Millennial Travel: How One Travel Agency is Leading The Way

Photo courtesy of Pique Travel Design

The travel agent community has had Millennials on its mind for some time now: Not only how to market to millennial clients but how to attract millennials to travel agent careers.

One Midwestern travel agency has a staff made up of a significant number of millennial agents and it continues to receive numerous inquiries from other millennials interested in working for the agency.

Excelsior, Minn.-based Pique Travel Design, a member of the Virtuoso luxury travel network, has a full-time staff of ten (that includes both travel designers and administrative travel managers) plus five IC's, said Jim Bendt, CEO and owner of the agency. About 40 percent of its staff and IC's are Millennials.

"When we were building Pique, it was really important to us to have employees come from all generations, so you weren't going to see only 40-plus or 50-plus staff," said Bendt. "We have all different age ranges; we did that on purpose for a more holistic approach to travel but also for a different perspective on how to do travel."

What's really interesting, though, is the number of employment inquiries Pique receives from millennials, according to Bendt.

And that's encouraging given the trends on older agents retiring and the follow-up question: "Will there be a pipeline of talent to take over?" he adds.

"We see a lot of people interested [in joining Pique] who have personal travel experience," he said of millennial applicants.

It's difficult for Pique to hire these people if they haven't traveled, Bendt said. But there are well-suited applicants of those who have studied abroad in college, had an initial career that called for them to travel, and are now in their late twenties or early thirties and want a more fulfilling job.

"We're seeing more and more of these people so we started into the independent contractor (IC) route," Bendt said. "We're seeing so much talent we didn't want to let go. Being an IC is an opportunity for them to get into the travel business and learn the ropes."

Pique finds millennials interested in travel careers through two main routes, according to Bendt. "Good old-fashioned networking" leads to informational interviews with prospective candidates while potential agents who have seen Pique's office are curious, he said.

The agency's office, located in an affluent suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul, occupies a restored 5,000 square-foot warehouse. Bendt and his wife Linda, co-owner of the agency, rescued and restored the structure which was built in 1940 and was slated to be demolished.

The building's period detailing-including its original wide plank hardwood floors and wood ceiling-has a distinctly young vibe. The Bendts added other touches like a floor-to-ceiling fireplace.

Pique hosts a May through October speaker series focusing on travel. Speakers have included a leading private safari guide from Africa, an award-winning photographer from India, and a senior executive from Lindblad National Geographic.

"People think 'This isn't what I thought a travel agency would be like,'" Bendt said of the reaction to his agency's office.

The space represents "a community environment to celebrate travel," and a new kind of office akin to what Barnes and Noble is doing with its concept stores featuring bars and better food than that currently offered in in its cafes.

Pique's office also brings to mind the new agency business model embodied by the Austin-based Departure Lounge, which, however, offers a full-fledged wine and coffee bar with gourmet snacks and food. That agency opened after Pique Travel which is entering its fourth year in business.

Eighty percent of Pique's business is custom-designed trips and the agency's "travel designers" specialize in different parts of the world, according to Bendt.

What then do Millennials bring to a travel career?

"They have an infectious enthusiasm to their jobs and are always excited to learn," said Bendt. They also relate especially well to Millennial clients.

"They (Millennial staff) look at things differently from a generational perspective," he added. "It's healthy for us to understand the Millennial generation; how they operate and how they communicate."

Bendt pointed to industry studies-including those from Virtuoso-that found Millennials are extremely receptive to working with travel agents.

"And all the studies show they love to travel and see travel as more important than the acquisition of material objects," Bendt said.

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