I was first introduced to The Travel Agent Next Door team back in 2018 when I attended my first TTAND conference held at the Majestic Colonial in the Dominican Republic, where the theme was, rather fittingly for me, “On a Mission.”
I was only a few months on the job at TravelPulse Canada and I was definitely on my own mission to ensure that I captured the essence of the conference while learning everything I could about the travel agent side of our industry. I had dealt with agents through my time in destination marketing, but I had never really gotten into the nitty gritty understandings of what made them tick. I shouldn’t publicly admit this, but I wasn’t even entirely sure at the time exactly how a Host agency worked. (gasp!)
Penny Martin cheering on agents at the 2019 Conference (Photo Credit: PHOTO: TravelPulseCanada)
Before I left, I nervously approached our EIC John Kirk about what sort of angles to cover. He simply said “Go find Penny Martin, introduce yourself and you’ll be fine.”
I did just that and shall we say the rest was history - Penny was a friendly face who guided me all throughout that conference. She somehow managed to perfectly blend managing a hectic pace with answering my many questions with a warm smile; making me eager to learn more. I could tell she genuinely wanted to help me.
But that’s really what The Travel Agent Next Door is all about, isn’t it?
That conference was TTAND’s 4th and at the time they had grown from 60 agents, 6 staff and $7M in sales in 2014 to 641 agents, 43 staff and $120M in sales.
Today, as The Travel Agent Next Door celebrates their 10th Anniversary, they will hit 1400 agent partners and sales of half a billion dollars this year.
“I don’t know where the ten years went; looking at it now I looked a lot younger,” jokes Founder Flemming Friisdahl. “Who would ever thought we would have gotten to where we are? We never wanted to be the biggest, that was never our desire. We wanted to provide the best program for the agents. It was never meant to be about having tons of agents, it was meant to be about having quality of people who believe in selling travel.”
When TTAND launched in 2014, it was Friisdahl, Martin and Nancy Aube who created the procedures to start the new company. They launched in March of that year as a member of TRAVELSAVERS group and it was Friisdahl and Martin who returned calls to experienced agents who were interested in learning more about the program. The first suppliers on board were Globus, TravelBrands, Transat, ACV, RCI and Celebrity, NCL and Manulife and TTAND was gaining traction as offering up to 100% commission, which was a first for the industry.
Though he’s created a lot in TTAND’s ten years, Friisdahl says what he’s most proud of is that they’ve been able to give back to those in need. They adopted Pencils for Kids as their official charity in 2017, and to date has raised over $200,000 for the organization through donations at the annual conferences. In 2020 when COVID hit our industry hard, TTAND gave 55 agents and their families extra support around the holidays, providing financial assistance to help with the extra expenses. They also give back to the local communities where the conference is held each year, leaving them a little bit better than they were before.
“I think probably the proudest of all though, is seeing our agents succeed and seeing the amount of money that they have in their pocket. One agent called me just a few, months ago and said now she's able to buy a minivan and put her daughter through dance school. She’s able to spend time with her family that she couldn't before because she now has a consistent and steady income that has served her well. So, for us that's a big win.”
Major milestones throughout the last 10 years have included Rhonda Stanley joining the team as VP Talent Development in 2015, multiple supplier awards (including TravelPulse Canada's "Best Host Agency!), the launch of The Agency Solution led by Louise Gardiner in 2019, the opening of the India office that year as well as the ZIP Zero Interest payment plan option.
In 2021, TTAND entered the Quebec market and is slowly growing. While language has been a barrier (their support is only offered currently in English), Friisdahl says that will be changing soon. Last year, Pencils 4 Kids founder Robin Mednick was awarded the Governor Generals Award for her work and Rhonda Friisdahl and TTAND were awarded the Travel Institute's Educational Excellence Award.
Two months ago, Former TTC President Jim Element took a role as Senior VP Operations, helping to replace Martin when she leaves the company in August. Chris Senior has also come on board as CFO.
TTAND started their celebrations on Tuesday with a media lunch in Toronto followed by a virtual celebration for agents across the country in the evening that included special performances by Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy and one of Canada’s favourite comedians, Shaun Majumder. They'll continue at the agency's annual conference in June this year, held in Jordan in partnership with G Adventures Royal Jordanian Air and Jordan Tourism.
“I think the next 10 years will be the most developing years for us,” said Friisdahl. “I think the first 10 years were great. I think the next 10 years are going to be so amazing in the industry.
We’re going to bring some really, really cool kickass programs that no one else has. For example, I want more automation for our agents when they book their file, to make it easier. That’s what we’re working towards and what we’ll get to. We are just so happy we’re halfway there.
Thank you everyone for your support, we really appreciate it. Without you we wouldn’t be here today.”
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