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Rich Worldwide’s family(from left to right):
Ina Rich, chairman; Allen Rich,
director; and co-presidents Nathan
Devore and Richard Esman |
All In The Family
By Marilee Crocker
First came love. Then came marriage. Then came two daughters, followed by two sons-in-law. Then came three grandsons. What’s big enough to hold them all? Rich Worldwide Travel, an independent six office agency based in Harrison, N.Y.
Though the thought of working in a family business understandably makes some people tremble with terror, Ina and Allen Rich have made it work, personally and professionally.
Professionally, the numbers speak for themselves. Established in 1956 by Ina in Scarsdale, N.Y., initially to service the Riches’ growing tour company for teens, Rich Worldwide now grosses about $60 million annually, about 60% of it corporate.
The firm which is looking to acquire other agencies, counts 50 payroll employees and another 50 who work on commission.
Four of those employees, not counting Ina and Allen, are family members.
They include son-in-law Nathan Devore, who joined in 1980 and is Vice President of sales and marketing. He runs the firms Manhattan office. Another son-in-law Richard Esman, who joined a few years later and is now Chief Financial Officer.
The Riches’ daughters, Donna and Michelle, are working their way back into the business after taking time off for child rearing.
What makes it all work? For one thing, Allen said "Our family doesn’t work for us; they work with us." Also, Ina said, "Everybody must have [his or
her] own space, and you must have enough respect for the next generation for them to be able to take over and do new things.
All that togetherness in the workplace doesn’t seem to have hurt family harmony.
Last year the Riches' celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary by taking their three-generation family to London.
Travel Agency Expands
but Stays in Family
The Business
By Penny Singer
Featured in The New York Times on November 2nd, 1997
What began as an idea to let two young teachers make some extra money metamorphosed into a $60 million travel business.
The business is Rich Worldwide travel, based in Harrison. With offices in Pearl River, Manhattan and a new branch, which opened yesterday in East Hampton, Rich is the largest independently owned travel agency in Westchester.
"But the strange thing is, we never planned to go into the business," Ina Rich, President of the family-run company , said. "Allen, my husband, and I were teachers who kind of backed into the travel industry."
 Its beginnings go back to the 50’s, when Mr. Rich, then a teacher at Creston Junior High School in the Bronx, started taking his students on day trips to West Point and Hyde Park. The outings proved so popular, Mrs. Rich said, that they soon becomes weekend jaunts and finally extended summer trips for teen-agers to California.
"Eventually the demand grew to the point that Metric Tours, a tour company catering to teen-agers, was formed," Mrs. Rich said. "By that time we were married and living in New Rochelle, but Allen kept his day job. He was vice principal then, but we realized that if teen tours were to be cost effective, we would need to book air as well, so in 1965 I opened a retail office in Scarsdale, and shortly afterward we were approved as a retail travel agency by the airlines."
By the early 70’s, Mrs. Rich said, "business had increased to the point that Allen stopped teaching full time, and we began expanding our retail operation by positioning ourselves in the top end of the leisure market."
The next step the Riches' took was going after corporate business. "It was prompted by a casual remark of a leisure client of ours," Mrs. Rich said "He was the head of a large
corporation in New York city, and he said he would be glad to give us his corporate business if only we were closer to his office in Manhattan."
The Riches' responded by opening a small office on Third Avenue.
"Corporate business accounts for 60 percent of our revenue today," Mrs. Rich said. "Eventually, we opened offices in specific areas to serve clients. We now have six, and we hired specialists familiar with every phase of travel to staff them. Our people get training in all facets of business, even attending tariff schools. Today we’re a family-run travel management company, with 50 employees on the payroll and about another 50 who work on commission."
Nathan Devore, who is married to the Riches’ daughter, Donna, is the company Vice President in charge of sales and marketing. Richard Esman, also a Vice President and the husband of their other daughter, Michele, overseas the back office operation.
"When we offered our sons-in-law an opportunity, not a job, to help us grow the business, they accepted," Mrs. Rich said. "They work with us, not for us. This is truly a family business. When we success, we all succeed. And our daughters are beginning to take more of an active role in the company now that their children are older."
 The Riches', who recently celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary, observed the occasion by taking the whole family, three generations of them, nine strong, to London for a long weekend. "We had an absolute ball; it was wonderful", Mrs. Rich said. "All four nights, five days. I gave myself the same advice I give my clients: ‘Don’t let not having enough time stop you from taking a vacation’ Even a short one can be terrific."
One of the current trends in travel, she observed, is the three-generation jaunt. "Family group travel is big today," she said. "We’re booking occasions - a wedding in the Caribbean, a Bar Mitzvah in Israel, a family reunion in Ireland and everything in between."
The Riches' do a fair amount of travel themselves in the interest of giving their clients "Advice from someone who has been there."
Mrs. Rich explained: "There is nothing like seeing something first hand. For instance, we recently spent a weekend at Cabo San Lucas, deluxe new resort in Baja California, and while we were there we managed to see almost every other hotel and golf course in the area. It’s not difficult to take, but it really is hard work."
Mr. Rich, who’s title is director, was asked if he had any feelings about ranking below his wife in the company’s hierarchy.
"I think she’s a terrific President and C.E.O.," he said. "And I know we spend so much time together we could be married 90 years instead of 45. I have a big healthy ego. We share the same goals and think of ourselves as a strong team. We take different roles, good guy, bad guy, playing on one another. I work with our suppliers, trying to get them to go the extra mile and give us the best prices because of our volume of business."
"The industry has changed dramatically." Said Mr. Rich, who is President of the Hudson Valley chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents, a trade organization. He said travel, once considered an easy business to enter, has become increasingly difficult for small agencies that are trying to stay in business.
The latest blow, he said, came in September when United Airlines cut the base commission rate paid to travel agents to 8 percent from 10 percent on both domestic and international tickets, with other airlines quickly following suit.
The cuts in commission, coming after a previous cut, which was a commission cap of $50 imposed on domestic flights in 1995. Mr. Rich said, may spell the end of free service traditionally supplied by travel agencies.
"It’s doubtful if the airlines will back down," he said. "They are flying high right now. Business is good. Seats are filled. Sure, customers can call the airline direct to buy a ticket, but what most customers don’t want to do is what we do routinely: call half a dozen or more airlines, looking for the best fare. That takes time and know-how, so in the new scheme of things agencies will have to begin to implement service fees if they are to stay in business.
The Business Traveler
By Maritin Schrader
‘One call does all’ meeting and conference service a new specialty at Rich Worldwide Travel
Ina Rich, President, matriarch and co-founder (with husband Allen) of Rich Worldwide Travel in Harrison, fairly glowed as she described the genesis and growth of a new service her company is offering its business clients.
"Just last year we started, almost from scratch, a new service packaging every aspect of company meetings, conferences and conventions. In 12 months, it has grown nearly 10 percent of our corporate business," she said.
Corporate, as distinguished from pleasure travel, accounts for some 65 percent of Rich’s total volume. Since Rich books around $60 million worth of travel each year, corporate represents about $39 million in bookings; meetings and conventions has gone from near zero to $3.9 million in 12 months.
"We’ve always grown in response to market needs" said Allen Rich. "As clients have asked certain services, out people have had the creative spark and technical and financial savvy to move into new areas of business and make them work for clients and for us."
Vice President Nathan E. Devore, one of two sons-in-law who are assuming and ever-larger role in the business, is, in effect, point man on all marketing and is especially involved in the convention-meeting functions. "It all started," he said, "when a major client, a financial services firm in Stamford (Conn.) asked their Rich representative if we could help set up a three-day review, training, socializing and awards session for about 100 of their people from around the U.S. plus a few from Europe and Asia. This is a large company, but not large enough to really maintain a separate meetings planning department.
 "We studied the problem with the client," Devore said, "found out what was needed, the firms objectives - and budget, of course - and simply planned event from the beginning to end: location, meetings and fee time schedules, audiovisual needs, recreation, menus, transportation from the simple question of getting staff and executives about 50 miles from headquarters to the facility we selected on to flying a couple of people from Hong Kong to Connecticut. A complete package, in short, and at a price substantially lower - because of our ability to negotiate - than they would have paid if they tried to do it on their own."
Richard Esman, another Rich son-in-law, Vice President and chief financial officer, added: "We charged a fee for our consultation services and we earned, as usual certain commissions on reservations, air travel, etc. And still, we produced an efficient package that saved at least 15 percent for the client and, well, made a reasonable profit for us.
"There’s another practical point," Esman continued. "Very large companies can afford to maintain a meeting planning staff. Smaller ones can’t. It makes no sense to fund a department that is basically inactive much or even some of the time. It’s also not economical to detach executives to plan a meeting - a function with which they may be only partly familiar - instead of hiring a team of experts and putting it all in their hands."
As a consequence of all of the above, Rich has jumped feet first into the conference business. But it was ever thus. At first, nearly 30 years ago, the elder Riches', then school teachers, began taking classes to places like West Point and Hyde park. The outings became popular, expanded into weekend junkets and later into summer trips for teenagers.
Expansion into a teen tour company was the next logical step (so was marriage) and, by the early 70’s Allen Rich was able to quit his day job as a high school Vice-Principal - Ina Rich had abandoned the halls of academia much earlier - and thus was born Rich Worldwide.
Corporate involvement came a bit later, when a client suggested he would give them his business travel assignments is they opened an office near his in New York City. They did so and totally maintain four offices: Harrison, Pearl River, Manhattan and East Hampton. In addition there are "satellite" offices in the headquarters of several corporate customers in Westchester and Connecticut’s Fairfield County who need daily, hands-on attention.
Jody Ellentuck, director of sales and client services (and a non-family member) emphasizes that a prime objective is, naturally, to keep costs down for corporate clients. There are two main methods, she said: negotiation and technology. "We negotiate corporate fares, room rates, car rental charges, etc. on behalf of our clients. That way, they can take advantage of our considerable buying power.
"We employ technology," Ellentuck continued, "to monitor air fares continuously - 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If a rate changes for the better, if a fare drops, even a kind of ‘stealth,’ test-the-waters cut, we record it and use it to our clients’ advantage. Of course, sophisticated technology serves other purposes: to maintain up-to-the-minute client profiles (does she prefer aisle seats? Special meals? A particular room at The Four Seasons in Chicago?) and to print out tickets and itineraries instantly right in our clients’ offices."
The times are changing everywhere, even in the once fuddy-duddy world of travel agencies. Rich Worldwide seems to be leading the charge.
‘I can’t leave the office that week’
By Nathan Devore
Featured in the February 16, 1998 Issue of the Westchester County Business Journal
How many times has this been your response to your spouse’s request to take a vacation? You probably truly believe if you leave your office for one week your world will fall apart. This is common in the ‘90s, as business literally changes daily. It took centuries for man to go from counting on his fingers, to adding machines, to calculators and, eventually, to computers. Once computers arrived it took only a few years for them to become a staple in society. Along with computers came fax machines, voice-mail, e-mail, cable TV and the Internet.
No wonder we feel trapped. We’re scared that if we "go away" we’ll miss something. Who knows, they may make shuttle travel to the moon an every day occurrence during the week we’re away.
Fortunately, even if the world were to change overnight it wouldn’t be a serious as the health problems that could creep up on even the healthiest of us if we don’t take the time to relax and enjoy life. Too many of us go about our daily lives as if every second matters. Business is important, but it isn’t the most important thing every second, every minute of every day.
If you haven’t had the chance to experience relaxation for yourself, you can’t know what you’re missing. Once you do experience true relaxation, you’ll never want to give it up.
Picture this: You make plans to travel to the Caribbean, Europe, some of the U.S. national parks, visit a spa, or take a cruise - any of the many options available. All right, plans are made but you’re not going to leave for six more weeks. In the meantime, you’ll probably be preoccupied with your business. While you may think about your vacation, it still isn’t close enough for you to decide that your absence is going to be detrimental to your business.
As you get within one or two weeks of your departure date, you start to realize there is no way you can leave the office for five entire workdays. What if the prospect you’ve been calling for in the last two years calls to set up a meeting with you? What if your employees loaf around the entire time you’re away? What if they don’t pick up the phone on the second ring?
Now is the time to plan for that day - the day, week or even two weeks that you will put aside to relax, see the world and spend some uninterrupted time with your family. Begin training one or two key employees to understand what is involved in the daily operation of the company. Teach them how to make the daily deposits, change the toner in the copier, open and close the office. Write down important phone numbers such as suppliers and top vendors, including your phone vendor. It will all work out. In Fact, now that your employees have increased skills they can apply them in the future, and help alleviate some of your duties. Hey, this is starting to make sense already.
By now your travel plans are completed. You have all your documents in hand. Read them over and make sure they are correct. It’s easier to correct mistakes now than to arrive at your destination and find out your confirmation is incorrect and your family is sleeping in a puptent on Waikiki Beach with no bath or shower. An important part of your preparation includes making sure you have the proper identification required to enter your destination.
Take some reading with you, consider a best-selling novel. If it will make you feel better, bring along some of your trade papers. Don’t worry if you don’t read them, all that will mean is that you had plenty of fun and relaxation. Besides after two months of sitting on the floor in your office, the information isn’t worth much anyway.
So you spent some time with your family, played some volleyball, saw an OK comedian, had a few cocktails, listened to some music, swam every day, had a picnic on the floor of your hotel room with the children (room service, of course), played some golf, hit a few tennis balls, and took two afternoon naps. Aren’t you sad that you had to leave your employees in the office by themselves while you suffered through the week?
If only you could remember the wonderful, relaxing feelings you felt on the fourth day of your vacation, then maybe - just maybe - next time when your spouse says "Let’s go away as a family" your response might be: "Only one week? Why can’t we go for two weeks?"
Even Without Snow, Winter Means Travel
By Penny Singer
Featured in the March 2nd, 1997 of The New York Times
Just plain winter, with or without snow, is enough to send people packing. So say those who sell winter travel packages.
"People may not be as desperate to get away this year, but winter is still winter and they want to go," reported Ina Rich, founder and chief executive officer of Rich Worldwide Travel, with headquarters in Harrison, one of several travel agents interviewed. Even a week off in a short month like February, traditionally observed by most schools, had little negative impact on travel plans.
"Trips were shorter, four days instead of a week, and some parents even kept their kids out of school," said Allen Rich, a director of Rich Worldwide Travel and Mrs. Rich’s husband. "But there were very few cancellations in any of our offices."
Mr. Rich added, however, that "Everything has a direct impact on the travel industry. Whatever affects the world, weather, political unrest, the stock market, we feel it. Right now the public’s perception of the economy is that it is stable and times are good. And that upbeat look shows up in increased business for us."
Rich World Wide Travel employs 148 people in 4 retail offices in Harrison and Pearl River and 2 offices in Manhattan. The company also operates 12 corporate in-house ticketing offices. Rich, which ranks among the 100 largest independent travel agencies in the country, evolved from the Riches’ early careers as tour operators.
"Back in the 50’s, we were a young married couple,
teachers who ran summer teen tours all over the world," Mr. Rich recalled. "My wife, who wanted to stay home after our first child was born, opened a travel agency in Scarsdale in 1968. She gets the credit for building the business. I joined her in 1980, and now with our two sons-in-law in with us, we have a real family enterprise"
Given their own family structure, it is not surprising that when speaking about trends in travel, the Riches' say the multigenerational vacation is hot.
"We’ve taken a number of three generation vacations ourselves," Mrs. Rich said. "And the family market is very strong." "Instead of throwing a big party, our clients are celebrating important anniversaries and birthdays with their children and grandchildren on location. Bermuda, an easy flight from New York, is one popular destination. Resorts and cruise ships are others. Cruises are an excellent buy. There are a lot of bargains around. And a cruise lends itself to a three-generation vacation because it offers something for everyone. It’s also the easiest way to travel, with a minimum of packing and unpacking."
The renewed interest in golf has led to another trend, the golf tour, Mr. Rich Said. "Lately, we’ve been sending more clients out on golf tours than ever," he said. "They favor resorts in the south and the west and in Bermuda. And spring bookings, beginning in May, for golf tours in Scotland and Ireland are heavy."
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