Travel Agent - July 7, 2008 - (Page 61)

W ENDY GOODENOW is a second-generation travel agent who knows the business inside and out. A 30-year veteran, she’s currently the owner of HNL Travel Associates, the only Virtuoso agency in Hawaii. in the media and emphasize that one of the great things about being an American is our freedom to travel. Being Hawaiians, we live on islands— we have to fly to get anywhere.” Hawaii has been rocked by recent airline bankruptcies and closings. “Inter-island flights are pretty full since Aloha closed, and of course the prices went up,” says Goodenow. Goodenow’s agency does lots of cruises and lots of FIT custom trips. “Outbound travel from Hawaii is pretty much anything except the Caribbean and Mexico,” says Goodenow. “People in Hawaii are looking for a different setting when they travel.” “In 1995, there was only one Virtuoso agency in Hawaii,” remembers Goodenow. “When it was sold, Virtuoso rules required that the sold agency had to reapply to become a member. At the same time, our Seabourn sales manager invited us to join Virtuoso. A few months later another agency applied, so in six months we had three Virtuoso agencies within two miles of each other.” Long story short, one agency closed and HNL Travel Associates bought the original Virtuoso agency, Carl Erdman Travel, in 2000. Goodenow was born and raised in Honolulu. After high school, she left the islands to attend Linfield College in Oregon. This led to stints in banking and the restaurant business. “When my father died in 1981, I was the only member of the family that was free to go home to Honolulu and help my mom in her travel agency, Four Seasons Travel,” says Goodenow. She credits her mother as being her mentor. Travel agents may remember Goodenow’s mother, Marney Guy. Goodenow is the immediate past president of the American Society of Travel Agents, Hawaii Chapter, the same position her mother held back in the mid 1980s. “I can usually raise a few eyebrows when I tell people I was a Guy before I was married,” jokes Goodenow. Goodenow worked at Four Seasons Travel for 10 years. “My mother wanted to give me the agency,” she says. “But I wasn’t comfortable running it by myself, so we closed it.” Four years later, Goodenow was offered the opportunity to buy into HNL Travel Associates, partnering with Mary Lou Lewis. Goodenow took the offer and never looked back, eventually becoming majority stockholder in HNL Travel Associates, and successfully growing the business by buying additional agencies. Last month, Goodenow bought the last remaining agency in the Oahu town of Kailua and merged it into HNL Travel Associates. “When I came to HNL, I had a 10-year plan to buy out Mary Lou,” says Goodenow. “I bought an additional 10 percent of the company each year and at the end of 1999 I owned 80 percent of the company. “We have over 400 years of travel experience,” she adds. “My mother is 85 and she still works with me. She alone has over 48 years in the business.” Goodenow describes her business as having a “been there, done that” level of experience. Hearing the name HNL Travel, and realizing it’s based in Honolulu, it would be natural to think the agency was named after the HNL airport code for Honolulu International Airport. Not so. The original owners were Merry Herb and Mary Lou Lewis—thus, HNL stands for “Herb & Lewis.” “After 9/11, we blended the agents from both of our offices into one office, moving Carl Erdman Travel into HNL,” says Goodenow. She remembers the months after 9/11 as being a particularly scary time for sellers of travel. “People stopped traveling. We had to offset the negativity Making It Work HNL Travel Associates has six full-time agents and 35 independent contractors. “In the office, we’re like one big happy family,” says Goodenow. “People come in to work to share their experiences and pitch in to help each other. We have a very friendly atmosphere in the office, although I expect the work to be done when it has to be done. With my independent contractors, I don’t have as much control over them.” Goodenow is firm when she says HNL Travel Associates is not a host agency. “We’re actively involved with all of our agents,” she says. When it comes to the term “home-based agents,” Goodenow has some strong opinions. “I don’t like the term,” she says. “I prefer ‘independent contractor.’ When a person refers to themselves as a home-based agent, to me it connotes a part-time agent.” Goodenow feels it’s important for independent contractors to have some kind of affiliation with a consortia or a brick-and-mortar agency. “Of all the consortia out there, Virtuoso has been the leader all along,” says Goodenow. “The network they’ve created is extraordinary.” She’s also not fond of the term “host agency.” “I’m so hooked on professionalism,” says Goodenow. “Our business has seen too many card mills and too much multilevel marketing.” Goodenow relates a cloak-and-dagger game she played with the help of her husband. “Steve is a private investigator and we dropped into one of the seminars that World Class Travel was giving in Honolulu,” says Goodenow. “This company came to Hawaii and set up an office downtown and began putting out the word, ‘How would you like to travel like a travel agent?’” Goodenow remembers the company’s spiel as one outlining how potential travel agents can sign up for a fee and then rope their friends into paying for travel. “World Class Travel eventually bit the dust,” says Goodenow. Goodenow compares the multilevel marketers to Amway. “They’re not set up for the purpose of travel,” she says. “Instead, they hook people in to sell travel to their friends and relatives. There’s no customer relationship.” Goodenow notes that whether you’re running a bank, restaurant or travel agency, it all comes down to service. Instead of discounting, Goodenow prefers to offer added value to her clients. “I tend to put in a little added-value surprise in a client’s trip,” she says. “For example, I sent a young couple to Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand on a honeymoon. When they were visiting one of the temples in Angkor Wat, I’d prearranged for them to have a special blessing. It was totally unexpected and they were really touched by the experience.” Goodenow says that the ability to orchestrate these surprises is due directly to the agency’s relationship with Virtuoso and their suppliers. “It CONTINUED ON PAGE 62 July, 7 2008 TravelAgent | 61

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Travel Agent - July 7, 2008

Travel Agent - July 7, 2008 Online Now Contents Contributors From the Editor Europe: History and a Scenic Landscape Define Normandy Pacific/Asia: Kuala Lumpur Offers Luxury Shopping and Hotels Hawaii: Honolulu’s Nightlife is as Dazzling as its Sunshine Canada: VIA Rail Offers a New Way to Enjoy the Great North Las Vegas: Hotels and Casinos Away From the Strip Florida: Hilton Daytona Beach Offers Budget-Friendly Packages Central & South America: Panama is Poised to Become a Hot Destination Mexico: The ME Cancún Targets an Upscale Clientele Caribbean: Maxim Opens a New Resort in Puerto Plata The Latest News and Notes from Dominica Cruises: A CLIA Study Offers Good News About Cruising Cartagena and Santa Marta Offer Two Different Sides of Columbia Cover Story: Wendy Goodenow Industry In Crisis: A New Report Offers a Gloomy Forecast for the Airline Industry Hotels: Prince Edward Island Celebrates Anne of Green Gables EZGuider: Vacation.com Launches a New Platform Agenda: Fam Trips, Deals & Incentives, Calendar Opinion Consortia Can Be An Agent’s Best Friend MLT Expands Roles and Offerings Malaysia Continues Agent Push In the Spotlight Agent Access Classified Marketplace Editorial Index Advertising Index Trendwatch

Travel Agent - July 7, 2008

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