The Iobst Travel American Express Difference

Mission Statement:

To be the Travel Agency of Choice for our employees, our suppliers and our clients

Our mission statement is uniquely different from other travel agency’s statements.  We take care of our employees.  That is the foundation of our success.   The building blocks are the suppliers.  Carefully chosen from the world’s suppliers we choose the very best of the best for our clients.  Our clients benefit from not only the expertise of our agents but from the knowledge that what they care about most in a vacation is what we care about most in fulfilling.

We do not take the responsibility of fulfilling our client’s vacation plans lightly.  We research the most reliable and cost effective suppliers so that we can recommend the perfect fit for our clients.

Make no mistake, our agents are dedicated to making your dreams and expectations come true.

History:

The year was 1979.  The place was Emmaus Pennsylvania.  The location was the center of town “The Triangle”.   Maryellen Iobst had a plan.  To open a travel agency in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. 

Not an easy project.

At that time, the requirements for opening a travel agency were strict. Financial statements required along with a person with at least two years experience in a travel agency and a person with two years experience handwriting airline tickets. You then needed 3 letters of recommendation from industry suppliers and a bond covering $10,000.00. A personal interview with the Airline Reporting Corporation (known now as ARC) and a confirmation from the International Airline Transport Association (now IATAN) was required. This closed the possibility that anyone working from home would be approved. You had to have a “storefront”. A receipt showing that a safety deposit box was acquired so that the ticket stock could be stored. The box needed to be large enough to hold the amount of stock on hand. We were only allowed 1 days supply of ticket stock on the agency premises. While we were being considered It was necessary to hand write airline tickets with the “envelope system”. The envelope system worked by calling the airline, making the reservation, writing the ticket on the outside of a special envelope the driving to the airport ticket counter of the issuing airline. The airline issued the ticket and agreed to pay commission retroactively when I was confirmed by the Airline Reporting Corporation. There were many occasions when it was necessary to travel to Philadelphia because the airline needed only had ticketing offices in Philadelphia. None of these steps could begin until Iobst Travel was open for business!

Iobst Travel Service doors opened on September 4, 1979. The desks were delivered that morning. They needed construction. I had one employee and myself. I hired her after an interview at a diner the week before! In our struggles to put the desks together, the salesman for our manual accounting system arrived with checks and ledgers. He immediately picked up a screwdriver and started to help with the desks. The picture of him reclined on the floor putting the desks together will remain in the recesses of my mind forever.

My ARC appointment was approved November 1, 1979 and my IATA was confirmed January 5, 1980.

We were off and running.  Immediately joining the local Emmaus Chamber of Commerce.  There was only one other member who was a woman.  This led to my presidency in 1981 and 82.  First woman president of the Emmaus Chamber of Commerce!  Wow, one step at a time.

In 1980 I had the opportunity to purchase a teleticketer.  You might ask what is a teleticketer?  Well, it was the very latest in technology for writing airline tickets.  We still had to call the airlines for reservations but this little baby would print out those tickets with just a flip of the switch from the airlines!  The machine was once a teletype machine on a World War II destroyer!  Into the cosmic age I thought.  It cost me $50.00, but that little baby could hum!  We had to line up the ticket stock of course.  Sometimes that would take a few tries.  Then the box of ticket stock would feed and feed and feed! 

My search for something call a CRS (Commuter Reservation System) began in 1981.  US Air had something called “Pace”.  However, before I could sign a contract they decided to take Pace off the market.  They had too many problems.  Next salesperson sold me on United Airlines system “Apollo”.  Well, today there are only three major systems left and Apollo has become Galileo and has survived.  There are few fees involved because the airlines pick up most of them but at that time it was going to cost approximately $700.00 per month.  Now that included hardware and software.  Here is the clincher -------- My one and only employee thought that the computers were too expensive, we didn’t need them, we couldn’t AFFORD them and she was quitting!

Devastated could not describe my feelings.  So new to business, I had no idea how this thing called friendship versus employee worked!

After 4 years of intense study and seminars, I was able to achieve my CTC status.  CTC stands for Certified Travel Counselor.  The Institute of Certified Travel Agents requires 2 years in the travel industry and several study groups with testing in order to achieve the status.  There are on going areas of study after the CTC achieving “Specialist” training.

In 1991 we joined a consortium/franchise called Carlson Travel.  Carlson later became Carlson Wagonlit Travel.  Carlson was a great mentor.  Taught me a bunch about business and how to cultivate “preferred” suppliers.  Carlson promoted expansion.  Probably because the more offices the more revenue I could generate.  We opened two additional offices in Allentown and Easton and bought one in Bethlehem.  Believing, as Carlson did, that more was profitable. 
After 911 it was obvious that we needed to consolidate, so that now our only location is in Emmaus.  As the saying goes, what goes around comes around.  We are back at our roots and stronger than ever.

Leaving Carlson was a heart wrenching decision, but we seemed to “outgrow” the organization.  We moved to the American Express Representative Program in 2004 and found a huge variety of solid relationships to serve our clients.

Today, we enjoy all the benefits of the American Express companies, from foreign currency exchange to card benefits for our clients and strong supplier base from cruise lines to the American Express Vacations product.  Our vendors are solid.

All this would not be possible without a strong staff.  Julia Horn is the keystone of our operation.  She has over ten years in the travel business and is well versed on the internet.  Her clients come back again and again for her attention to detail and customer service.  She is supported by Shannon Miller with 15 years at Iobst Travel American Express.  Shannon, has seen the agency in it’s morphises from an agency for everyone to an agency with clients who come back for the expertise and customer service they are accustomed to and expect.
Gene Clock, Vice President of Marketing, controls operations while trouble shooting the varied challenges of a travel business.  He also decided to marry me in November of 2006.  Now there’s a challenge!

Kathy Fenstermaker and Jules Marques round out the agent side and they are supported by Kathy Rupp.  Kathy R is the all around person.  Doing all the small jobs that translate into big jobs in the end.  Her job description includes tasks too numerous to mention.  They have kept her busy for 28 years! (oh she can’t be that old, she must have started with Iobst Travel when she was two)

Visit us over and over. Visit us in person, on the phone or on the web.   You will be glad you did.  We are not only your grandmother’s agency, we are that and more and our future is not now but a future that is evolving and changing.  Just like the exciting industry we are in.  Evolving and changing.  Changing the way we do business. One client at a time.