Luxury Travel Advisor - October 2008 - (Page 46)

COVER STORY Coastline Travel Advisors Jay Johnson Directs a Youth Movement in the Luxury Arena F our years ago, Jay Johnson, president of Coastline Travel Advisors in Orange County, CA, was getting along just fine. His cruise-based agency was generating good revenue from the affluent Southern California market. He’d been in the business for 18 years (having joined his father’s existing travel agency) and certainly enjoyed this gig more than his former one, working as a high school football coach at Newport Harbor. The travel agents who had been with him for years were doing fine, too, working throughout the day on selling Caribbean, Mexico and Alaska cruises over and over again, then leaving promptly at five. Then Leah came along. Leah Smith, that is, a recent college graduate who responded to a Monster.com ad for an accounting position at the company. Befuddled that someone so fresh out of school would want to enter the travel agency business, Johnson took a risk and hired her. One day, Johnson overheard Smith speaking confidently to a client about an African safari trip; it was a conversation she’d encountered by simply picking up a ringing phone. Johnson moved the 23-year-old over to sales, and that was when the questions began. “Why are we not selling trips to Africa? What about Mongolia? What about Asia? Why are we not doing these things?” Smith asked. Johnson explained that his clients didn’t want that. “You’re just not asking them!” Smith responded resoundingly. That’s when the shift at Coastline Travel Advisors began. Starting with Johnson’s long-standing database of customers, Smith migrated a large balance of the agency’s business to high-end FITs, including adventure travel and safaris. She joined Virtuoso’s Local Business Development (LBD) program and became an expert at selling Silversea. On her own, she held an African themed event at a restaurant in Laguna Beach, having convinced suppliers such as Micato Safaris, South African Airways and Cape Grace to sponsor it. So many people RSVP’d that the agency had to host two evening events to COASTLINE TRAVEL ADVISORS President: Jay Johnson Headquarters: Garden Grove (Orange County), CA Affiliations: Virtuoso, Virgin Galactic Employees: 10 onsite agents, and five independent contractors Annual Revenue: $7.5 million Website: www.coastlinetravel.com accommodate them. “She completely changed the dynamics of the office, the staff and the markets we were going after. Leah literally caused our transformation from a 90-percent cruise agency to one that sells the world and sells dreams,” says Johnson. “All of a sudden, we were booking amazing African safaris, trips to Vietnam, culinary trips and all these great things. It took someone with a new vision of saying, ‘Why not? Why can’t I do this?’” Coastline Travel Advisors was on a roll, but two years into it all, Smith decided to enroll in the Cornell School of Hotel Administration to get her MBA, promising she’d return. Unwilling to let the momentum ebb, Johnson hired three new 20-something agents to replace Smith and to service his growing business. Then another two. The new players were Vanessa SawtellJones, Caitlin Murphy, Kate Mulder, Leah Bergner and Donna Padilla. Although each has unique qualities, Johnson says several attributes unify the group. “They all have four-year degrees, they’re all smart and they all came into this business really not knowing anything other than that they love to travel. They’re passionate about travel and they’re young and they have young ideas.” Case in point: Shortly after Kenya’s tourism took a hit earlier this year due to political BY RUTHANNE TERRERO 46 LUXURY TRAVEL ADVISOR | October 2008 http://www.Monster.com http://www.coastlinetravel.com

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Luxury Travel Advisor - October 2008 Contents Publisher's Letter Editor's Letter Glasgow Greece & Cyprus Private Islands Park Hotel Weggis Mexico Private Yachts MS Europa Coastline Travel Awards of Excellence The Pulse Just Back Luxury Travel Expo Sightings Source List

Luxury Travel Advisor - October 2008

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