Connections Mean Business for This Agent
by Donna Tunney /At first blush it might seem as though a travel agency on Nantucket, the Massachusetts island destination for the rich and famous, would do most of its business during the summer tourist season.
But that isn't the case for Winger Travel Agency, owned by Lew and Wendy Winger. The pair operate their TRAVELSAVERS firm from a home-based office on the island.
Nantucket’s population soars from about 10,000 year-round to more than 50,000 during summer, but as Lew Winger explained, “People who are here in the summer don't want to go anywhere else.”
Instead, Winger uses the summer season as his prime marketing and planning time for upscale trips he customizes for small groups. Everyone who books those trips has some Nantucket connection, most likely a summer home or a friend or relative who has a summer home, he said.
Learning on the road
“My wife grew up spending her summers here,” said Winger. “We bought the agency in 1985.”
Winger previously worked in marketing at a big corporation. The Wingers lived abroad during his time in the corporate world in South Africa, France and Switzerland.
“I spent a lot of time on the road with clients and learned a lot about booking travel,” he said. “I actually liked that part of the job, travel planning, more than anything else.
“So when we learned that an agency was coming up for sale on Nantucket, we jumped right in and bought it.”
A lucrative niche
The Wingers operated the agency as a bricks and mortar in the beginning but when Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) moved to e-ticketing, they no longer needed space for a big ticketing machine and they went to a home-based business.
Their agency has evolved since those early days “when we didn't even have computers yet,” Winger recalled.
It continues to be a full-service firm but Winger has developed a lucrative niche with the small-group vacations he creates with operators like Travcoa, Abercrombie & Kent and Tauck, and cruise lines like Silversea Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
These high-end wholesalers and cruise lines appeal to affluent clients who live on Nantucket or have second homes there. And they are very high-end customers; the median price of a home on the island is nearly $1.2 million.
Winger’s company does virtually no inbound travel. Its sights are set on destinations farther afield.
Direct mail marketing
“We do all direct-mail marketing and all of our clients either know us already from all the years we've been here on Nantucket, or know someone who has traveled with us in the past,” Winger said.
“That means that we'll probably never have anyone on a trip who doesn't have a Nantucket connection of some kind.”
Winger's trips are mostly all-inclusive. He creates two to four trips a year, limited to about 14 clients on each land trip. He allows for more clients on cruises, like a recent river cruise in Portugal for 30 people.
Traveling with clients
Winger starts planning his small-group trips six to 18 months ahead of departure. Both he and his wife accompany the majority of their groups and take care of every little detail.
“It's fun, but it's work. It's 24/7 when we're out on a trip,” he noted.
The couple, like many of their clients, split their time between Nantucket and Florida. When they're in the Sunshine State, the two operate the agency business from a home in Vero Beach.
“We are starting to work with Florida clients and many of those new friends have summer homes elsewhere in the U.S. So our client base continues to grow,” said Winger.