance, Driven by Family: Inside Astro Travel’s Fleet
On August 25, 2025, Prevost featured Astro Travel & Tours on its website—spotlighting a partnership that’s been decades in the making and a family story that continues to shape how groups travel across the Southeast. We’re honored by the recognition, and we wanted to share a little more with you ” from the Astro side of the windshield.
From Travel Agency Roots to Motorcoach Leadership
Astro’s journey began in 1970, when Hurley Rudd and Frank Hazelton launched a full-service travel agency in Tallahassee. Airline tickets. Cruises. Hotel bookings. International itineraries. We did it all.
A few years later, a high-school football standout turned radio DJ—Charlie Hunter—joined the team as general manager. Charlie married his high-school sweetheart, Rachel, put down roots in Tallahassee, and poured himself into the business. After Mr. Hazelton’s passing in the late 1980s, Charlie became a minority owner, then sole owner in 1997. Along the way, he purchased its first bus, a 24-passenger Turtle Top, and began acquiring Prevost Le Mirage models and an early H3-45 with help from coach salesman Dan Wiltgen.
As the internet reshaped the travel industry—and the post-9/11 era changed how people moved—Astro made a pivotal choice. We transitioned from a traditional agency to a motorcoach-first company and moved into a four-acre operations campus to support our growing fleet and service capabilities.
In 2013, Charlie and Rachel’s daughter Brandi and her husband Matt Brown stepped into leadership. They doubled down on a vision that felt both simple and ambitious: build an incredibly dependable fleet, staffed by professional drivers, and deliver the safest, smoothest group-travel experience we could possibly offer.
Why Astro? —In a Word, Confidence
For us, Safety, Reliability, and Service isn’t a tagline. It’s a promise we live up to trip after trip.
• Ride quality that shows in our riders successes. The H3-45’s stable platform and quiet cabin help athletes arrive focused, students arrive rested, and executives arrive ready.
• Driver-first cockpit. When you put professionals in a thoughtfully designed driver’s area—clear sightlines, well-placed controls, less clutter—they can do their best work. As Matt says, “It’s not just a coach; it’s their office.”
• Uptime that protects our clients. Breakdowns are rare, but if something happens, Prevost’s response is immediate—replacement coaches, mobile service vans, and a support team that knows our operation inside and out.
Two names deserve special mention: Eric DeGeorge and Robert Hitt, our Prevost customer support managers. Eric visits often and calls our head technician, Luke Moyer, every Monday to review weekend performance. It’s automatic. It’s proactive. And it’s a big reason we can say “yes” with confidence to complex itineraries on tight timelines.
The Fleet Today (and What’s Next)
When Brandi and Matt took the helm in 2013, Astro operated 12 Prevost coaches. Today, we’re at 26 toatl vehicles that range in size from 13 passenger sprinters all the way up to the full size 56 passenger version, including two 2024 H3-45s and two 2025 H3-45s, with two model-year 2026 coaches scheduled for delivery in September 2025. Every addition is intentional: newer equipment means better efficiency, more amenities, and a consistent experience across the fleet.
Where do these coaches roll? Just about everywhere groups need to go—college and professional sports, school field trips, military movements, corporate and convention shuttles, sightseeing, theme parks, and weddings. If your itinerary requires precision, we’ve built the fleet and the systems to deliver it.
A Century of Craft, Seen Up Close
This partnership came full circle during Prevost’s 100th-anniversary celebration in Canada. For Brandi and Matt, it was a first: first time visiting the plant, first time in Canada—and first time watching an Astro coach roll off the line with their names on the build. That moment—plus the chance to meet the people behind the product—reinforced what we’ve felt for years. When you care about the details, the big picture takes care of itself.
“Astro’s partnership with Prevost has been a gigantic part of what has made us one of the elite motorcoach providers in the Southeast all these decades. It’s allowed us to be as good as we are.” — Matt Brown, President & CEO
What a Prevost + Astro Trip Means for Your Group
Safety, backed by systems. A modern fleet, rigorous maintenance, and drivers who treat the cockpit like a craft.
Comfort that travels. Quieter cabins, panoramic views, plush seating, premium climate control.
Reliability you can plan around. Proactive support, real-time communication, and a team that solves problems before they reach your itinerary.
Local know-how. We’re Tallahassee-based but Southeastern by design—seasoned with campus, stadium, base, venue, and hotel logistics all across the Southeast.
The Astro Way Continues
We’re proud that Prevost told our story. But more than anything, we’re proud of the people who make the story worth telling—our drivers, technicians, dispatchers, detailers, and the clients who trust us with their most important travel days.
If you’re planning a school trip, a bowl-bound weekend, a military movement, a corporate program, wedding shuttles, or a Florida theme-park adventure, we’d love to help you move together—efficiently, effortlessly, and in comfort.
Read the Prevost feature: (https://prevostcar.com/news/astro-travel-and-tours-family-legacy-powered-prevoste)