Epperly Travel, an Atlanta-based travel agency, is rebranding as Jetset World Travel. According to a press announcement Lindsey Epperly, founder and CEO of Epperly Travel, made the decision to let go of the namesake brand to create a platform for growth for the team of advisors, ultimately creating an enhanced boutique agency by shifting focus and investing in the expertise of the advisors.
Last summer, Epperly Travel announced the acquisition of then-separate Jetset World Travel, based in Chicago and founded by Julia Pirrung. The agency’s, pre-COVID, combined for an annual sales revenue of $25 million. Epperly Travel retained the Jetset World Travel brand in the acquisition but now moves the entire company under the name. In the interim, Epperly Travel operated both brands side by side in terms of client-facing; from the back office perspective, all numbers were run under Epperly's IATA, so it acted as the host for the original Jetset brand.
In this move, Epperly will lessen her visibility as the face of the brand in order to lead the team. "The goal of this transition is to go from 'me to we'—meaning to take the spotlight off of me as the founder and place it onto our entire team, not just from a media-facing standpoint but also within our daily operations," Epperly tells Luxury Travel Advisor. "We're hyper-focused on key support roles to help the advisors succeed and on leveraging our community for peer-driven growth. We have a wealth of knowledge amongst our team, an incredible network of supplier relations, and incredibly passionate entrepreneurs who are rising up as leaders. This transition allows us to lean into our 'secret sauce,' which is our community, and the operations reflect this in how our team interacts. We've created daily opportunities to meet and learn from one another and we've been building out a support team to serve in every capacity, allowing each salesperson and team leader to focus on what they're best at as they build their businesses."
In the press announcement, she added: “The name ‘Epperly’ carries a special meaning, not just as my maiden name, but as an homage to the family business my father built and sold, Epperly Tire. My father taught me everything I know about being an entrepreneur and my goal is to teach Jetset travel advisors the same.”
The decision to do business without the family name at the helm also creates an environment to accelerate teams, a specialty of Jetset World Travel. Having once operated a business within a host agency herself, Epperly sees the future of the travel industry as one powered by entrepreneurs of all ambitions. Jetset World Travel’s hosting program allows advisors to experience the financial upside of success, while receiving business mentorship from a community of like-minded advisors.
The leadership team will remain intact from Epperly, although it has hired a few additional roles, such as an in-house finance role who assists with commissions and a supplier relations role who navigates partnerships. "This is all in an effort to leverage Jetset as a platform for seeing our travel entrepreneurs reach their greatest success," Epperly adds.
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