Judy's Tropical Adventures

I became an outside sales agent for Gwin's Travel about 5 years ago. Gwin's Travel has an office in Bethalto, IL & also one in Kirkwood, MO. I have a regular full time job also - I work at the Department of Human Services in East Alton and have been there for 26 years. About 5 years ago I decided I wanted to work as a travel agent for several reasons. One reason was because my long term plan was t

o get my clientele going so that my travel job could be extra income for myself when I retire. Another reason was because I wanted to give people a more "personal" experience in booking their trips that I hadn't been getting as a customer myself. I am probably not the "typical" travel agent in that I never try to upsell & am always looking for a great price for my customer's. Honestly I get just as excited about booking a $800 trip as I do a $4000 trip. Right now I am about 1 year away from retiring. My husband & I have been doing all inclusives for about 20 years so I also felt I had a lot to offer with all the experience I have had over the 20 years. Almost everything can actually be done by phone or email but I have went to many people's homes as well. After making a booking I never "mail" the customer their paperwork as I prefer to personally deliver it. I never charge any service fees to my customer's - my commission is paid from the company's I sell for. All quotes are free. I offer my clients personalized service, a vast knowledge of experience, and the best possible deals I can find for each. Your pleasure is my passion! UPDATE: Happy Travels Everyone! I just wanted everyone to understand what happens when booking a vacation thru me. After being contacted by a customer I try to get a feel for what type of vacation they are looking for. To help the customer, I will send out the current magazines I have where the customer can “window” shop at different resorts that are available and read about each. Since we are all different we obviously want different things. Some people want peace & quiet while others want to be in the middle of a party no matter what. My end result goal is to have a very happy customer so I generally ask a lot of questions to steer me in the right direction to obtain that success. Once we have narrowed down their choices to a few, as well as their approximate travel dates, I go out to the vendors I work for and obtain prices on their choices and then email the lowest price to the customer so they can do a comparison along with more pictures of the resort(s) they are contemplating. If possible I will put a hold on the trip so the price is secure for a few days – some vendors allow this and some do not. I will give the customer my thoughts on their selection. Many times I am able to give first-hand information on the resort if I have been there, or have been to a resort owned by the same company, or give information I have from previous bookings I have made to the resort. I try to get the best deal possible for my customer so I if I find a price that is cheaper for the week following when they had said they wanted to travel I will tell them. Once the customer has made a definite decision I ALWAYS go back to my vendors to see if the price has changed before locking the customer in. Many times the price has went down on something I have placed on hold & if that happens I just rebook. It is my goal to get the best price for the customer. Once the decision is made a deposit must be made. The amount of the deposit depends on the vendor and the cost of the trip – many times the deposit is just $250. The balance of the trip must be paid in full within 45 days of departure. After the trip is paid for I deliver the customer their documents, if local. If not local, paperwork can be emailed or even mailed. As I have said before my commission comes from the vendors I work for – not by my customer . I never have and never will charge a service fee for my services. My goal, as your travel agent, is to make sure you get a great deal AND the right destination/resort for you.