DeLuxe Travel Bureau has logged 40 years serving Princeton-area travelers
By: Lauren Otis
On Oct. 6, 1966 a new travel agency, DeLuxe Travel Bureau Inc., set up shop on 188-190 Nassau St. in downtown Princeton. It was the era of "stewardesses" not flight attendants, hand-written airline tickets not "e-tickets," a time when tourism was not tempered by that other T-word, terrorism.
So much has changed in the realm of travel in the ensuing 40 years, but one thing hasn’t for Princeton residents: DeLuxe Travel is still on Nassau Street and is still catering to business and pleasure trip planning needs.
How did DeLuxe Travel survive through to the present day, where travelers have a myriad of online travel planning and booking options which turn any home PC with Internet access into a personal travel agency? Through a combination of customer loyalty bred of years of good service, and utility even in the digital era, giving travel clients amenities they cannot obtain over the Internet, says Wendy Lee Wintle, DeLuxe Travel’s president and owner.
"Princeton is a wonderful place, we have wonderful clients," says Ms. Wintle, 56, a personable and laconic woman who occupies a modest front office full of travel mementos and brochures at DeLuxe Travel’s current location at 247 Nassau St. "It’s a travel oriented town. It’s a town, I think, that likes service," she adds.
DeLuxe Travel has inched further out along Nassau Street over the course of its existence, moving to 219 Nassau in 1972, then settling at 247 Nassau St., in 2001. "We love it here," Ms. Wintle says of the light and airy building set back from the street, with its convenient parking lot for customers.
Ms. Wintle’s mother, Clementine C. Wintle, worked at the agency from its inception, taking over ownership from Steve Browers, the original owner, in 1981. Ms. Wintle gave up a career as a teacher in Massachusetts to help her mother with the travel business, becoming president in 1984.
"I took a leave of absence from teaching, and stayed," she said. Is she happy about her decision to give up teaching and join the family travel business? "Yes," Ms. Wintle replies without a moment’s hesitation.
Running a travel agency "is as challenging as teaching, it changes every day," Ms. Wintle says.
Over the course of its history, DeLuxe Travel has seen the number of travel agencies in downtown Princeton wax and wane, growing to five agencies in the heyday before Internet travel booking, and dwindling to just two today: DeLuxe Travel and a lone American Express Travel branch on the other end of Nassau Street.
While much has changed in the travel business people used to book trips months in advance rather than weeks in advance today DeLuxe Travel still offers something clients need: a wealth of knowledge on travel destinations and hotels gained from first-hand experience, according to Ms. Wintle. "My staff is really well traveled," she says, adding that their intimate knowledge gives visitors information they cannot find on any Web site.
Ms. Wintle says she usually tries to take two trips a year herself. She most recently visited Prague and Budapest on one trip, and Moscow and St. Petersburg on another. "I did get out to the Grand Canyon last year," she added. "I’d never been."
Many clients will do initial research over the Internet but "they come to us to pull all their plans together," Ms. Wintle says. The clientele is split evenly between business and leisure customers, Ms. Wintle says, with many area businesses using her agency as a corporate travel planner and also booking vacation plans with her too.
DeLuxe Travel makes it easy for parents who book trips for their children and want to avoid the hassle of online airline requirements that one of the traveling parties must have the same name as is on the purchasing credit card, Ms. Wintle says. And, yes, there are the old-fashioned travelers who just don’t want to put their credit card information out over the Internet and like to have their tickets delivered to their door just as they always have been, she adds.
Often, the agency’s value shows most clearly when something goes wrong. "We are a face" to come to and explain the problem to, as opposed to the Internet where there is often little immediate recourse if a mistake is made, Ms. Wintle says.
"Sometimes people misbook, they say, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t mean to do that,’" she says. "It’s nice to have a rapport with airlines," Ms. Wintle says, noting that she has been able to go to the sales desk of an airline she has a good relationship with and change a client’s flight without incurring large penalty fees.
"Someone who books everything from A to Z" such as Deluxe Travel, eliminates the guesswork of planning a vacation and establishes confidence and loyalty among clients, interjects Geri Thierman, who has been with Ms. Wintle for 10 years. "We’ve pledged our allegiance to the community, so they in turn realize that, so they pledge their allegiance back to us," Ms. Thierman adds.
Another agent, Sheila Jasento, has been with Deluxe Travel 25 years, "longer than I have," notes Ms. Wintle. Dominic Angelucci, "our delivery person," has been with DeLuxe Travel for 10 years. "We have a nice retention of employees, my mother noted that," Ms. Wintle says.
The clientele is certainly of the enduring sort too, rather than walk-ins, says Ms. Wintle, noting that she has served the travel needs for several generations of some Princeton families. "We rely mostly on referrals and repeat clientele," she says.
Has Sept. 11 and the subsequent hurdles to and uncertainty of travel abroad harmed her business? No, it has if anything helped it, Ms. Wintle replies. "People want the security of dealing with a real person, who is keeping them updated on the countries they travel to," she says.
For the future, travelers will continue to value, and utilize the personalized, face-to-face service DeLuxe Travel offers, Ms. Wintle says. Many people may use e-mail when contacting her but "we still have people who come in all the time, just stop by," she said. "And people still like brochures," she adds. A glossy brochure with scenic pictures "makes it much more appealing, it gets those travel juices going," Ms. Wintle says.
Does she plan to wind down anytime soon, to travel more perhaps? "No," comes Ms. Wintle’s succinct reply. "I’m here for the long haul."
At the end of the interview, she offers a visitor a Tootsie Roll Pop from a large basket full of an assortment of flavors. "My mother started offering Tootsie Pops and it has just gone along," she says.
Deluxe Travel Bureau can be reached at (609) 924-6270 or www.deluxetravelbureau.com. Or just stop by its offices at 247 Nassau St.

