Technology
I never told them I was pregnant. My
six-week old daughter accompanied
me down to Kennedy Space Center,
sharing such a milestone in my career.
People ask how long I’ve been an
Accredited Space Agent. I know how
long because it’s exactly her age.
MDH: Do you have any insight as to
when the space travel may be offered
in the U.S.?
PHM: It’s being offered now in the
U.S., Sub-Orbital Space Flight, and
they’ve been selling tickets. The
space ship and the mother ship have
been built, they’re in testing phases
right now, and realistically, in a very
short time, the first flight to orbital
space will be going up.
MDH: Your company recently
celebrated 20 years in business
and you continue to grow including
opening an office in Naples. Can you
tell us about that?
PHM: In the past two decades
Hurley Travel Experts has grown
from a company with a single
full-time employee to one with
48. Based in Portland, Maine, the
company opened a second office
in Naples, Florida, in 2011. I tried
to create an environment that
was energy-infused and which
attracted the best travel advisors,
and the result was a dream team.
The company did $40 million in
business last year, specializing in
Corporate Travel Management,
Luxury and Experiential Vacations
and Meetings and Incentive
Group Travel.
The Naples office has been an
important addition to the business,
and we have truly enjoyed servicing
our great clients in that area. Our
success has partly been achieved by
recruiting an experienced team of
travel experts, which we have done in
Naples. This team ensures exceptional
customer service for our clients,
keeping us in line with our mission.
MDH: From your website, it is obvious
you have exceptional people. How do
you find them?
PHM: The largest part of our training
program is customer service, true
added value, going the extra mile, and
raising that bar. I’ve hired people who
said, “Wow, I thought I was best, but
I come here and I’m not best.” We
really feel they have to be retrained
regardless of their experience,
because of the high demands of
being exceptional.
MDH: You have 100 on-the-ground
representatives?
PHM: Through Virtuoso, we have two
affiliates. BCD is 100% corporate
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business travel management and
Virtuoso is Executive VIP. We also
feature customized experiences.
MDH: How does it feel being the
largest employer of travel
consultants in the State of Maine?
PHM: It feels great. I love Maine and
I do everything I can to keep my
business in the state’s that we do
business in, Maine and Florida. At the
end of the day, it’s about supporting
your community.
MDH: What did you do to celebrate
20 years in business?
PHM: Being involved with the
community has always been a part of
the company culture and mission. In
honor of our 20 years of success, and
to give back to the community, we
created a“20 for Twenty” online
travel auction. A Viking Danube
River Cruise and an all-inclusive
7-day Caribbean cruise for two
aboard Silversea’s Silver Spirit were
just two of the luxurious trips put
up for bid, with proceeds going to
nonprofits. This campaign raised
more than $50,000 for local
charities, including the Conservancy
of Southwest Florida.
MDH: You were awarded the annual
Woman of Distinction by the Girl
Scouts and you were a Girl Scout.
Was this a total surprise?
PHM: It was a total surprise. I was
very honored. I looked at the list of
whom they honored in the past and
it was humbling.
MDH: You do emphasize a return
on investment, ROI for corporate
accounts. Did you realize, in the
beginning, you had to put it
all together?
PHM: I think managing travel, as the
environment of being a Travel Agency
and Management Company, became
more competitive with the Internet.
The separation was between having
a service or doing it yourself,
separation between one that didn’t
cost anything and one with a service
fee. We continually had to prove
our worth, our value, and show
our customers what we were
doing for them. We evolved.
We started saving our customers
money, but weren’t telling them.
It was exciting to show what we
were saving. I thought instead of
just showing, let’s save them more.
It comes down to streamlining,
educating, guiding, and modifying
travel behavior and funneling business
through one source. Saving companies
money, improving their bottom line,
and enhancing the experience of the
travelers are our goals.