21 Travel Agency Success Stories (2023)

Hey! My name is Marissa Daniels, and I am a millennial travel agent! I began Spread Your Wings Travel in February of 2019. Prior to 2019, I wanted an extra source of income just to have an extra cushion. I did mystery shopping, took surveys online, drove for Postmates and DoorDash, worked at a grocery store, anything I could find for extra money. I also did, and still do Brand Ambassador events as well- but those things didn’t fulfill me. I was doing them to get extra money, but it didn’t have a purpose and it wasn’t paying me as much as I wanted, so I stopped it all and just gave it to God. I let Him handle it.

Spread Your Wings Travel offers all-inclusive vacations (most under $1000 per person), cruises, luxury villas, cabins, domestic travel and more! The main thing that people like about my business is that I have a payment plan option. I like to have that option for them because not everyone is able to pay for a vacation upfront.

We are Patrick Burkhardt and Rigel Bitterman, Co-Founders of Luxpitality. We work with 4 and 5-star boutique and lifestyle hotels that are either independent or part of small brands. We assist our hotel partners by generating incremental leads focusing on groups, meetings, retreats, and incentive trips.

Over the past 5 years, we have grown our hotel portfolio to over 650 hotels around the world that all compliment each other and are the perfect fit for our new-age corporate group clients. No matter where they go in the world we have the perfect option for their next meeting or program.

Hello! My name is Robin Finney. I am a writer, international model, nomad, and founder of Wandering Aunt. I design and create solo travel and photoshoot experiences, lead souls retreats for people who wish to travel solo yet aren’t ready to do so on their own, offer intuitive card readings, and lead online workshops to support people in bringing their vision to life.

I officially began my business in July 2019 and it started to gain traction in December 2019. I took some time to really discover what it is that I want to offer and build as part of my brand. I attract clients who are wishing to gain more confidence in their life and discover their own unique essence.

Hello, I am Salman Rashid, Founder & CEO of Flight Expert. It is the first-ever online travel agency in Bangladesh. Our uniqueness was to build a state-of-the-art online travel agency with services focusing on Bangladesh primarily. This country has never before enjoyed taking assistance from any online travel agency.

However, the best part is that we achieved 50% more revenue in October 2021 than our pre-covid highest number on sales in a month, interestingly, and we are aiming to hit breakeven by March 2022 if all goes well in the market.

I’m Ritesh Raj, the co-founder, and COO of CuddlyNest, an accommodation booking platform for travelers. I have a travel tech background of over 13 years—so I’ve been at it since 2009!

That means focusing on all kinds of travelers, who are looking for all kinds of property types, with all kinds of budgets. Our inventory currently includes over four million properties of all types in 80k+ cities!

Hi! My name is Lillian Rafson, and I’m the founder + CEO of Pack Up + Go. We’re a travel agency that plans curated getaways around the United States. The catch? Your destination is a surprise until the day you depart! Since launching in 2016, we have sent 25,000+ travelers to 100+ destinations nationwide.

• Plane/Train Trips
• Road Trips
• Outdoor Road Trips
• Staycations Each of our trip types includes reservations at a top-notch hotel, curated itineraries full of recommendations for things to do, see, and eat in the destination, and 24/7 in-house traveler support.

TheTravelSecret gives you access to pricing on travel that is not available to the public. Membership automatically gives you access to our platform where you can book hotels, cars, cruises, flights, vacation rentals, homes, activities and even travel insurance at a discount. Unused timeshare inventory is also made available to our members where you can book weeklong stays for a steep discount at more than 500,000 different properties around the world.

We serve a wide array of demographics, from solo travelers to large families across all ages. Since you can basically book anything that you book right now, even business owners are now starting to use the platform to save money on travel.

Hello! My name is Charlotte Curry McGhee and I started Whisked Away Surprise Travel. Whisked Away saves travelers from hours of planning and overwhelm, giving them the curated surprise trip of their dreams!

Since starting the business in March of 2017, I’ve seen revenue grow exponentially each year, with many clients booking their second surprise trips with Whisked Away within months (or weeks!) of returning.

Manoj: Kamlesh Ramchandani and I (Manoj Tulsani) are the founders of Rayna Tours and Travels. Fueled by our deepest interest in travel and entrepreneurship, we kicked off our business journey a decade ago from a small travel counter inside a five-star hotel in Dubai.

Kamlesh: We’ve been in the industry for over a decade and have now become a niche provider of destination management services in Dubai. As a one-stop, customer-oriented business for all travel needs, our main organizational goal is to design and craft travel services and packages in such a way that each of them ideally responds to the dynamic market trends as well as our clients’ specific travel requirements. We offer our full suite of travel solutions through our wholly-owned Rayna Group.

Hi - we are Roshni & Jeff and we have sent hundreds of travelers on vacations around the world - without them knowing where they were headed!

Your surprise destination is the birthplace of an iconic government safety campaign! Surprise trip clue #1 for Jennifer, Grayson, & Andrew! #surprisevacation #familytrip #thevacationhunt

Hi all! My name is Alexandra Kenin and I run a tour business called Urban Hiker San Francisco, or Urban Hiker SF.

I’ve sold over 8,000 copies since the book came out in November 2016. While working on the book has been fun, and I’m working on a second book, Urban Trails East Bay (Berkeley, Oakland, and other cities east of San Francisco), this is more of a branding play than a money maker. I’ve only made $5,000 total for the book for the countless hours I spent on it.

Hello guys! I’m Sangeetha, the Co-founder, and CEO of Cubby. My love for travel coupled with expertise in customer service has been instrumental in the formation of Cubby. “Take memories, leave footprints”- has always been my traveling mantra! It’s interesting because that’s how cubby was born too - making memories without photobombing luggage!

We started out the year 2020 right by being selected to exhibit at the Startup Grind’s Global Conference 2020, at the Silicon Valley. We are very excited to expand across the nation and help many more travelers go un-bagged!

Hello. My name is Andrew Norton and I am the CEO & Founder of SkyAlliance Limited®. SkyAlliance is a travel search engine which allows you to find cheap flights, hotels, holiday packages and car hire all over the world.

5 years ago I knew nothing about web design, coding and software development, and today, I own a company that sends people away to various destinations and supplies them with another means of travel, all based on the 3 elements I knew nothing about.

I’m Shay Gleeson and I started HelpStay in February 2014. HelpStay is a subscription-based volunteering platform where travelers of all ages can exchange their time, skills, and talents for accommodation. Our motto is ‘Give a little help, stay for free’.

It’s exciting to curate a real community where our members can travel the world with a purpose, and benefit the communities they visit. Our typical member is aged between 18-38 years old, time-rich but cash-poor - educated to a high level and interested in traveling and giving back.

Hi, I’m Hari and I built Visa List a year back and is my third successful micro start-up.

Currently, Visa List has made $5000/month on average with 350K Monthly Active Users and its growing at 60%. Visa List has helped over 2 million users with their visa requirements

Hey there! I’m Nok, co-founder, and director of Five Star Thailand Tours. We've helped over 30,000 travellers in southern Thailand connect with local boat captains to experience incredible and authentic private snorkelling and boat tours.

We are proud to employ 100% local tour guides and boat captains, contributing money directly back into the local economy, and providing a sustainable income for those who need it the most. Throughout our time in business, we have ensured our prices remain fair and competitive to our customers; while prioritizing a fair and sustainable income for our hard-working team.

Founded by Meredith Hill, Vanessa McGovern, and Jennifer Cochrane, Gifted Travel Network is a cutting-edge host agency that supports business owners in repurposing their love of travel into a successful enterprise and fulfilling lifestyle.

Gifted Travel Network promotes travel entrepreneurship success by offering exemplary service, award-winning professional development programs, and a supportive community.

The founders obtained a $100,000 loan from the bank to kickstart the business.

In 2019, they generated $30 million in sales from travel reservations made using their credentials.

They leverage a strong network of 311 capable travel advisors to assist their valued clients, and their revenue model is commission based.

Listen to the full podcast on mixergy.com ➜

Shanna Dickerson founded Blue Sky Luxury Travels in St. John, US Virgin Islands.

Blue Sky Luxury Travels is a boutique ultra-luxury travel agency that has offered its services worldwide since 2010.

People can book luxury villas, private islands, and yacht charters, as well as plan tailored and unique itineraries for their loved ones with this agency.

Over the years, this travel agency has become a multi-million dollar company.

Their network of luxury villas, private islands, and yacht charters has weekly rates ranging from $10,000 to more than $1 million.

Read the full article on 30a.com ➜

Tripadvisor was founded by co-founders Stephen Kaufer, Langley Steinert, Nick Shanny, and Thomas Palka in February 2000. When they first launched Tripadvisor, they emphasized official words from newspapers, guidebooks, or magazines.

Tripadvisor, now the world’s leading travel advice network, assists hundreds of millions of people in becoming better travelers, from planning to booking to traveling.

Travelers use Tripadvisor to get bargains on lodgings, book activities, reserve tables at wonderful restaurants, and discover excellent locations nearby.

Kaufer co-founded TripAdvisor in 2000 to assist tourists worldwide in planning and having the perfect trip. The business idea came about when Steve was preparing for a vacation, and he searched the internet for a vacation idea, and his experience wasn’t pleasing.

At that moment, he decided to work on a travel search engine that would find those backwater pages, insights, and opinions of what other travelers found.

Their original search engine would search what was already out on the web, find biased information, pull it back into a central database, and then license it as a B2B model to other travel providers.

Their first client came a year after its founding when Lycos, the number 3 web search engine in 2001, allowed TripAdvisor to power the travel sections on Lycos and provide all the travel-related content.

Before co-founding TripAdvisor, Kaufer was an independent software vendor and CenterLine Software’s co-founder and vice president of engineering, where he directed the creation of many award-winning programming environments.

The platform has over 1 billion reviews and recommendations from almost 8 million companies. This travel guide firm works across 43 markets and offers services in over 22 languages, making trip planning simple regardless of the sort of journey.

The global revenue of Tripdavisor, Inc. increased by approximately 49 percent in 2021 over the previous fiscal year after dropping sharply in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Overall, the company’s revenue worldwide amounted to 902 million U.S. dollars in 2021, rising from 604 million U.S. dollars in 2020.