The Call of the Wild (9/01/07, ModernAgent.com)
By Kate Rice - Published on: September 1, 2007
www.modernagent.com
Booking upscale trips to Africa proves exciting and profitable for Carol Whalen.
For many people, a high-end hotel means 1,000-thread count sheets and custom chocolates at turn down. But for Carol Whalen, it’s about getting charged by elephants, having hippos try to overturn your boat and then relaxing over cocktails while watching the setting sun over the Masai Mara at a $1,700 a night camp.
Whalen, an independent contractor with Montrose Travel, Montrose, Calif., was a Midwesterner whose wanderlust sent her to work for American Airlines as a ticket agent and passenger representative before she was 21. Her first husband worked for Pan Am, Ask Mr. Foster and Sitmar Cruises, in sales positions that kept the family criss-crossing the country. In order to stay in travel and maintain a flexible career, Whalen became a travel agent.
Travel wasn’t her only passion; she’d always been an animal lover, so, naturally, her best friend was a wild animal veterinarian. That led to a gig booking travel for Siegfried and Roy, as well as for the head vet caring for Keiko the Whale.
For all that Whalen wanted to see the world, Africa was not immediately at the top of her list. But as she worked with wild animal professionals, she felt Africa’s allure. So, in 1995, she went on her first trip there - by herself. She wasn’t married at the time, her kids were too young to go and nobody else was interested.
“It was phenomenal,” she says. “I thought, it’s a once in a lifetime thing. But it never is a once in a lifetime thing. You come back and start thinking about it, and you think, ‘How can I get back?’”
Meanwhile, her veterinarian friend had married Tippi Hedren, .the actress and wild animal rights activist whose Roar Foundation funds Shambala, a preserve for wild animals raised in captivity who are no longer wanted by circuses or zoos, or whose private owners are no longer able to care for them. Whalen started booking fundraising trips to Africa - with Hedren as the pied piper - as well as individual trips. It’s become a solid niche for her, one that she can book efficiently and cost effectively, thanks to her own travels there and her industry connections. She’s identified the U.S.-based tour operators who generally can give her pricing that’s comparable to what she can get from operators in Africa. And if her U.S.-based contacts come back with costs that are too high, she often has a ground operator in Africa who can give her an attractive price. She generally prices net and then adds in a 15 percent margin. (She prices the Roar fundraisers carefully, though, simply because it is a charitable endeavor).
Whalen has been four times now - to Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania and South Africa. Kenya is her favorite because of the personality of its people, the quality of its game viewing, its “spectacular” weather and wide open spaces.
Africa may be Whalen’s great love, but she doesn’t book it exclusively. She also does the Caribbean, Europe and other parts of the world. And no matter where she’s booking her clients, hotels are an important source of revenue for her.
“They’re about the only thing that is profitable these days, especially when doing high-end properties,” she says. For example, she just booked a three-bedroom villa in Nevis for one client at $3,000 a night, following a cruise to Europe.
She’s an independent contractor who chooses to work in an office because she likes the camaraderie, the energy and the way she and her fellow agents energize each other.
“We kind of feed off each other,” she says, exchanging information between calls with clients and suppliers in a way that is mutually - and financially - beneficial. For example, Whalen recently found an excellent, but little known hotel in the Cayman Islands that worked well for her client; she quickly shared it with her colleagues.
She relies on technology when she can, generally booking hotels through the GDS because it gives her speed, control and better rates. If a client needs to change or modify a hotel, it’s just a matter of a few keystrokes to change it. Consortia rates are loaded into the systems as well, giving her better pricing. She’s also finding a greater variety of hotels in the GDS, as they work to expand into more idiosyncratic properties.
But she doesn’t hesitate to book with hotels directly, sometimes because top-end rooms, suites and villas are simply not available online. She also uses tour operators such as Classic Custom Vacations and Pleasant Holidays for hotels in destinations such as Mexico and Hawaii, because of the excellent service they deliver to her and her clients as well as for their higher commission.
Whalen clearly thrives on variety too: Some of her business includes booking accommodations for movies and others in the entertainment world. The result for her is a satisfying career that mixes adventure and fun with profit.
Tags: home based agents
