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Dora Moutafian of Saratoga's D&B Travel--now renamed DM Travel--is moving her travel agency into her Saratoga home.
Photograph by Paul Myers
Changing Itinerary
Some agents move home, others offer service the Internet can't provide
By Shari Kaplan
Photographs by Paul Myers
Dora Moutafian of D & B Travel in Saratoga says that when a person gets involved early on in the travel industry--as she did--"it stays in your blood." Ed Stahl of Travel Advisors of Los Gatos has been similarly affected for four decades, while George Oberle of Saratoga's WesTrav International could hardly avoid it, as he was practically born into it.
Although they share a common passion, each has followed a different path to become--and stay--a successful travel agency owner. Each also has his or her own ideas about where that path is taking them and how to dodge its various obstacles.
One of the biggest obstacles for independent travel agencies, they agree, is the Internet. While originally something of a novelty, travel-based websites like the "big three" of Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz now provide serious competition.
According to recent statistics compiled by the Travel Industry Association, nearly two-thirds of the 90 million travelers who are also Internet users turned to the Internet in some way to make travel plans during 2000. Also in 2000, the TIA reports, approximately 20 million people bought airline tickets online and 15 million booked accommodations online; significant percentages also obtained other goods and services for trips, such as rental cars and theater reservations.
It's a challenging time to be a travel agent--or "travel professional" as Moutafian suggests they be called. But it's not impossible, say these local entrepreneurs. It's just a matter of carving niches, following trends and adapting.
Photograph by Paul Myers
George Oberle operates Saratoga's WesTrav International in very different times than his parents did when they opened West Valley Travel several decades ago.
Born into the Business
Oberle's parents met and married because of their airline jobs: his mother was a stewardess--back when they were called by that title; his father was on a flight crew. "My parents always felt at home with travel, because they traveled the world," Oberle says of their decision to open West Valley Travel in the 1970s.
After high school, Oberle joined the family business for a time, then left to pursue other interests. He returned a few years ago and bought the business from his parents, who had decided it was time to retire. Running the agency himself wasn't the only change.
"Five or 10 years ago, travel agencies were basically [airline] ticket distribution centers. Now we've become more like information dissemination companies," he says of the shift from promoting air travel to promoting almost everything but that.
Providing flight arrangements became problematic even before the Internet boom, Oberle says. Travel agents used to enjoy a 10 percent commission on every ticket sold, which amounted to big bucks on expensive first-class seats and seats on international flights. With deregulation came dropping commissions over the years and ultimately caps of $20 per ticket or 5 percent commission, whichever is less.
On top of this small compensation for the time and work it takes to find clients good ticket deals, is the newer problem of travel websites on the Internet, which are funneling away people who like the money-saving do-it-yourself aspect.
It's not always a savings of time or stress, however.
"The public might not come to us [agencies] for tickets as much, but corporations do," Oberle reveals, adding that agencies themselves will also buy online if that's the best way to give clients a good deal.
"Companies don't want their highly paid engineers to be spending hours on their computers, surfing the web for the best airline ticket prices. Time is money."
Not only are agencies capitalizing on large corporate needs, but travel agents also emphasize one thing they have that the Internet doesn't: a human touch.
"Usually people want more insight into planning trips and tours than just surfing around, clicking a mouse and blindly giving their credit card numbers," Oberle says, sharing an anecdote of how he possibly prevented a couple's honeymoon from going sour.
A man "came in so darn proud" about a great deal on a Hawaiian honeymoon for which the couple would soon be leaving, Oberle recalls. After Oberle checked his sources, he discovered the lodging was not as fancy as it was billed, nor was it particularly close to the beach. He managed to put together a better package for the newlyweds at the last minute.
"I think the future is fairly good for us," Oberle says of travel agencies' prospects. "It can't get any worse," he adds, pointing out that with so many websites all trying to be the best and cheapest, it's doubtful all will remain in business--especially in times when the economy isn't as supportive of the traveling lifestyle.
Besides, he says, many travel agencies themselves have their own websites now, WesTrav International included. In fact, that's one of the reasons Oberle changed the name of his parents' business--to give it a more global appeal.
Photograph by Paul Myers
Carol Alexander (left) of WesTrav International in Saratoga helps Felicia Foo (center) and Grace Whang plan a trip to Europe.
Heading Home
Dora Moutafian is changing her agency's name, too, but for a different reason. Called D & B Travel for the first initials of herself and business partner Betty Seefurth, the agency will become DM Travel come February, because of Seefurth's retirement. The agency is relocating as well--to Moutafian's Saratoga home.
"Everything was kind of pointing to us closing or making a change. I decided to become a woman of the 21st century and go the work-at-home avenue," she says, citing not only Seefurth's retirement, but also the end of her lease, the lagging economy and the growing Internet presence.
"It's not a foreign idea to the business, just a change for me," adds Moutafian, who has had D & B Travel since 1994 but has been in the industry in various positions for 36 years. "There are lots of people [in the industry] who could almost be considered home-based, like agencies' outside sales agents who work part-time like independent contractors. They have their own clients and do research on their own computers. They earn no salaries, only commissions."
Moutafian will soon be doing that, too, only she won't have an agency at which to meet people face to face. She will, however, make appointments to bring brochures and other travel materials to her clients' homes if they wish; she'll also fax, email, telephone or mail travel information. As it is, Moutafian estimates approximately 40 percent of her clientele are people she's never met in person.
Whether she meets them or not, Moutafian says it's important to change some common misconceptions the public has about agents like herself.
"People think of travel agents as salespeople, but we're not; we're a service industry. Our job has always been to find [clients] the best prices," she says. While this philosophy doesn't always make for lucrative individual sales, she explains, it makes up for that fact with the return business of impressed customers and the referrals that come via word-of-mouth--always the best advertising.
"Knowing your customers and their needs and wants is the most important thing. They love to do research on the Internet, but they don't always want to put the actual money down on the Net," she says.
"They want someone 'touchable' to help them. And last-minute trip changes are a nightmare if you don't have someone personal to work with!" she says, mentioning a large family for whom she coordinates vacations each year. And each year, she adds, there are always a few members who must alter their plans a bit--at the 11th hour.
Like Oberle, Moutafian believes there will always be a niche for travel agents, but not everyone will succeed in finding it.
"I think a lot of the smaller agencies will have to merge with larger ones, downsize and become home-based, or start charging higher fees if the overhead is too high," she predicts. Since Moutafian already has a loyal following, she's optimistic about her own future.
Ed Stahl has owned Travel Advisors of Los Gatos for 40 years.
Photograph by Paul Myers
40 Years of Advice
They don't come more optimistic than Ed Stahl, who owns one of the West Valley area's oldest agencies, Travel Advisors of Los Gatos. Since 1962, Ed and his wife Betty--who died in September 1999--have traveled the world and helped hundreds of other people do the same. That's helpful during trying times, Stahl says.
"Being here for 40 years has given us the advantage of a stable customer base. We don't get a lot of the dot-com people," he says. "And people know that if the trip isn't right, I'll be here when they get back and make it right!"
Knowledge and confidence is what Stahl thinks will always set travel agencies apart from their Internet-based counterparts.
"People like to book flights on the Internet because they can find flights to fit their needs, but it can take a long time to find the right one, and often the prices are not much better," he says. "It's also backfiring because people still like to call the airlines and ask 'Did it get booked?' or 'Did I get the best deal?'"
Between the Internet-related drop in the airplane ticket sales and the limits cited by Moutafian and Oberle, Travel Advisors is concentrating on providing other services, such as foreign and domestic group tours and finding what he calls "unbelievable deals" on cruise ship vacations. And then there are always special-interest individuals and groups whose trip needs the Internet just cannot satisfy.
"When you're going on a special trip somewhere, you still want to discuss it with someone," Stahl says he's often noticed. "As long as we have that knowledge, people will pay for it. Is the average person going to try to fix his car himself? Probably not. That's how it is with travel, too."
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
