Be they husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, or sisters and brothers, more and more travel advisors are finding there’s no better new hire than a member of your very own family. When you need a helping hand or a travel buddy—and when you consider a succession plan—many say home is the best place to start looking.
The oldest and youngest of four siblings, Zena Beaver and Jennifer Hennequant always were close; with 13 years between them, Beaver always felt more maternal than sisterly. And Hennequant looked up to her big sister almost like a mom; she followed the same career path, went to the same travel school, started a travel business of her own. And when her daughter was hospitalized for two months, Hennequant accepted Beaver’s offer to come to work at her agency so she could come and go as needed.
It’s been more than 15 years now that the two have been together—and they remain so close that often “when people call and talk to her, they think it’s me,” Beaver says. “When you’re the oldest child, you sort of raise the little ones. And now it’s that love between us that makes it work. I don’t think I could do it with anyone else.”
They each have their own clients, but they cover for one another, share resources and knowledge, travel together. Indeed, Hennequant says, it was a Disney cruise that Beaver took her on for her high school graduation that gave birth to her lifelong love of travel.
“I love her,” Hennequant says. “Though we are totally opposite in many ways, and that sibling rivalry never goes away, but now when she treats me like a little kid I can tell her to stop. It’s all about our business and our love for travel.”
Their tips for others bringing family into the business? Travel together at least once a year, Hennequant says, and take one sometimes that’s just the two of you, without your families.
Mothers and Daughters
Health issues also pushed Lainey Melnick to look for two more hands to help her handle the load—and to find them at home. Last year she hired her daughter, Alexandra Horne, as her general manager. Horne handles training and hiring staff, payroll, accounting, “and everything financial,” Melnick says. “She runs down missing commissions, sets up new suppliers, handles all the business end of the business, and runs the weekly team meetings.”
How’s that working out? “It’s perfect,” she says. Working alone and selling $2 million a year “translates into a lot of work and I was extremely stressed. So it’s been a godsend to have a team in place and to have my daughter to manage it.”
Her key to success? “Separate the personal from the professional,” she says. “It’s very difficult when you try to correct a grown child; there’s a lot of emotion involved. But work is work.”
Couple Therapy
For Laurie and Paul Bahna, meanwhile, being travel advisors sometimes doesn’t feel like work at all. When Laurie retired, the couple toured senior centers in search of young-at-heart friends and fun activities—and soon realized none was nearly as much fun as traveling.
“Everything we want is on a cruise ship. It’s like our senior center,” Laurie says. “We found a home.”
As she went from travel advisor to Dream Vacation franchisee, Paul has been getting more and more involved—and proving to be a great partner. Laurie is the outgoing salesperson; Paul, a former chemical engineer, is more back-office. Laurie does the bookings, Paul does the 30-second elevator pitch.
“Laurie is wonderful,” he says. “We recognize each other’s strengths and allow each other to excel.”
They travel together nearly every month—and much as they love it, it’s the only time they really disagree. “I like to enjoy the moment and he likes to see as much as we can so we can recommend things to our clients,” Laurie says. “It’s okay, I get it.”
For them, the key to success is to take a break from travel and just relax at home sometimes. This year they made a deal to not cruise in June and July, when the weather is beautiful on Long Island, or December and January, when Paul likes to ski with their sons.
“Sometimes you have to put your feet on the ground and take care of one another,” Laurie says.
Perfect Partners, Grown and Up-and-Coming
Melissa Cohn also has found the perfect partner in her husband Brian, who in April retired from his CPA firm and joined her Dream Vacations franchise full-time. “He’s always been helpful to me; he’s a good numbers guy and I always bounced ideas off him,” she says. “But now he does all the back office and the payments, reviews all the documents, and covers for me when I travel.”
She focuses on clients who are ready to book and he focuses on what comes after. They have regular morning meetings and often walk the neighborhood and talk after their child, Asher, gets on the school bus. Then they retire to separate offices.
Sometimes, when things are hectic, Asher helps as well, carrying files from one parent to the other. (No he is not yet on the payroll but Cohn hopes he will be one day. In the meantime, he has been on 30 cruises and loves the travel industry.)
“We’re a work in progress,” Cohn says on their work partnership. “Brian loves to learn and that’s a really important thing, but the number one thing is trust and open communication, being willing to listen and have respectful disagreements.”
Luckily, the whole idea of working for his wife’s business is ingrained in him. His mom started an interior decorating business in East Meadow that her husband eventually joined.
“He loves travel, and I love that he’s happy,” she says.
Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.