Job spotlight: Michael Holbrook, vice president and co-owner of Columbus Travel
Many vacationers will tell you that some of best moments of their trips come from the pleasant, sometimes adventurous surprises they encounter while traveling in places they've never been.
For Michael Holbrook, who purchased Columbus Travel -- founded in 1950 and the city's oldest agency -- with his wife, Ramona, in 2008, the journey has been one of fortuitous operating decisions, physical relocations and simply finding ways to keep clients happy no matter where they may venture on this planet.
The couple's route together started when Holbrook, a business litigation lawyer in Atlanta, met Ramona a couple of weeks after she opened a cruise-only franchise in 1994 in the state capital.
"I had an interest in travel. My family had owned a villa in Jamaica, which made me interested in that. And the cruise thing really fascinated me," said Holbrook. " It went on for six or seven years. We traveled and we got married. So I was always around the business."
Their business trip began to change in 1999, when the two expanded to Columbus, buying out another cruise franchise. That eventually led them to pull up stakes in Atlanta and move to Columbus in 2007, not long before their Columbus Travel purchase.
While they're now a team, operating since 2010 at 6022 Veterans Parkway in Columbus with a staff of travel advisers, Holbrook is quick to give his wife credit where it's due. She serves as president of the business.
"Ramona's the vision and I'm kind of the mouthpiece ... We discuss things and she kinds of curbs my enthusiasm," he said. "We started out as cruise only, but she got us off that and into the Caribbean resort business. And then after that, we got into more of the luxury business. She's the one who has the vision along those lines."
The Ledger-Enquirer visited recently with Holbrook at Columbus Travel, discussing the couple's path to the local area, the impact the Internet has had on travel, and what he fears most in the sector in the coming years.
Note that Columbus Travel is a member of Virtuoso, an international travel agency network specializing in luxury and "experiential" travel. Virtuoso has more than 370 agency members -- an indication of its reservation and buying power -- with nearly 10,000 travel advisors in 30 countries around the world.
First off, why did you decide to specialize at one point in travel to the Caribbean area?
In 2001, after 9/11, we recognized that people still want to travel, but if there's ever another catastrophe, they would probably want to travel a little bit closer to home. So we specialized in the Caribbean. We took it upon ourselves to travel to every place that Delta flew to from Atlanta. We did hotel and resort site inspections, and we have seen many more hotels and resorts than I care to remember. We've been to probably virtually every place that's worth going in the Caribbean, and a lot that aren't worth going to.
What's worth going to, the number one in your opinion?
Our number one destination in the Caribbean -- and it's a function of availability of airfare, proximity and value -- and that's Jamaica.
Some travelers steer clear of that country?
Jamaica does get kind of an undeserved bad rap, because it gets a lot of publicity for negative things. It all depends on where people take the camera. You could say the same things about Atlanta. There's plenty of places in Atlanta you don't want to go, too.
But Jamaica has everything. It's got a mountain that's higher than any mountain on the East Coast of the United States at 7,400 feet, I think. It's got beaches, agriculture, it's got rivers. It's a big island. It's 120 miles by about 50 miles wide. It's got culture, but most importantly, it's got friendly people. There are cruise lines and hotels that recruit people from Jamaica because of their hospitality. So it really is a nice value.
Do you advise clients of areas to stay away from, in Jamaica or anywhere else?
We do. We advise people on that all the time. But in Jamaica, for instance, if you're going to go to places where tourists would normally go, the attractions, the hotels and resorts, the restaurants, you're going to be fine. If you want to go into the poorer sections of a city late at night, you can probably find problems.
But I think a lot of people get a negative opinion of Jamaica, too, because it's such a huge cruise port. They actually have three cruise ports in Jamaica ... so lots of ships come in. It's a very popular port and thousands of people will converge on the destination and it could seem like chaos. And you have people trying to sell you baskets and trying to braid your hair and all sorts of things going on. It can be overwhelming at times.
However, if you go there and stay at a resort, it's a totally different atmosphere. It's certainly not chaotic. What we recommend is you go into town on the days the cruise ships aren't there, or on the days they don't have three cruise ships in, and you'll get a much better experience.
How did the Columbus Travel purchase come about?
That was very interesting. In 2007, we consolidated our Atlanta office to Columbus. I guess Columbus kind of grew on us gradually. In Atlanta, you're anonymous. If I go to a grocery store in Atlanta, nobody knows me. If I go to the grocery store in Columbus, I'm liable to run into 10 different clients. So everybody knows who you are here, and that's the kind of business that we have.
Our business is a relationship business. We pride ourselves on getting to know our clients so we can help match them to the vacation experience that's going to meet or, hopefully, exceed their expectations.
In Atlanta, all of the business was done over the telephone, because nobody's going to fight that traffic to come see you, and our office was in Buckhead. When I worked out of the office in Columbus, people (customers) were in the office all day long. People would come in because they like to do business with people they know and see. So we found it was just a better fit for our business, the kind of small-town feel where you're not anonymous.
Then in 2008, I said to Ramona, if we're going to make anything of this, we probably ought to live in Columbus. We were still living in Atlanta and commuting. So we bought a house here in May or June of 2008, right before the (U.S. financial and housing market) bubble burst. We weren't here three months when we had some discussions with Columbus Travel about merging ... We negotiated back and forth and in December 2008 we purchased Columbus Travel from Perry Borom.
The timing, with the recession beginning, had to be tough?
But, again, we had come to Columbus. We loved the area. We thought the opportunity was tremendous. We knew some of the people that worked at Columbus Travel and we knew that they were fantastic people. So we really thought it was a great opportunity. And then by purchasing it, we also got the name. So we would have the history to go along with the people.
For us, I think, we were able to bring a new vision to Columbus Travel, which had been more of a traditional travel agency for years. They did a lot of airline tickets and had a little bit different business model. They did some very nice luxury leisure travel. But our focus was all on leisure travel, cruises, escorted tours, custom travel packages, safaris and things like that. It was not airline tickets.
So when we merged, they had some tremendous knowledge, and we helped them with more direction from the business aspect of things.
Were you worried about the recession's impact?
We were worried, but it was a situation where we thought, we've got to take a chance on it. I didn't want (Columbus Travel) to go to anybody else. I'd kick myself if I let it go. We didn't think about staying downtown (Columbus Travel's previous location) because we had a lease (in north Columbus), and the only way this was going to work is if we reduced the overhead.
After the first six months, things turned around and it has been fantastic ever since ... 2009 was better than 2008, 2010 was better than 2009, 2011 better, 2012 better, 2013 better -- in fact, 2013 was the best year we ever had by 30 percent -- and 2014 was still better than any other year except 2013. We're tracking a little bit ahead of 2014 this year.
How has the Internet impacted your business?
We get that question a lot. The Internet is kind of a double-edged sword. The Internet actually has driven a lot of demand for travel. It has really heightened everybody's awareness of what is out there.
But, when you look at it, the Internet can be like drinking out of a fire hydrant. There's almost too much information out there. So it's good for us in that it's confusing and people have to come to us to kind of act as filter to sort it out.
The negative of it is people have a misperception that it might cost more money to purchase their travel through a travel agency rather than doing it themselves. The pricing that we get would be the same, and sometimes it's a little better, than you would get by going directly to the cruise line, the tour company, or the hotel and resort.
If that's the case, how do you make money?
We are like a portal on the Internet, too. People come to us, but what we do is a little bit different. We handle the logistics. First, we find out what the people like, what they're looking for, and then we use our expertise and knowledge to try to match them to the right place. Then we sew together all of the logistics, whether it's transfers to and from the airport or private tours or travel insurance. We take care of all of that at one place. The different vendors, whether it's a cruise line or a hotel or a tour company or whoever, will pay us a small percentage of what the total cost of the trip is. And the airlines don't.
Of course, people then say, if I go directly to them, why won't they sell it to me for less? The answer is you're buying one. I'm selling a thousand. But it's more than that. The other part is if you buy it from them, you probably have a hundred questions for them. So now they have to have somebody sitting on a phone and answering all of the questions for all of the people that want to do it direct, when I can probably answer most of the questions.
It's much more efficient for them to pay us to match people to the right place. The other thing is they end up with a happier customer, because the customer has been matched to the experience that they're looking for, not just having made a decision solely on price on the Internet.
What is an advantage of your Virtuoso connection?
We are more of a buyer's agent, if you want to talk about it in real-estate terms. We represent our clients. So it doesn't matter to me personally if you go to the St. Regis (hotel) in Atlanta or the Intercontinental or to the Ritz-Carlton. That doesn't matter to me. Each one of them will pay us to send you there. You'll get the same price that you would get going to them direct.
The hotels I mentioned, they are members of Virtuoso, as we are. With our affiliation there, our customers get a little extra. That's why I say sometimes our value is better. The price could be the same, but the value might be better.
It's not the same at every hotel, but I can give you an example at the St. Regis in Atlanta. The rate you're going to pay is the same. But if you book it with me, breakfast is going to be included everyday. Breakfast at the St. Regis could be $35 per person. You're also going to get a $100 food and beverage credit on top of that. At the Intercontinental and the Ritz-Carlton, it's basically the same thing.
And we have over a thousand hotels and resorts where we have these kinds of relationships all over the world. In just about every major city, the nicest hotels are going to be in our program.
How do you get the word out about that value?
Word of mouth, and a lot of repeat clients. How we get that message out can be difficult. We haven't developed to the point where we're out bragging about ourselves. We just hope people recognize what we do. We're coming up with a campaign to let people know if you're looking at luxury or upscale travel, and if you're not booking with us, you're making a mistake, or you're leaving some value on the table. The value we bring is the knowledge and experience. The combined knowledge and experience just in this office is well over 100 years of travel planning.
Another thing, is there a 'best' time to book travel?
I tell people all the time ... as soon as you have your dates and where you want to go, that's the best time to book it ... We feel you're much better off planning it as far ahead as you can. That way the best hotels, the best resorts, the best suites on the cruise ships, are more likely to be available. They book first, as do the most popular times for travel. So you're always better served by planning early.
And there are better values. The general rule is whenever the kids are in school, the pricing is usually a little lower. When kids are out of school, the pricing is usually a little higher. But if you know that your spring break is going to be the first week of March or the second week of April, the best time to book that is as soon as you know it, and you know where you want to go. We'll sit down and start planning.
One other thing people don't realize. They think if they book a trip with an agency, they have to pay for it all at once. That's not the case. Most times, you put a deposit down -- which is on average 10 percent to 20 percent of what the trip costs -- and then you usually pay it off between 60 and 90 days before you go.
Is there a popular destination right now?
River cruises right now are incredibly popular. I just dealt with some clients last week who were looking at September of 2016. Well, they couldn't go that month because all the ships that September were sold out for this particular cruise line. So they had to go in October. It was a Danube River cruise from Prague to Budapest. It's a very common itinerary, but for this particular cruise line, it was sold out. Am I saying you can't book it closer in? Yes, you can, but maybe on another cruise line. There are many cruise lines that are good. But the best ones book first.
What is your day-to-day job like?
Ramona and I both enjoy dealing with the clients. That's the fun part of the business. We both still spend probably at least half of our time dealing with clients and planning trips and following up with people when they get back from a trip, or making sure the logistics of their trip are set up.
The other part of the time can be relegated to promotions or employee issues or accounting or meetings. And then, of course, we're very fortunate that we get to travel quite a bit in the job.
What's the least favorite thing about your job? The nuts and bolts of running the business?
The least favorite part of my job is when somebody comes back and they're not happy. I feel like we've failed, because we pride ourselves in getting to know our clients and trying to match them up to the place that's going to meet those expectations. And I have to say, you know, 99 percent of the time that's how it happens.
As far as stuff that's difficult, it's dealing with the airlines. That is the least favorite part of the business. If we didn't have to deal with the airlines, this job would be 100 percent enjoyable all the time.
What's the biggest gripe there?
The airlines will change equipment on you ... where you had picked out the seat assignments for your clients on the two-seat side of the plane, and they change the equipment and now it's three and three, and they're sitting next to somebody and they didn't want to sit next to somebody. Or they had a bulkhead seat, where they're sitting up in the front, and when they change the plane all of a sudden they're sitting in row 42. Or they get to the airport and they've been bumped and the airline says your travel agent never made seat assignments for you. We have to see if we can straighten it out right then.
The airlines do things differently than most other businesses. If you buy one ticket from the airline, you get the lowest price. If you buy 20 tickets, they're not going to sell it to you at the lowest price. You pay a higher price for every one of those tickets. You'd think, why wouldn't you get a lower price if you're buying all of those tickets?
As a consumer, airline prices are a bit like watching the stock market go up and down, hard to understand, aren't they?
Right, it changes all the time ... We want the airlines to make a profit, too, because we want them to maintain the planes and we want everything to run orderly.
The biggest problem you have with them is they're unforgiving. If you had misspelled somebody's name by one letter, unless you get a really friendly (customer service) person, you may have to buy a new airline ticket. It's just policies that they have ... they're not consumer or (travel) advisor friendly.
What's the favorite part of your work?
The favorite part of my job or being in this business is talking with clients when they get back, every single one. When we plan a vacation for someone, and if you're going to stay at one of our Virtuoso properties, I'm going to send an email to the manager or general manager to make sure they know that I have clients coming, to make sure that everything is taken care of.
But I want to hear about the trip when they get back, because that helps. It's physically impossible for us to have gone everywhere, or even to remember everything.
You want to know the good, the bad and the ugly?
I want to know the good, the bad and the ugly. Hopefully, there's not a lot of ugly and, hopefully, it's mostly good. I expect when people get back from a trip that I planned that they're going to say, wow, that was fantastic. Everybody likes to be complimented on the work that they do. So that is my favorite part. If I have somebody coming back from Africa, I can't wait to see their pictures.
What concerns you going forward about travel?
Another terrorist attack concerns me the most. Not that I think anything is necessarily going to happen. But it's the press that it gets that drives things. The security that's in place at the airports is good. Everybody is trying to prevent that from happening. But that is a factor that could disrupt business. That's what happened with 9/11.
We've had two wars. We've had more minor things. You had the attack in Spain. You had the attack in France. You've had those things. So people are realizing it's becoming part of the landscape. Still, the chances of being caught up in (an incident) are still extremely slim. What we've found is peoples' desire to travel will overcome that.
What's your general five-year plan for Columbus Travel?
We would like to expand to probably seven or eight inside travel advisors. The market here in Columbus is plenty big enough. You just have to get the word out. We've had plenty of business for the people who have worked for us. But we would like the people to know that this is the best travel value in town, and that working with an advisor at Columbus Travel is the best value.
We've covered a lot of ground. Anything else you would like to add?
I would just like to say we're very fortunate to be where we are, to live in Columbus and have Columbus Travel, and have the people that we work with everyday.
BIO
Name: Michael Holbrook
Age: 52
Hometown: Congers, N.Y.
Current residence: Columbus
Education: 1981 graduate of Clarkstown North High School in New York; earned bachelor's degree in psychology from Washington & Lee University in 1985; earned law degree from Georgia State University College of Law in 1992
Previous jobs: Partner in the law firm of Crowley, Appel, Starkey and Holbrook
Family: Wife, Ramona, and stepdaughter and son in-law, Natasha and David Armistead, and three grandchildren -- Mary Grace, Jack and Anna
Leisure time: Enjoys playing golf and watching their grandchildren play tennis
Of note: Member of the boards of directors of the Salvation Army, B.R.I.D.G.E. of Columbus and Rotary Club of Columbus
This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 10:46 PM with the headline "Job spotlight: Michael Holbrook, vice president and co-owner of Columbus Travel ."