Envoyage Agent Spotlight: Kelly Loder Travel

When Kelly Loder decided to step out on her own and start a business, she did so fearlessly and confidently. Using the tools and support of Envoyage, Loder has grown her company to include a staff of 15, spread across several states and with a wide variety of specialties.

Loder strode confidently into entrepreneurship in November of 2020, smartly reasoning that it would give her time to get settled in and ramp up slowly as the travel industry returned from pandemic pauses. “It felt like it was the time to kind of go out on my own and experience what it’s like to own my own travel agency, with my own job security,” Loder explained. But unlike most business owners, she didn’t feel like she was “jumping off a into the abyss of the unknown,” as she describes it, because she knew she wasn’t doing it alone.

Big Brand Power for Small Agencies
Envoyage made the transition easy, says Loder. She needed only her computer, phone, and the knowledge and passion she already had – because she still had access to all of Flight Centre’s and Envoyage’s exclusive deals, contract rates, and conferences. “It was like the power and support of working for a global brand, with the freedom and independence of working for yourself.”

Loder felt the importance of having that power behind her when she hit a snafu. After confirming by phone with the supplier that her client could travel with a certain type of birth certificate, the client was denied boarding. Loder requested a full refund, and the supplier refused.

After exhausting all of her own resources to resolve the issue, Loder reached out to Envoyage and they immediately stepped in. “A small travel agency owner has a very small voice, but a global brand has a very loud one,” Loder jokes. As soon as the company backed her, she immediately got the resolution she hoped for. “I felt very comfortable knowing that they had my back.”

Getting a Leg Up on Growth
That support offered by Envoyage allowed Loder to accomplish what she dreamed of when she decided to open her own agency. She loved the idea of doing her own thing and using her own branding, but she also wanted to incorporate her own philosophy and culture to help other people. The support from Envoyage allowed Loder to not only open her business and then her own storefront, but also pass on that jump-start she got to new subagents looking for their own opportunities. Loder was thrilled that Envoyage gave her subagents the same benefits that she got from the company: conference and educational event invitations, access to educational and communication platforms, and marketing materials. With that team-behind-the-team, Loder could focus her energy on what she set out to do. “I want to run the company that people want to work for, and I want to run the company that I always wanted to work for. And that’s what I’ve done.”

From the Sponsor
Part of Flight Centre Travel Group, Envoyage is a membership network for entrepreneurial travel advisors and travel agencies, consisting of 1700+ members globally.  Our membership community spans five countries and benefits from global buying power, industry leading technology and comprehensive product marketplace delivered by one of the world’s largest travel agency groups. Our integrated suite of services, tools, products, support and technologies has been carefully designed to turn any advisor into an envoy and ensure every journey – whether those you plan for your customers or your individual venture as a business owner – is the journey of a lifetime.

Flight Centre Travel Group is one of the world’s largest travel retailers and corporate travel managers. The company, which is headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, employs about 15,000 people globally and has company-owned leisure and/or corporate travel business in 25 countries, spanning Australia/New Zealand (ANZ), the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia.