Marcia Pledger: Avondale Travel's high-end service paid off during the pandemic

Travel agencies have been hearing about the demise of their industry for about a quarter of a century when airlines first capped and then cut commissions.

Avondale Travel is no exception.

It's a company that's experienced lots of ups and downs in the last 48 years and is now run by founder Louis “Lou” Black's only child, Leigh Israel.

Black started the business in 1974 with one office in the Shoppes of Avondale on St. John's Avenue. Fifteen years later, the family-owned business grew to 50 offices, making it one of the largest travel agencies in the country at the time.

That's when he decided to sell all but one location to U.S. Travel. The company kept Orange Park Travel, which eventually joined an invitation-only consortium of agencies that focused on the luxury travel market. In 2014, a second location was opened in Avondale, a year after Israel joined the business. Her father passed away four years later.

"Business was just ok when I joined the company because we hadn't found our niche of really focusing on the luxury tourism market. We were trying to compete with the Internet and basically helped anybody and everybody who walked in the door," Israel said. "In order to survive in this industry and do your job well, you have to have a niche, whether it's budget travel, cruises, or luxury travel. By specializing in hands-on VIP Service, we don't compete with the Internet anymore."

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How COVID-19 challenged the travel industry

Israel says she's loved being around the travel industry since she was a little girl when she enjoyed traveling with her family and filling stands at the travel agency with brochures about locations all over the world. But nothing could prepare her for the start of the pandemic when travel suddenly stopped, and more people than ever were seeking answers about canceled plans for travel already booked.

“It was a crazy time. Borders were shut down, airlines were grounded and nobody knew how long it was going to last,” she said. “The first thing I did was tell everybody to pack up and go home and we will figure out what to do with the office.”

“We had two offices and we knew we had to do something in order to survive. We shut down our Orange Park location,” said Israel, 35, who was pregnant at the time with twins.  “But our phones never stopped ringing. Everybody needed help and companies quickly stopped giving refunds because they were hemorrhaging money.”

I reached out to Avondale Travel because COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on the travel industry. The pandemic’s effect on global travel has cost the country billions in lost spending and jeopardized travel businesses of all sizes.

A year after the pandemic started, almost four in 10 of all the U.S. jobs lost were in the leisure and hospitality industry, according to an analysis of the Department of Labor national jobs report. That’s triple the number of the next-hardest-hit industry, which was government.

Soon after the pandemic hit, the American Society of Travel Advisors issued a dire warning, estimating that 77 percent of its travel agency members surveyed said that they would be out of business in six months if things didn’t change soon.

Building on Lou Black's legacy

The global pandemic that brought the entire travel industry to a screeching halt seems to have only made Avondale Travel stronger.

Israel said that thinking about her father’s legacy was a driving force that led to her success.

"Failure is not an option for us,” she said. “I love the business and the namesake. I got the name of our business trademarked. That legacy for my two children is very important to me.”

It wasn’t easy though. Israel said that her staff takes pride in specializing in high-end, white-glove service. Prior to the pandemic, the company’s main goal was to use their relationships all over the world to find off-the-beaten-path travel experiences. They took pride in making customers feel special from the moment they arrived at the airport with chauffeurs touting signs of their customers’ names. They also enjoyed reassuring customers that should something go wrong, they had their backs. Customers range from dual-income high net worth customers in their 20s, to people in their 80s seeking to go on worldwide cruises.

"The access that we have is unbelievable," she said. "If you can dream it, we can make it happen."

But for more than a year, the company stayed busy trying to rebook canceled travel arrangements.

Canceled trips allowed Avondale Travel to reinforce their value

David Meyers, a recently retired general contractor, said he has nothing but praise for Avondale Travel. He booked a trip to celebrate his 35th wedding anniversary before the pandemic, and ended up celebrating for two weeks in London and France two years later.

"They weren’t just good, they were phenomenal," said "I just can't say enough about Avondale Travel, because it was a difficult trip to plan and manage even in the best of circumstances, but throw in COVID and all I can say is that the keyword that comes to mind is perseverance. They rescheduled our trip a few times."

"You have to understand what that took. It was an exclusive trip for us and another couple who joined us. The entire trip was five-star and it was brilliant how they put it together. We gave them carte blanche in putting it together and that's what they delivered."

Meyers said he didn't have much experience with overseas travel and the thought of not understanding different languages made him uneasy, but Avondale Travel made sure that someone guided them at every part of the two-week journey.

"Leigh is a travel junkie who knows a lot of things about a lot of places in the world and she brings that experience to the table," he said.

Support is everything

Israel said that her company takes pride in offering a seamless experience that includes expediting customers through customs overseas, but in the last two years, the company was forced to be creative with travel packages that were close to home.

When customers' travel plans were canceled, they started expressing interest in road trips close to home. For the first time, Avondale Travel started putting together more regional trips than ever at five-star properties throughout Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Sandy Harbison, managing director at Avondale Travel, said she started her career at the company in 1984 and left the company right before it was sold. She rejoined the business 30 years later when she learned that the founder's daughter had taken over the business. At the time she was unhappy working at a hotel.

"I went back to Avondale in 2014 and have not looked back. We have had our growing pains, and with the loss of Lou 5 years ago, Leigh has shined and grown the business to what it is today," she said. "We have done something right to have survived the pandemic and been able to have a storefront with four agents and six Independent contractors."

That's an understatement considering the company expects 2022 to be the most successful year in the company's history.

"We’ve always worn a lot of hats but we wear a ton of them now," Israel said. "Travel is so hot right now. Now that Covid restrictions are lifted, people are ready to go. They’re tired of just sitting around and want to experience the world and domestic travel. It's exciting to see their excitement."

Marcia Pledger is the Opinion and Engagement Editor for the Florida Times-Union. She can be reached at mpledger@jacksonville.com.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Avondale Travel's high-end service paid off during the pandemic