Ovation Travel Group is sunsetting the names Ovation
Vacations and Ovation Corporate Travel, its leisure and corporate businesses,
in favor of the simpler moniker Ovation.
At the same time, the agency -- No. 20 on Travel Weekly's
2018 Power List -- has brought on a new executive to head its efforts to
recruit more independent contractors (ICs) around the country.
Ovation's flagship company, Lawyers Travel, will remain a
separate division.
Paul Metselaar
"What we want is everyone outside of the legal
industry, both on the corporate and leisure side, to just know us as Ovation,"
chairman and CEO Paul Metselaar said. "It's just simpler. We think it's a
great name, a great brand."
Ovation's roots are in corporate travel. Metselaar,
originally a lawyer, left the field 34 years ago when his father owned Travel
Specialists, a small, struggling corporate agency in New York City.
"He basically handed me the keys to this little travel
company," Metselaar recalled. "We had, I think, about four or five
employees and a pretty rough balance sheet."
A newly married, 27-year-old Metselaar got to work
reinvigorating the business, and used his legal chops to establish what was
then called Lawyers Travel Service, focusing on the niche market of traveling
lawyers. At one point, it accounted for about 90% of the business. Today, the
division accounts for about 35% to 40%. Ovation's other areas have grown.
Over the years, Metselaar grew corporate business (which got
a shot in the arm when law firm administrators would leave for other fields but
wanted to retain Lawyers Travel), as well as the leisure side. He merged his
mother's successful leisure agency, Window on the World Travel in Scarsdale,
N.Y., into the company about 25 years ago, forging what would become Ovation
Vacations.
Ovation Travel Group was created about 15 years ago as the
parent of Ovation Vacations, Ovation Corporate Travel and Lawyers Travel.
"Recently, what we decided is that we didn't need these
different names, and we were going to focus on the name Ovation,"
Metselaar said.
Ovation has seen growth on both the corporate and leisure
side. Leisure, in particular, has benefitted from new ICs. Today, Ovation has
around 200, and it's growing "significantly," Metselaar said.
Jack Ezon was previously the head of Ovation Vacations and
its IC operations, but he recently stepped down to head up another business
venture, Embark, also under the Ovation umbrella. Embark is a luxury lifestyle
and travel services company.
Stepping in to head up Ovation's leisure and IC operations
was Gina Gabbard, a former Tzell Travel Group executive who is now Ovation's
senior vice president of leisure and independent advisers.
Ovation's current ICs typically work remotely in the New
York area, Gabbard said. She wants to expand in New York and on the West Coast,
as well.
"As we look to expand our independent adviser family,
we want to make sure that we're not interested in taking just anyone to
sacrifice for growth," Gabbard said. "We really want to make sure
that an independent adviser has the right business mix that is in line with
ours, but also would fit into our culture of innovation."
Gina Gabbard
Ovation is interested in veteran luxury advisers with books
of business and new-to-the-industry agents who will benefit from mentorship and
training programs. Both sets will benefit from a program Ovation plans to
launch, where corporate agents refer leisure business to ICs, Gabbard said.
While Gabbard is looking to grow her IC network, she doesn't
have an ideal number of contractors in mind.
"I do feel very passionate about quality versus
quantity, because what we've heard loud and clear from advisers is that they
want to be part of something special, and they want to be part of a family,"
Gabbard said. "We have that here at Ovation. While you continue to grow,
certainly there's always that risk of losing that. But again, if you focus more
on the quality of the advisers so that they fit into your mix and your passion
and your vision, then I think whatever number we end up with will be the right
number."