Avoya Travel isn’t your typical host travel agency, if you can even say there is a “typical” host these days. Indeed, its model is very different from many of its contemporaries.

Regardless of whether it’s the norm, however, Avoya does have one rather interesting trait — it effectively mirrors the historical development of the travel agency distribution system over the past 50 years. Avoya’s evolution over that time also proves the validity of the travel agency business overall and may portend the success of travel agents well into the future.

The Anderson family, which owns Avoya, on Jan. 15 celebrated 50 years in the travel industry by honoring Pal and Pat Anderson, the patriarch and matriarch, respectively, of their travel agency business. The family hosted a gala evening at the Sheraton Carlsbad, not far from Avoya’s main operations center in Vista, Calif.

Unlike many in the travel agency business, the Andersons are now into their third generation owning and operating a travel agency, though they have significantly altered and continue to evolve that business so it no longer looks much like the agency they started in 1964.

Car Dealer to Tour Operator

Pal Anderson, now 92, got into the agency business like many others because of his passion for travel. He was a Chrysler dealer working in eastern Washington, but he liked traveling to Hawaii. Indeed, he enjoyed the islands so much that in the early 1960s he moved his family, which included his wife Pat, now 89, and their two sons, Van and Brad, to Oahu.

Van Anderson, now co-president of Avoya, tells the story of how he and his brother Brad, who is co-president as well, thought they were just going on vacation to Hawaii when they left Washington State. When informed that they were there to stay, Brad, the younger brother, demanded that he be returned to his “home” in Washington. Pal stuck him in a taxi and told the driver to head to the airport. Brad cried so much that the driver eventually returned him home to his parents, which had been Pal’s plan all along.

Pal got into travel in Hawaii by buying Hawaiian Paradise Tours, a wholesaler to the islands. He had a good business, but his wanderlust remained. He decided to move the family to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where they lived for a time on a rustic ranch just outside of town. Van and Brad went to local schools where they had to learn Spanish to keep up with their fellow students.

Then Pal decided Australia might be a good place to relocate. He took the family back to the San Diego area in preparation for the major move Down Under. Because his two sons were still in school, however, he decided to stay until the end of the school year. The family never left California.

Tour Operator to Travel Agent

Instead, Pal decided to launch a San Diego-area travel agency, Pal Anderson Travel, which sold mostly leisure travel. Van and Brad joined their parents in the business when they got older. Meanwhile, they continued to enjoy the nomadic life of their father, taking long trips across the U.S. and elsewhere in the world, and sometimes leaving Pat behind to run the agency on her own.

The family’s agency grew, added locations in the San Diego area, and changed its name from Pal Anderson Travel to Anderson Cruises & Travel and then to Anderson Travel. It grew into a full-service travel shop, selling both corporate and leisure travel, which was and continues to be affiliated with American Express. Anderson Travel became one of the strongest family-owned full-service travel businesses on the West Coast.

But there was much more to come. As they took over management of the business from their parents, Van and Brad eventually decided to go in a very different direction.

Travel Agency to Host Agency

In the early 2000s, the Andersons closed most of their agency’s physical locations and began working strictly through independent contractors, a major strategic departure. They also made the decision to sell their corporate business and focus almost completely on cruise sales, renaming their agency America’s Vacation Center (AVC) instead of Anderson Travel.

In those early days of the past decade, home-based agents and independent contractors weren’t quite the phenomenon they are today, but many travel suppliers, especially cruise lines, were seeking to better understand the sales power these outside agents had in the market.

By focusing on the power of independent contractors (or what the company calls independent affiliates) to sell cruises, the Andersons were at the cutting edge of a new form of agency — the pure host — and a new way of marketing cruise travel to consumers through the Internet. Their agency has now been using targeted online promotions, advertising and search engine marketing. It also forges deals directly with selected preferred suppliers to get leads from customers who are interested in specific travel products.

Going Beyond Cruise Sales

Over the past decade AVC, which was renamed Avoya Travel in 2010 to better capitalize on international business, has become a cruise-selling powerhouse, widely recognized as a top-selling agency by major cruise lines. Indeed, two years ago Bran and Van were inducted into the Cruise Lines International Association Hall of Fame for their cruise-selling efforts. Avoya also has begun selling other leisure products, such as tours, wholesale packages, resorts and even air.

The agency’s base of operations in Vista, Calif., is located in a nondescript, three-story office building in a strip mall. The building houses roughly 150 staffers, most of them under 30, who serve as a support team for well over 500 independent affiliates. Another 40-plus staffers work from home in various locations. Combined with the Vista office, they serve affiliates’ support requests 24/7.

That complete team provides all marketing support, including Avoya’s patented “Live Leads” program, which finds customers who are ready to buy specific travel products and then routes those leads to the independent affiliate who has the most successful sales track record for that particular product.

Unlike other host agencies, Avoya pays a significantly lower commission (30 percent) to its independent affiliates than other hosts do, mostly because it does virtually all the marketing for them and gives them good leads for bookings. It also supports them with extensive sales training and support, and gives them a better cash flow of commission earnings than they might find at some other hosts.

But Avoya’s model has produced record results, especially for cruise lines. It has been named “Travel Agency of the Year” a record three times by Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Lines, Celebrity Cruises, American Express, Oceania Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Line, MSC Cruises and Brendan Vacations. Earlier this year, Norwegian also named it online travel agency of the year, perhaps in recognition of Avoya as a hybrid model that bridges online and traditional travel agent markets.

Shared Success Model

All the awards show that Avoya’s model, while not necessarily for everyone, is working. Indeed, at the 50th anniversary celebration a panel of independent affiliates who are part of Avoya’s President’s Club (with sales of $2 million or more) gathered to describe why they continue to work with the host agency.

The short answer, as they described it themselves, is they’re “stuck!” They are stuck on Avoya’s Live Leads program and its support staff. They also are stuck on making more money than they ever had before at previous hosts.

Indeed, 2013 was another record year for Avoya and its independent affiliates. Jeff Anderson, executive vice president, told suppliers and independent affiliates that same-store sales for Avoya were up 25 percent last year. For Avoya’s two top categories of independent affiliates, its “best of the best” group and its “President’s Circle,” sales were up 64 percent and 113 percent, respectively.

On the segment side, cruise sales were up 25 percent in 2013, hotel sales were up 28 percent and tour sales were up 58 percent. Avoya even sells air and car rentals now, which were up 49 percent and 59 percent, respectively. “We are all passionate about our shared success model,” Jeff says. “This is a huge indicator that shows the model is working.”

The Next Generation

There are now five Andersons working at the agency: Brad and Van, who remain as co-presidents; Brad’s sons, Jeff and Mike, both newly promoted to executive vice president last month; and Brad’s daughter, Bethany, who works in sales support and development.

Indeed, the Anderson family has been at the forefront of the home-based agent movement, which now represents roughly half of all travel agents in the market. It also has become one of the most successful host agencies in the business.

For the past 50 years the Andersons have mirrored the transformation of the travel agency distribution system — from wholesaler to full-service agency to host agency. And now they are about to embark on their next 50 years. Where that journey will take them is anybody’s guess, but it won’t be a surprise to anyone if they remain at the forefront of any change in the travel distribution system.

For more information on Avoya, call 888-447-8459 or visit www.joinavoya.com.