Meet Jess: A Young Convert to the Big City . . . and to a Travel Agent Career
by Harvey Chipkin /Jess Bauer grew up in Laurel, Mont., a town of 6,000.
A few years after his graduation from the University of Montana, Missoula, Bauer moved with his brother to Brooklyn, N.Y., a ‘town’ of nearly three million.
“I had visited the city a few times, but it’s a very different thing to live here,” Bauer said of his big move. “In Missoula, everything was a five-minute bike ride away. Here everything involves a ride on the subway.”
The allure of the travel industry
Bauer originally thought he might become a social worker but the 25-year-old was soon drawn to a career in travel in the Big Apple.
He didn’t have a job when he moved to the city but shortly after, Bauer landed a position at the Duane Street Hotel in Tribeca where he worked at the front desk and in housekeeping.
Bauer also joined Young Travel Professionals (YTS) and began attending networking events. The group was created to bring together the next generation of travel industry professionals.
“Part of me wanted to pursue social work, but I found myself really enjoying the travel industry and the people I met,” Bauer said. “It really pulled me in. I was stuck on being in travel.”
After nine months at the hotel and a few more as an intern at a public relations agency specializing in travel, Bauer got an opportunity to work at Lark Travel, a new luxury agency being spun out of Ovation Corporate Travel.
He just started there in December.
Quite the change
“It’s been an interesting bounce,” said Bauer. “During college, I worked at a Holiday Inn in Missoula and got my foot into the hospitality door.
“I really enjoyed the people and developed a great relationship with the general manager. I heard a lot about travel experiences from the guests.”
The travel agent business though was new to Bauer.
“I didn’t know any travel agents and it was all very new to me,” he said.
But he soon immersed in the industry – creating content on hotels for the agency website, learning systems, and even booking clients who were affiliated with Ovation.
“I have to figure out what hotels are best for the travelers as far as location, rate and other criteria.”
The agent’s role
Now Bauer’s outlook on travel agents has changed.
“I can definitely see being a travel agent as a career and I have a great opportunity to learn about it,” he said. “It’s difficult for people my age to see why you might want to use an agent since so much information is online.
“But it’s a great service for people who don’t want the headaches of doing all the planning and arranging,” he added. “It’s so much simpler when an agent can bring their expertise. There’s a reason people come to us.
“We can provide them with better amenities and better connections at hotels; and those connections can make their travel experiences much better.”
No regrets
What’s been surprising to Bauer is the “complexity of the rules and policies involved with our programs and our partners.”
But he has no regrets about his new career—or his move to the big city. “New York is great. It brings out the best and the worst in you,” he said.
“There’ s not a better place for me to be right now. There’s always some place to go and I can make lots of connections. I am enjoying pushing myself career-wise and as a person.”
Bauer also doesn’t lack for support back in his home state.
“My family has visited once,” he said. “They can deal with New York for about a week at a time but they’re happy that I’m here and doing well.”