So I'm sitting at home last night, watching this chef deconstruct a chicken pot pie on the Food Network, while balancing my 4-year-old on my lap and going through some files from work. By the time I got up, I knew what I wanted to talk about this week.
It's a new decade, and we ought to take a look at some of the ways we do business. Let's deconstruct the typical travel agency, but let's create a new dish in its place.
The average agency has about 5.6 employees. So that's a start. Although we ought to start with a business plan, let's face it, most travel agencies choose a name first and then go from there.
How would we start an agency today that is fit and lean and prepared for today's economic realities? What bath water would we throw out, and what aspects of our business should we retain?
The name should not sound like a travel agency. The word "travel" should not be used. It is so 1950s. The public thinks that travel agents charge more than the Internet. They glance at our store each time they drive by, wondering when we will disappear, absorbed by the Internet juggernaut.
Our name should sound upscale. It should send a signal to the affluent that we speak their language. Our name should scream "affluence spoken here."
For the sake of argument, let's assume that we decide to open a leisure-based agency. How about combining elegance with a statement identifying our niche? That way the public can discern what exactly we do for a living. A novel thought.
So we have meetings back and forth, because you are my co-investors in this new agency. We decide on a name. Our agency letterhead and the sign outside our office will read:
"Abercrombie and Schwartz: Professional Vacation Planners."
In deconstructing the typical agency and building a better model, we next have to decide where we will be located. Strip mall? Free-standing? Office? Megamall? Where will we put this business?
It turns out that one of the earliest studies of our industry, cosponsored by Pan Am some 30 years ago, had it about right. The most significant indicator of travel agency profits, then and now, was a nonvisible location. Agencies located in office buildings rather than street locations are better positioned to actually turn a profit. Nowadays, we might want to add "home-based" to that equation.
Travel agencies that open in crowded shopping areas put faith in the notion that some portion of the humanity squeezing through the door might actually become clients worth cultivating. Those who choose a nonstreet location tend to be reality-based. They trust their own business plan more than they trust the public to discover their services.
Abercrombie and Schwartz stands a better chance of making money in an office location than it would in a location in a busy shopping area. That's because businesses that don't require walk-ins have a focused business model. We all decide to locate A&S on the 11th floor. We've just cut our rent by 50%, and we won't be bothered by moms who want posters for their kid's next geography project.
Now we need a business plan for our newly minted agency model. What exactly will Abercrombie and Schwartz sell?
In our investors meeting, we decide that we will reverse that question. What won't we sell? That is a very important question, and far too few agency owners ask it.
So we begin our list. We decide that we won't book hotel nights unless they are part of a total vacation. We will sell packages from the better wholesalers, cruises of at least seven nights' duration, all-inclusives and four- and five-star, escorted tour programs.
One of our investors says, "I know: Let's just sell the kinds of products we would recommend to our very best friend or our own parents." We all agree that's a plan.
Soon afterward, we decide that it is time to break the chains that link us to our airline "partners." We order airline tickets, exclusively as part of our vacation-planning, through an outside source. They do all of the work, and we split the fees and commissions.
When the class bully kicks you for the 20th time, making it clear that he will never be your friend, it's time to find another playground. So, no, we won't sell airline tickets.
So here we are. The travel pot pie has been deconstructed. Bits of chicken, peas and carrots cover the countertop. Then one of our investors reminds us that we haven't addressed the most important question of all for our new travel firm: How will we sell the products we have selected?
Our investment group is excited, but we are all concerned about rebating and the kind of price shopping that has become so much a part of consumer behavior.
So we decide to make another change in the old agency model. We will never have anyone beat our price, because everything we sell will be exclusive to our firm. We'll customize everything with pre- and post- stays, built-in amenities and creative "extras" that enable us to rebrand existing products. While everyone else is intent on selling apples, we'll sell oranges. Or, as one of our investors suggested, "we'll sell fruit salad."
So our one-week Caribbean all-inclusive includes limousine service to and from the airport, a privately guided tour of the island's nicest homes and a three-day pre-stay at the best hotel on a neighboring island.
Our seven-night cruise out of Rome comes complete with a few relaxing days on the Amalfi coast prior to embarkation, just to unwind from the perils of flight. And when our guests board the ship, they will find that we have themed the experience by providing special gifts and local hosts in ports along the way. Dinner awaits them when they arrive home, tired and in no mood to cook.
This is not your mama's travel agency. This is Abercrombie and Schwartz. I'm excited. We can do this. I just hope no one else has grabbed our name.
Contributing editor Richard Turen owns Churchill and Turen, a vacation-planning firm that has been named to Conde Nast Traveler's list of the World's Top Travel Specialists since the list began. Contact him at rturen@travelweekly.com.