Become a Home Based Travel Agent

Interview with Bo Adams,
Founder and President of City Escape Holidays
City Package and Special Events Tour Operator
Marina del Rey, California

I first met Bo decades ago when Peter Ueberroth was running a complex of travel companies in the San Fernando Valley during what I would call the heyday in our industry. Ueberroth was opening a travel agency a day (Ask Mr. Foster) and Bo ran a separate company owned by Ueberroth that was wildly successful. We have been friends ever since. Bo allowed us to write about our HBTACommunity.com social community in his last newsletter, so I thought I would return the favor this month. Bo agreed to let me interview him and here is the conversation. It contains some sage advice for an industry professional.

TOM: Bo, you have been doing this for 40 years. What do you think of this downturn?

BO: Without question, this is the toughest stretch I have ever seen. It is quite different from the other five downturns that I have seen the travel industry fight through. When we look back on this, I truly feel it will have ranked somewhere between a recession and the Great Depression.

TOM: Do you think it has changed the industry for good?

BO: This industry has been changing constantly for thirty years. If there is anything that has accelerated, from a change point-of-view, it is the pace of agency consolidation. More is at work against retail travel agencies than ever before....United Airlines trying to off-load credit card fees to agencies is just the latest major headache to survival. I have been saying for many years that travel agencies should not be selling air. Generally, it is a losing proposition. If you look at the fact that the airlines worked so hard to eliminate agency commissions, the same agencies that once sold 80% of airline seats, and those airlines still have trouble making money.....well, the airlines have become a huge commodity and I no longer consider them to be a part of the travel business. But the best thing that had happened in the past twenty years is travel agents realizing that customers would not be scared away by service fees and that the professional knowledge of travel planners is worth the price tag!

TOM: Do you still work exclusively with travel agencies?

BO: Yes, in all those forty years, we have worked exclusively with the travel agency distribution system. What is good for them is good for us. What is bad for them is bad for us. We have always appreciated their great support.

TOM: What have you been doing to weather the storm.

BO: You know, the thing about City Packages is that there is always a market for them. Whether it is a long weekend stay, or a full vacation, we have products across the USA and Canada that customers can take on an independent or group basis. In fact, during these challenging times, we have added product!

TOM: Where to?

BO: Memphis, for one. I was surprised how many people are “Elvis freaks”. We have also re-launched Canada cities when the dollar reversed and got stronger against the Canadian Dollar. We also added more product in New Orleans, which is still recovering from Katrina. But our biggest area of product development has been in the Special Events area. We added programs to the BCS College Football Championship, French Quarter Festival, MLB All Star Game, Essence Festival and the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC. We even launched a new website to remind agents that we do more than just cities: www.SpecialEventPackages.com

TOM: Been busy, huh?

BO: Just responding to demand.

TOM: Are their any Specials you are offering now?

BO: Tom, I have never seen so many specials. We have something going in most of our 24 cities. After we printed our 2009 brochures, almost every hotel in New York came back with reduced rates. New York is still our biggest destination, even in this downturn......and  when you get the Marriott Marquis giving us the opportunity to offer customers 1 free night when two or three night packages are purchased, and 2 free nights when four or five nights are purchased, well that keeps the phones ringing.

I have found it necessary to get out our Newsletter once every ten days, rather than twice a month. Agents who wish to receive it should just give us a call (800.222.0022)

TOM: Any closing thoughts?

BO: Just that this too will pass. Hang tough, be creative, don't sell anything non-revenue producing travel products. Oh yeah, and if your agency is a consortia member....really push those preferred suppliers!

TOM: Sound advice!

BO: You bet, Tom, always has been and always will be.  Thanks for the opportunity!