Tracy Michaels stumbled into the travel agency business 11 years ago when she became a silent partner in Flying Dutchmen Travel, an agency in Santa Rosa, Calif.
Michaels, who had previously worked in sales, didn't sit idly by for long. She saw an opportunity that has more than doubled Flying Dutchmen's business, pushing sales to $20 million since 1998. The opportunity was, in a word, groups.
Nine years ago, Michaels and co-owner Ann Macker heard that local adult-contemporary radio station KZST needed a travel agency to handle its annual group cruise for its listener base, and it needed the agency fast.
Michaels met with the station manager one afternoon and that evening asked her agency's I.T. specialist to develop a cruise database management program overnight. By 9 o'clock the next morning, the program was on her desk, ready to present to the station a few hours later. Flying Dutchmen got the gig.
For years, the agency arranged either Mexico or Caribbean cruises for the station, not sure that its customers would pony up for a more exotic or Europe cruise, Michaels said. The largest of the cruises operated in 2005, when 1,200 clients signed on for a Mexico cruise to celebrate the station's 20th anniversary.
In 2007 the agency and the radio station took the plunge with a higher-priced Europe cruise, and 600 people booked. For 2009, a Greek isles cruise is in the works.
The agency, which has a full-time staff of 11 employees, handles all the components of the group departures, including air, transfers and pre- and post-trip offerings.
The real benefit of the agency-station relationship is not about money from the cruise sales. "It's about the on-air advertising," said Michaels. "Our agency is mentioned 10 to 12 times a day during the advertising campaign. You can't buy that. And the brand loyalty that people have with this station is incredible."
The agency's customer base has grown as a result. Using KZST as a launching pad, Flying Dutchmen expanded to handling cruises for other radio stations and for musician and former TV host John Tesh, who has a loyal fan base of cruise clients.
Michaels and Macker attribute their success to two factors: First, they entered the agency business just as airline commission cuts occurred, so they never expected to make money from air tickets. "We're businesspeople who bought a travel agency rather than travel people who bought an agency. We took the commission cuts in stride and moved on," Michaels said.
She added: "What I've learned is that people will call, and if you give them 'wow' customer service, they will abandon whatever travel agency they are working with. We make an impression on them with service prior to the cruise, during the cruise and when they come home, and they see a thank-you note in the mail. That's the opportunity to close a future deal."
The other factor is the agency's membership in the Signature Travel Group, a California-based consortium. Signature, she said, "turned two businesspeople into travel professionals."
The potential for group cruises seems boundless, Michaels said. She recently flew to Miami to talk with Kimberley Locke, a pop singer and former "American Idol" contestant whose fan club will be organizing a cruise through Flying Dutchmen next year.
Michaels inked an agreement with a national Corvette owners' club. And she's expanding the group cruise business to Sonoma County wineries. Members of their wine clubs are as enthusiastic about sailing with wine makers as radio listeners are keen on taking a cruise with radio personalities.
The agency's first such project was a cruise for Ferrari-Carano winery, marketed to its 1,200 wine club members. Fifty cabins on an Oceania Cruises itinerary sold in the first 30 days. Flying Dutchmen packaged the cruise with lots of extras: Wine club managers and wine makers join clients onboard, a bottle of wine is delivered to each cabin, the winery's wines are served nightly at dinner and wine tastings and a wine maker's dinner are scheduled on each cruise.
"It's a one-of-a-kind cruise, and the wineries do it for the same reason the radio station does the cruises: It's about brand loyalty," Michaels said.
Michaels also specializes in custom African safaris for groups, turning some of the radio station's cruisers into safari goers. "If you use groups the way you ought to, they become food for your travel agency permanently. Groups are the opportunity for a vibrant client base."
Perfect Itinerary
On safari in Kenya
Tracy Michaels, co-owner of Flying Dutchmen Travel in Santa Rosa, Calif., organized and will lead this African safari, with Park East as the ground operator. The trip begins with a KLM flight from San Francisco to Amsterdam, connecting to Nairobi, Kenya, and a night at the Nairobi Serena Hotel.
Day 1: Drive to the National Museum in Nairobi, renowned for its exhibits on human evolution, mammals, birds and other flora and fauna of East Africa, including the world's largest collection of butterflies. Later, visit the education center at Giraffe Manor, where guests hand-feed the rare Rothschild giraffe. Attend a welcome cocktail party and dinner. Overnight at Nairobi Serena Hotel.
Day 2: Drive north to the Aberdares, set on the eastern wall of the Great Rift Valley. Lunch at the Aberdare Country Club, noted for its views of Mount Kenya. Overnight is at the Ark, where every deck is an observation platform. At dusk, birds and bushbuck are joined at the Ark's waterhole by elephant and buffalo; rhino and giant forest hogs come in to sample the salt lick.
Days 3 and 4: Drive to the northern Kenya scrublands and Samburu Game Reserve. Physically dramatic, with a great table mountain called Lolokwe in the background, the reserve bakes dry for most of the year. The broad, green ribbon of acacia, doums palms and tamarind trees along the Uaso Nyiro River provides welcome relief. The river provides pools for hippos and sand spits for basking crocodiles. Spend two days in Samburu Game Reserve. Animals include long-neck gerenuks, reticulated giraffes, Grevy's zebras, endangered Beisa oryxes and blue-shanked Somali ostriches, all common to the northern province. Watch for elephants, rhinos, lions and buffaloes, as well. Stay at a stone lodge on the edge of the Samburu Reserve; its design was inspired by the traditions of the Samburu tribe.
Day 5: Drive to the Mount Kenya Safari Club. Enjoy the club's heated swimming pool, golf, tennis and fishing while surrounded by hundreds of exotic birds that roam about the grounds.
Day 6: Masai Mara Game Reserve. See Africa from a different perspective as you fly over the sweeping landscapes. Accommodations for the next five nights overlook endless, game-filled plains and are shaded by the dense forest canopy. Kichwa Tembo, a tent camp, is nestled below the Oloololo escarpment on the western boundary of the Masai Mara Reserve. With the Ilkarsekeshe Masai tribe as its keeper, Kichwa Tembo offers a glimpse into the tribe's nomadic lifestyle. But it is the sight of more than a million wildebeests and zebras braving the Mara River in their stampede toward the northern Mara grasslands each July to September for which Kichwa Tembo is renowned.
Days 7, 8, 9 and 10: Exploration of the Masai Mara reserve by minivan. Optional activities include a hot-air balloon flight (upon landing, sit down to a champagne breakfast in the midst of the African bush) and a visit to Lake Victoria, the second-largest freshwater lake in the world and source of the Nile River. Take a scenic, early-morning flight to Rusinga Island Camp.
Day 12: A last chance to photograph the wildlife of the Masai Mara before flying to Nairobi. Accommodations are a day room at the Nairobi Serena Hotel. At night, you will be escorted to the airport for your flight home.