At Ambassador Tours, some things never change. The San Francisco-based agency, which was founded in 1955 by Stan and Leone Pollard, continues to hang its hat on honesty, credibility and service, said the couple's son, Gary Pollard, CTC, who has served as its president since 2003.
"If you're honest with a client you never have to worry about what you say because it's always the truth," he said. "The truth is always going to be there."
His parents stressed the importance of credibility to Pollard at a very young age. "That's all you have," he said, adding that once an agent loses credibility it is extremely difficult to regain client's trust. "As for service, we're in a service-oriented business and if you don't have it, in our business you have no business."
Ambassador, which is arguably one of the oldest, largest and most successful family-run agencies in the country, is a longtime member of Ensemble Travel Group, and one of the consortium's top 25 agencies. Its business is 100 percent leisure, and of that, 85 percent is derived from the cruise segment.
In Pollard's estimation, the agency's ongoing success can, to a certain extent, be attributed to its size, which he categorized as neither too small nor too large. "One of the things that we always pride ourselves on is that we're a single location," he said. "What we do in one brick-and-mortar office is possible for us because we're not doing the same volume spread over seven agency locations."
Furthermore, Ambassador's 12 employees are salaried, and virtually all of them have been with the agency for more than 20 years.
"Everybody's full time. That's our commitment to our clients," said Pollard. The end result is that staff are not proprietary about clients but instead work as a team to help ensure that the entire portfolio of Ambassador's customers receive the same high level of customer service, he said.
And, in the age of technology, Ambassador continues to provide its customers with highly personalized service based on personal interactions as opposed to texts and emails. "We don't want people to book trips online. In my opinion, the initial relationship with the client has to be done face-to-face whenever possible - or at least on the phone," Pollard said. "We want them to talk to us to make sure they're buying the right trip. One of our themes is that we don't really care what they buy as long as they know what they're buying." he said.
There are three things that Pollard strictly forbids agents to say to clients. "We never say no, we never say something's not available and we never use the phase 'sold out,'" Pollard said. "The point is there are always options, and we know the people who can get things done."
In terms of product, what the agency sells is dictated not by preferred suppliers' products but products that specifically match the customer's very particular set of needs.
"If a client wants a product that is not part of Ensemble's preferred supplier roster and I don't sell it then I've lost all future business with that client," he said. "We're large enough and strong enough and smart enough to still gain the bonuses and commissions and amenities for the client."
The agency's commitment to service is also evidenced down to the smallest details. Each and every document Ambassador sends out is carefully vetted.
"Everything is checked over to make sure it reads well and is clearly definable to the client," Pollard said. "We want to make sure there are no surprises when clients check out of their hotel in Italy and have to pay a VAT tax."
For his part, Pollard will celebrate his 34th year with Ambassador on July 1. He started at the bottom and worked his way up. "My dad told me I needed to learn every facet of the business so I would know first hand what can and cannot be done," he said.
Pollard's first job was in the mailroom, where he fulfilled brochure requests, learning everything he could along the way about suppliers from the brochures he sent out to clients. "I was elevated to answering the phones, becoming a sales person and working in our operations departments and marketing - I've kind of done everything," he said.
A third generation of Pollard is now coming up through the ranks. Bryan, Pollard's son, joined Ambassador nearly five years ago and is currently working at the agency as a travel counselor.
Going forward, Pollard believes the agency will continue to thrive long into the future. "Our business is extremely good," he said. "If we can be around for 60 years we must be doing something right."
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