23 years of Service Excellence!

Twenty-four years ago, as we were forming our business plan, mergers and acquisitions were in full stride. Consolidation was changing the landscape as a couple mega-agencies began buying up small, independent shops around the country forming huge national travel agency networks. Honestly, the trend gave us pause. Was the era of small agencies over?

“There will always be a place for Craftsmen.” This was the theme of a speech at an industry conference we attended in Boston in 1984. The speaker’s point was that no matter how many 800-pound gorillas there are in the industry, there will always be a need for smaller agencies that know their clients’ needs and preferences intimately and deliver a very personal service to them. That was the encouragement we needed to proceed with confidence. In those earlier times, agencies were defined by their specialization in either business travel or leisure travel. It occurred to us that niches should relate not to the type of trip but rather to the type of client. WE KNEW AND UNDERSTOOD BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE. Thus, we embarked upon a mission of being EXPERTS in a full field of travel experiences for this certain type of client— busy people that appreciate quality in their travel experiences and, more importantly, in the service and guidance they receive from their travel counselors.

So, in 1985 we opened for business with a clear mission of being a “craftsman-like” agency specializing in busy people who expect service excellence. Our years in the agency business prior to establishing Gateway Express centered upon Corporate Travel including Meetings & Incentives so it was no surprise that in our early years business travel and meeting planning comprised 85% of our business. Today, our leisure business has grown to about 40% of our total business. Our instincts over 20 years ago have been proved right. Those things we knew about the expectations of clients on business trips extended naturally to those of their personal travel.

The evolution of our industry has been remarkable - and mostly positive:

Evolution I—Marketing. The consolidation movement sited above was a total failure. Those new behemoth agencies were impersonal and inflexible. Some went out of business and others converted quickly to franchising in order to regain local ownership and management of each location while presenting “buying power” to it’s members. But, we “independents” countered with the creation of co-op type consortia that could deliver the same—or greater—buying power. Gateway Express is a member of Vacation.com—North America’s Largest Seller of Travel. Representing over 8,000 travel agencies, Vacation.com provides cruise lines and vacation suppliers with more selling clout than any other group including American Express and Carlson Wagonlit.

Evolution II—Technology. More and more of our communication with clients is by email. As you are aware, you can quickly send us a trip research order from a simple form on our website. Oftentimes, when we are discussing your trip, we can “navigate” you to descriptions and pictures of a city in Europe or a resort in Hawaii as we work out the perfect trip for you. It’s all right on our website. Our corporate clients have private, secured pages on our website where their travel management reports reside for their viewing at any time. Quite simply, we couldn’t operate without the Internet!

Evolution III— Efficiency. While some have become “do-it-yourselfers” for simple air ticket purchases, they still rely on us for vacations and more complicated trips. Meanwhile, because there are far fewer truly professional agencies today, we routinely inherit new clients—people who want top service and expertise. So, we now spend much more time on “travel projects” and less time chasing cheap tickets. That has been a healthy evolution for us. The expertise of our veteran agents is being utilized in a more productive manner. We have not just survived; we are flourishing!

But, as much as we might be tempted to pat ourselves on the back, we realize fully that we owe our success to all of you. Without people like you who value professional expertise and exceptional service, where would we be?

We will not lose sight of the fact that you are willing to pay for our services so long as we present true value to you. Put another way, we understand the implied responsibility of charging for our service.