Bethany Travel Dream Vacations celebrating 15 years in business

Agents at Bethany Travel Dream Vacations are in a celebratory mood.

The business will soon mark its 15^th year, and although plans aren’t yet firm, owner Cindy McCabe and her staff are thinking about month-long festivities not just for clients but, McCabe said, “for people who haven’t talked to us yet.”

A quickly growing company, Bethany Travel has scores of clients, catered to by five full-time and two part-time employees, plus 10 outside agents

Before opening the business, McCabe planned trips for others as a hobby, in addition to her full-time job as an accountant.

“More and more people called my house saying, ‘Can you plan a trip for us?’ My husband said, ‘I think you’re pretty good at this,’” she said.

Bethany Travel has been serving clients since 1996 and merged with Dream Vacations in 2005.

The full-service travel agency is able to plan every detail of trips for clients, at no charge to them because it’s included in the price of the trip.

“We’re shopping for them. It saves people time and money. We’re always looking for the best deal. We give our clients ideas. We plan everything out for you. If you want to take a tour, we plan that, and if you want to lay on the beach all day, you can do that, too. We plan a lot of honeymoons. I have a daughter, and I tell brides I would never send them anywhere I wouldn’t send my daughter,” McCabe said.

“We know things clients don’t, maybe a promotion. We’re like your hairdresser — we know what you want,” she said.

As the business has grown, the years have gone by quickly, with McCabe and her staff planning trips to destinations such as Disney World, Alaska and Hawaii, and escorted trips out west. But most are to the Caribbean or Europe. She said a lot of clients travel to Italy, go river cruising, take cruises or sign up for guided tours.

“We do destination weddings for people. Our clients are from Maryland, Pennsylvania and all over the United States. Most of our clientele is from Delaware and Maryland. A lot of local people have moved here, and they had a travel agent in New Jersey or something. They want to talk to somebody locally. All in all, we deal with happy people. We’re making dreams. That’s the thing.

“We take care of all the details. There are a lot of things we might know that you don’t,” she said.

On the website at www.bethanytravel.net, McCabe promises her No. 1 goal is “to provide excellent customer service with prices that are the same as the Internet.”

“We even offer a cell number for after-hours emergencies, so you truly never travel alone. Our travel agents are well-traveled, and one of them has most likely been to the destination you are considering. We have travel agents that specialize in Walt Disney, Sandals and beaches, honeymoon and destination weddings, Europe and all other types of leisure travel,” she said.

“We have a saying, The Internet is for looking, but Bethany Travel is for booking.’ I guess it’s all about sayings for us,” she said, laughing.

“One of our agents says travel is the only thing you pay for that makes you richer.”

Bethany Travel Dream Vacations is located at 28436 DuPont Boulevard, at the intersection of Route 113 and Wharton Street in Millsboro. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, email info@dreamvacationinc.com, call toll-free at 1-800-806-TRIP or locally at (302) 933-0955, or visit the website at www.bethanytravel.net.