Joe Vendi has over 45 years of experience in the travel industry, and his leadership has influenced the standards and practices of both travel agencies and suppliers. Here, in his own words (and with photos snagged from his album), Joe details his illustrious career.

I attended elementary school in “Flatbush” Brooklyn and high school at La Salle Military Academy in Oakdale, Long Island. After graduating La Salle, I attended Georgetown University in Washington D.C. from 1954 to 1958. I left Georgetown and completed my education at New York University receiving a B.S. degree in 1959.

My traveling as a youth consisted of visiting family in New Jersey, and summer vacations in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, and the Catskill Mountains in New York.

While I was attending Georgetown (1955), I was able to convince my parents to allow me to attend College Week in Bermuda. I flew on a Colonial Airlines DC3 and needless to say College Week, now known as Spring Break, was nothing like it is today. This was my first trip on a plane and out of the U.S. After graduating college in 1959, I took a Globus Gateway tour to Europe with two friends of mine - 17 days from London to Rome. The realization that traveling the world has so much interesting history and culture to offer really turned me on to travel.

After returning from Europe, I needed to complete my military obligation. I joined the New York National Guard based in the 7th Regiment Armory at Park Avenue and E. 66th Street in Manhattan. We were the Honor Guard unit for the city of New York. I spent many weekends marching in parades and standing as part of an Honor Guard at various city functions. Members of the 7th Regiment Armory recently stood as Honor Guard at the coffin of Gen. Douglas Mc Arthur. Forty-five years ago I would have been one of the Honor Guard unit. My military function was that of a radio operator in an infantry unit.

After six months of basic and advanced training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, I reported for duty on Park Avenue every Tuesday night for five years, including four weekends and two weeks of Summer Camp every year. For six years, I protected Park Avenue, Hunter College, and all the exclusive nightclubs on the east side of Manhattan. I am proud that during this time there were no terrorist attacks and Manhattan was very secure. Thank God I was between wars.

I spent a few months working for a retail clothing chain in Brooklyn and moved to retail travel in 1960. I invested in and eventually owned outright a new retail travel agency on Kings Highway in Brooklyn named Ideal World Travel. This is significant, because we were one of the first agencies approved by ATC (Air Traffic Conference, now known as Airlines Reporting Corporation or ARC) after the Need Clause was declared illegal. It was here that I first started to learn about the travel industry. I was a member of SKAL, an original member of BAATA, Bon Vivants, and ASTA.

In 1963, I married my beautiful, patient, and usually understanding wife, Christa. We had a daughter, Maria, in 1964 and a son, Albert, in 1966. I was living in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. My family was growing, my business was growing, and the world looked beautiful.

In 1967, Rita Gray, an ex-employee of mine who had moved to Miami, returned to Brooklyn to see family and took time to visit her old office. She told me she was working for a wholesale travel company called United Tours. Her current employer was getting "older" (72 years old) and was looking for an investor to work with him to take over the business. By that time, my parents wintered in Miami, so I asked my father to look into United Tours. Under the pretext of visiting Rita, he became familiar with the business. Negotiations started, and we agreed to buy United Tours with the former owner, Jim Mills, staying on for a minimum of one year and three years maximum. This time period was to introduce me to the new wholesale travel environment and the existing customer base.

As luck would have it, shortly after my arrival, the competing International Tours—which operated four retail travel offices in Burdines department stores—went out of business. We at United Tours were asked whether we were interested in reopening the four Burdines offices. Knowing that if I had a problem with United Tours, a wholesale operation, I could always fall back on retail travel, I quickly agreed to take over the Burdines offices.

It is obvious with hindsight what was not obvious with foresight; a 32-year-old Italian-American from Brooklyn was not going to get along with a 72-year-old fifth-generation American from Louisville. Considering that Jim Mills did not agree with me or like retail travel, and I did not agree with him and like wholesale travel, we negotiated a split. He would retain sole ownership of United Tours, and I would take over sole ownership of Ambassador Travel Inc., the Burdines retail units. So it was. On a clear day in 1969 the empire began.

The original four Burdines offices were in Miami Beach, Miami, North Miami Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. After one year, the offices produced a combined volume of $1.2 million. Needless to say, we had to grow. In order to so, decisions had to be made:

• We agreed that use of the in-store Burdines credit card was a must. The hang-up was that Burdines paid 15 days after receipt of the monthly statement. We had to pay the airlines, cruise lines, and tour companies within one week and could not afford to take the credit card unless we had a new procedure. I was able to convince Burdines to pay us an advance every week upon submission of un-audited weekly sales and to balance at the end of the month.
• We agreed that we would represent ourselves with a new operating name, Burdines Travel Bureau. We were no longer obligated to use our corporate name, Ambassador Travel Inc. No one had been able to use the Burdines name prior to my asking for the change.
• We agreed to stay open full store hours. No other agency would make that commitment.
• We agreed to an advertising budget of at least 1% of our volume, keeping all ads within the Burdines image. I realized that I had an obligation to bring business into Burdines, instead of thinking it was the store’s obligation to bring business to my agency.
• We agreed to follow Burdines’ customer-service policy. Seeing our commitment to that and to their policies, Burdines allowed us to operate with minimum interference. If a customer complained, we took care of the problem, keeping in mind that it ultimately was a Burdines customer who must be satisfied. All of this, with a one-year lease and a customer service policy that other travel agencies could not understand. But I knew it made Burdines Travel a better agency. Whenever asked, “How can you afford to operate with these restrictions?” my answer always was, “How can I afford not to?” Burdines is owned by Federated Department Stores.

By 1971, I realized that in order to protect my future, I should have another division of Ambassador Travel in a chain of stores not operated by Federated. I found Rich's, an independent, well-respected chain of stores located in Atlanta. There I was, three years out of Brooklyn, negotiating in Atlanta with a southern institution. With a great track record and a good recommendation from the executives at Burdines, I was able to negotiate an agreement similar to the one I had with Burdines. We opened Rich's Travel Agency in 1972 and grew to eleven offices—nine in Georgia and two in South Carolina.

We simultaneously had been branching out with Burdines, opening stores on the East and West Coasts of Florida, from Miami as far north as Orlando. Burdines Travel Bureau ultimately operated 25 agencies in Florida.

Sometime in the mid-1970s, Federated Stores bought Rich's. I humorously told Burdines they were following me, and I told Rich's that Federated bought them to get me. I thought it would be foolish to try avoiding Federated and should use my connections with them to open more agencies in other Federated Stores. That growth began in 1978. I opened:

• Filenes Travel Service, operating four offices in Massachusetts;
• Bullocks Travel, operating four offices in the San Francisco Bay area;
• I. Magnin Travel Service, operating one office in San Francisco; and
• Lazarus Travel, operating four offices in Ohio and one in Kentucky.

At one time, I was operating 45 retail units in six different department stores in seven states, doing $65–70 million a year. Ambassador Travel was a leader in the travel industry for twenty years, during which time I accomplished many innovations in the retail travel business.

• When there was no computerization in South Florida, I took it upon myself to push the issue. Before then, only American and United Airlines were offering computers to high-producing travel agencies, and South Florida was Eastern, National, and Pan American territory; ergo, there were no American or United high producers, so no computers. I convinced National Airlines to champion the project that brought Sabre (a computerized airline booking system) to South Florida.
• In order to service our many offices, Ambassador Travel set up the first in-house group cruise department. I challenged the affinity group concept as the only way to hold group space. I won. To the best of my knowledge, Ambassador Travel set up the first floating deposit in 1973.
• We added our own pre- and post-vacation packages to existing cruises and pre-packaged tours.
• Burdines Travel Bureau established the first bus transportation for Miami cruise departures from Tampa and Daytona, stopping at cities in between. We advertised this service as “The Cruise Connection.” Our ads showed an extension cord coming from the B of Burdines with the plug inserted into a ship at the other end.
• Burdines Travel Bureau did elaborate promotions in various departments of the store as well as the malls, using dressed mannequins, destination posters, movie or slide presentations, and appropriate favors, such as fortune cookies and tea for the Orient, and espresso and finger pastries for the Mediterranean.
• We originated Burdines Bucks to cross-market store merchandise and travel. There were so many cross-marketing events we did to spice up a very conservative industry that brevity and memory does not allow me to mention them all.

During this time, I participated in almost all industry functions and organizations in South Florida.

I was president of the Travel Industry Association (TIA) of South Florida. I was able to break the tradition that only travel sales agents could take trips at a special air rate. Whenever the TIA was invited to a function and a special air rate was needed, it had to be available to all members, or I would not present the invitation.

I also was president of the South Florida Subchapter of ASTA, the largest, most influential travel agent organization in the world. During my term, I saw the need to separate from our main chapter, Southern ASTA, which is based in Tennessee. We are in the South, but South Florida is anything but the South. We needed our own identity. The southern chapter would have been happy to get rid of us, but they did not want to give us our portion of the treasury. I formulated a strategy and proceeded to wage and win a war. We gained our independence and received our appropriate share of the treasury. I became the first elected president of the new South Florida chapter of ASTA.

As the president of the South Florida chapter of ASTA, I was able to convince ASTA National to hold its 52nd National Convention in Miami in October 1982. I later became chairman of the Host Committee and had to work with the political figures of the area; Miami Beach, Miami, Surfside, North Miami Beach, and Broward County were individual areas that had not worked together before. I had to convince the City of Miami that all countries are welcome to attend the ASTA National Convention, even the communists and yes, even Cuba if they chose to attend. At a session of the Miami City Commission, Commissioner Joe Corollo went into a tirade about how this convention would be an insult to the Cuban community.

All of that aside, and with cooler heads taking over on the City Commission, we were able to arrive at an agreement. Now for the petty jealousies that existed between cities. No city wanted the other cities to participate because of the exposure and, God forbid, the concern that some of their money might be promoting another city. The host committee and I were able to convince the state to be involved since we needed money. In order to use some of the state tourism budget, we had to offer pre- and post-convention side trips to various parts of the state. You see, Dade and Broward Counties belong to Florida as much as the South Florida Chapter of ASTA belonged to the Southern Chapter of ASTA. Eventually the established host committee, with input from some tourism officials, developed “Greater Miami and the Beaches” in order to encompass all of Dade county tourist areas and to cooperate with Broward County. This accomplishment was a first. These areas never cooperated before. “Greater Miami and the Beaches” still exists today as a coordinating marketing body for Dade County. As chairman of the Host Committee, not the president of South Florida ASTA, I now had to attend ASTA regional meetings and convince them to attend the Miami convention. It was at one if these meetings in Hawaii that I had the opportunity to meet President Gerald Ford.

The National ASTA Convention is usually held out of the US and hosted by an entire country. Imagine the difference in approach and budget among Spain, Italy, Japan, England, Mexico, and now Joe Corollo, Dade County, and Tallahassee. When “crunch time” came, everyone cooperated and we had a very successful convention for all parties.

One of my most memorable experiences was when Ambassador Travel was chosen to host a contingent of 11 tourism officials from Mainland China. Prior to their arrival, I was invited to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. as the first non-government American allowed in the Embassy. I was advised that they wanted to see tourist facilities in order to understand what the American tourist expects so they could improve their tourism infrastructure. While in Miami they wanted to stay in private homes to see how we live. What an opportunity! I took the head man and his interpreter into my home; with the cooperation of all of my Miami staff, I placed one or two of the other visitors in a volunteer associate’s home. I then arranged a series of visitations to hotels, large and small, some of my offices, a Burdines store (front and behind the customer areas), public schools, attractions, tours of the community from Gables by the Sea to Liberty City, Miami pier, ship visitations including a cocktail party on the bridge of an NCL ship, and anything else they wanted to see.

I ended their stay with a country-western party at my home with a full barbecue: ribs, chicken, steaks, and corn on the cob. The corn was a hit! Apparently they are not familiar with corn on the cob. Some had never seen it and had to be shown how to eat it. I had bales of hay, country/western music, and gifts for all the visitors. I invited the Burdines executives and all of my local staff. I also invited local press and trade press, the executives of the companies that participated in our visitations, some notable travel people (even competitors) from the travel community, and some family and friends. The exchange of gifts was wonderful. To see the Chinese in cowboy hats and Carol City High School t-shirts eating corn on the cob was a wonderful, memorable experience.

My wife and I were subsequently invited to China by the head tourism official who stayed at my home. No, we did not stay in his home; we stayed at the government “Guest House” in Beijing. We were taken to a Chinese dinner in a restaurant and proudly shown a new hotel almost ready for opening. They had incorporated many of the conveniences they learned about while in Miami. It is very gratifying knowing that something I organized and participated in had an influence in the world, as far away as China. Some other achievements I'm proud to have accomplished or been a part of:

I formulated a study group, the first in Florida, to complete the two Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA) courses, and after the two years of study and examinations, I passed and am now a Certified Travel Consultant (CTC). These ICTA study groups continued for many years.

I was the Honorary Starter for the Eastern Airlines 3-Hour IMSA Camel GT event at Daytona Speedway.

I have participated on many airline advisory boards, including National, Eastern, Pan American, TWA, and even some that are still in business.

I also participated on cruise line advisory boards including Sitmar, Princess, Holland America, NCL, Royal Caribbean, Costa, Carnival, Cunard, and others. I was asked to speak at many industry and civic events.

When people wanted to hear what I thought to be the truth, I was well -received; when they wanted to hear what they wanted to believe, I was not so well-received. Well-received or not did not seem to matter; I was continually invited as a speaker. I was a major participant in the group that assisted in the formulation of the curricula during the creation of the Travel and Tourism Department at Florida International University (FIU).

I was, and still am, a firm believer in giving to the community. I directed management at all of my offices to participate in local charity functions. Most of our work was around exposing underprivileged children to the world outside of their neighborhoods. We took them to ballet and philharmonic performances. I arranged with an airline to take children on a one-hour jet flight -- you should have seen those faces. I arranged for groups of children to visit the pier for a full ship inspection. I participated in numerous career weeks at high schools, and much more. There were so many more, but I cannot remember all 30 years worth.

We gave yearly to local charities as well as the United Way Fund. I am a member and past president of the local chapter, of UNICO, an American/Italian service organization that contributes to the homeless and to student scholarships. I am a member of the ELKS, and a two-time past president of the Miami Sundown Chapter of The Rotary Club. Both organizations provide worldwide service. I also participate in my high school alumni association. I find it rewarding to have so many friends from 55 years ago.

In a bout 1986, the department store industry was having major problems: Federated, Macy's, Saks, Jorden Marsh, Maas Brothers, and others were in severe financial trouble. Each group was rumored to be taking over the other. Bullocks, in the San Francisco Bay area, closed all five of their stores in Northern California. In 1989, Federated was searching for financing and was able to find someone to float a “junk bond issue.” Shortly after this desperate attempt to stay solvent, Federated filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Business dropped drastically, and I decided that 20 years was enough and it would be a good time to retire.

I sold ATTS to a travel company with offices in New York and stayed on for one year. By 1990, Bullocks in Northern California closed, I Magnin closed, Maas Brothers was absorbed by Burdines, and many stores closed. Jorden Marsh was then absorbed by Burdines, Filenes closed many stores, and Burdines and Macys became one (now only the Macys name is used). Federated Stores reorganized and is now very strong. Last time I checked, Rich's was the only company that still had travel agencies in their stores. The rest were gone. It is sad for me, but times change and we must move on.

The relaxation of retirement soon turned to boredom, and I started looking for a small retail travel agency near my home. I found Travel is Fun and bought the agency in May of 1991. I became an American Express affiliate, grew the business, and stayed in the same location until 2005.

I was approached by the executives of Luxury Cruise Center with an offer to purchase Travel is Fun and an opportunity for me to stay on in an executive capacity. I accepted and am truly excited to be a part of this dynamic company with a wonderful future. After being in business for myself for 45 years, I was looking at this new association with some apprehension. I am pleased that my apprehension was for naught. The executives and associates of Luxury Cruise Center have treated me as one of the family since the day I arrived. I truly look forward to contributing and learning during my hopefully long association with Luxury Cruise Center.

I believe “times change and we must move on.” I am as anxious today to become a part of the new travel industry as I was 45 years ago to join the travel industry.

Life sometimes goes around, and now I am in a similar position to that of Jim Mills in 1968. Having all the prior experience, and not coming from Kentucky, I am sure I will handle the transition to Luxury Cruise Center with a more open mind.