Direct Approach: Business accommodates local travelers

VALDOSTA — Candace Pengra has worked in the travel business for more than a decade and knows how difficult it can be to organize vacations and business trips.

After spending 16 years as regional marketing director for a hotel, Pengra left her job to open her business, Direct Accommodations.

Direct Accommodations sets up travel plans for businesses, governmental agencies, sports teams and the general public looking to go on a vacation.

In her 16 years as a marketing director, Pengra spent her time helping government agencies and corporations set up travel plans in her hotel group, she said. After a while, Pengra wanted to offer her clients more options than what the hotel group allowed.

Out of a desire to better help her clients, Pengra moved to Georgia and started Direct Accommodations. She focused on government and corporate travel.

“We handle corporate and government travel with small businesses and large national accounts,” she said.

When working with government agencies, Pengra is authorized to work through the bidding process.

“We are able to bid on government contracts,” she said. “If they are going to a certain area and working a project, then we are able to pull this contract and negotiate lower than the government per diem.”

If she is unable to negotiate a rate lower than the government rate, Pengra said her clients will not pay more than the government rate.

When working with corporations, Pengra organizes flights, hotels and rental cars, she said.

“Our customers call us up where they need to be and when they need to be there,” she said. “We make all the reservations and send back confirmations.”

Eventually her corporate clients started asking Pengra if she could book vacations or leisure travel for them, she said. So, she branched into leisure travel.

Now, many of her clients offer access to her travel agency as a perk for their employees, she said.

Businesses and governmental agencies save money in two ways. Pengra is able to negotiate better rates on a local level and she doesn’t charge booking fees.

“(Companies) don’t have to hire someone to set up all this travel,” she said. “We don’t charge them any fees or have them sign any contracts.

“Our commission is all based locally with the vendor that we work with. A lot of travel agents will charge a booking fee. We don’t charge a start-up fee and we don’t charge any additional fees. … We get paid by the hotels and by the vendors.”

Direct Accommodations is a franchise under Travel Leaders and has access to discounts through its parent company, Pengra said.

After opening for leisure travel, Pengra set up her business so she would have certified travel professionals in several travel categories including active and adventure, honeymoon and destination, group and athletic travel and leisure travel.

The active and adventure category is for someone who is wanting to go hiking or if they want to be in a really active environment, Pengra said. She said the category would include something such as hiking glaciers in Alaska.

The honeymoon and destination category is for anything to do with weddings or special destination trips, said Erin Williams, a travel professional who specializes in this category.

Williams said she can work with honeymooners wanting to go on cruises or travel Europe for two weeks and make sure vendors know the clients are on a honeymoon, she said.

Direct Accommodations sets up traveling bachelorette or bachelor parties, a weekend away or anything that relates to a wedding that would require travel, Williams said.

But the category isn’t just for honeymoons or group parties, Williams said. She handles group reservations for weddings.

“If they are doing a destination wedding then we handle the friends and families that are coming to the wedding and handle anything they want to do while they are at the destination wedding,” she said.

Group and athletic travel can include anything from church trips to family reunions to traveling sports teams, Pengra said.

“One thing we do is reach out to local churches that want to go on ministry trips,” she said.

She helps churches travel together, stay in the same hotel and can help plan for activities wherever they go, she said.

“We are specialized in group pricing and group packaging,” she said. “We are knowledgable in the vendors that do group bookings or packages.”

Pengra plans family reunions at a specific site or elsewhere, she said.

“If they want to go on a cruise for a family reunion, we can handle that,” she said.

Pengra is working on travel plans for a soccer team for the upcoming fall season.

“We pull their schedules and get the hotels set up for the season then send the information to the parents,” she said.

The category is for individuals wanting to travel to large sporting events such as the Super Bowl.

“If someone wants to go to the Super Bowl and wants to get a limo and do first class and have the best seats, we can do that,” she said. “Or if they want to go to the Super Bowl and not break the bank then we can get them out there at a more moderate price”

The leisure travel category is for the regular family vacation, she said. It’s for families that want to go on a cruise, visit the Grand Canyon or go to Disney World.

Pengra took measures to ensure her business is not a call center, she said. When a client calls in and talks with a travel professional, that is who the client will work with going forward, she said. And if clients have any future travel plans, they will have a direct contact with someone at the company.

“We want to make it a long-term relationship,” she said.

Direct Accommodations, 100 N. Patterson St., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call (229) 269-4283.

Jason Smith is a reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be contacted at 229-244-3400 ext.1257.