Meet Susan: Travel Writer Turned Agent
by Harvey Chipkin /Journalists and travel agents have both confronted the challenges of new technologies and have had to adapt to survive.
Susan Farewell, a veteran travel journalist, has adapted in an interesting way: by becoming a travel agent.
Farewell—her fitting, but real name—worked at publishing giant Condé Nast for ten years before becoming a freelance travel writer for magazines and newspapers as the publishing industry began to struggle.
When Gourmet magazine, a regular outlet for Farewell, shut down five years ago, she decided she had to do something different. She launched a travel news and information website, Farewell Travels.com.
A business is born
Farewell said she immediately began receiving requests from readers asking her for trip planning advice.
At first she helped readers informally, using the knowledge she had gained as a travel writer.
“I used my journalistic sensibilities,” she said. “If you want to go someplace, what would you do there if you were a journalist?”
Early on, though, Farewell realized she had a business on her hands.
“I was reaching the demographic I have always targeted in my writing – affluent, sophisticated travelers,” she said.
“I didn’t know the ABC’s of the agency business but taught myself through webinars and other tools. The biggest game changer was when I got an IATA number [early in 2013],” she added.
“I worked with a host agency briefly but decided I could do this on my own. However, that period made me see how the agent world worked.”
Early success
Farewell found success quickly. She retained the name of her website, Farewell Travels.com, for her online agency.
“With almost no advertising and growing organically by word of mouth, we have done really well,’ she said. “I have a number of repeat clients and have pulled in clients through my site from all over the country.”
Farewell meets with clients at her home in Westport, Conn. or in a nearby coffee shop. But half of her clients live at least 60 miles from Westport so most of her contact is done by phone, she added.
Her business is a “new model of travel agency,” powered by a different kind of travel influencers, according to Farewell.
Different influencers
Those influences, she said, include:
• Social media. “My clients will see on Facebook that their friends have been somewhere and then they have to go there. They feel the pressure to have something to talk about themselves. And they want to show themselves climbing in the Alps or going to a Formula One racing school. They want to be out and doing stuff.”
• Children studying abroad. A full 25% of clients are visiting their children who are studying abroad, Farewell said. And now those children are studying, not just in Europe, but in the Middle East, India and Asia.
• The need for serenity. “With so much stimulation, people are seeking wilderness therapy in their travels. A client just called me and said she wanted to go someplace like Patagonia, New Zealand or Iceland. They want a better balance in their lives and don’t always want to go on big, intense trips. I usually tell them to try to combine those trips with a bit of culture or a visit to a city, which makes for a more successful trip.”
• Education. “In my world, travel is perceived as education. Clients consider travel an educational expense rather than a leisure expense, especially if they have kids.”
Creating ‘travel portfolios’
Farewell not only wants to plan a client’s next trip, but aims to create a “travel portfolio” – what clients might like to do in the next five years so they can look forward to a variety of experiences.
“That’s especially helpful when there are young children whose travel desires will evolve over time,“ she said.
Farewell specializes in several destinations, especially Africa, but has outside experts she consults for others. She has built a network of experts as well as destination management companies.
She books tour packages and cruises but her real satisfaction comes from arranging customized, individual programs where, again, she draws on her journalistic skills.
“I am good at identifying trends,” she said. “I know, for instance, that certain movies will influence where people go.”
Fee-based
What doesn’t influence Farewell is commissions.
“I work on a fee basis; if I find a hotel that is best for the trip and that I know will mean not getting or chasing a commission, I will book it,” she said.
“If the client wants concierge-style help, like booking restaurant reservations, I have an hourly charge for that.”
In addition to her journalist’s perspective, Farewell sees herself as a sort of nurse whose job it is to take care of clients.
“One client in Turkey was sick and texted me at 3 a.m.,” she recalled. “I was prepared to find her a doctor. We are not a large agency but I or somebody I trust will always be accessible to our clients.”
Farewell hopes to add staff at some point and perhaps even find office space.
Her husband and daughter have both been actively involved in the business and have family brainstorming sessions to decide what direction the it will take.
Farewell’s main concern, however, is “protecting the brand I have created.”
“I will not take on just any contractor or associate,” she added. She looks for agents able to deal with the business while she may be traveling and unreachable.