Travel Place Takes Permanent Vacation Downtown Agency Known For Bargain Hunting And Personal Touch Closing Its Doors
The Travel Place has booked its last dream vacation. After 14 years, the women and one man who’ve planned trips from Afghanistan to Alaska will close their office in the Parkade downtown today.
The office didn’t close the day in May owner Pat Corrigan was found dead of an apparent heart attack at her desk or the day of her funeral.
Staff closed for her services but reopened shortly.
“People were depending on us,” says bookkeeper Marcella Benjamin. “We couldn’t just close.”
But eventually, without Corrigan, they had to.
In a world of mammoth industries and global economies, this was a small operation.
Corrigan, her cousin, Joy Ruple and two other women were middle-age agents about to be dumped by another agency when they founded The Travel Place.
It took months just to get computers - they had to track airline rates through brochures and telephone calls.
But they knew their customers’ tastes and the territory and used it to build a loyal clientele.
Typical was a request to bring two little girls to Spokane from Las Vegas this summer. Flights to Seattle and Spokane were cost prohibitive for the family. Then it occurred to Ruple: Pasco. It’s a 146-mile drive, but the change saved the family more than $400.
“It’s like a puzzle,” Ruple said. “Your mind is always working.”
Customers grew used to their bargain hunting and personal touch. Corrigan knew which client liked the aisle and who couldn’t stand a middle seat.
One family relied on Ruple even after they moved to Texas. Their relatives in Georgia use her, too. Ruby Erickson calls every winter from Phoenix.
As owner, Corrigan set the tone.
“She bent over backwards for everybody,” Ruple said.
The small office allowed room for employees’ lives. When the bookkeeper had her youngest child, she returned to work three days later - the baby with her.
After Ruple’s leg was crushed in a car accident in 1994, it was fine to work part time.
Staff decided among themselves who would get the holidays off. About the only time anyone left was to retire or move.
And the trips they took: Ruple went to Jamaica, Asia and Europe five times. Corrigan met one client at a bonfire on Kilimanjaro.
Then, the airlines deregulated, the industry changed, and business began to slip.
Cruises were increasingly booked by “certified counselors.” Free promotional trips disappeared. Airlines put a cap on commissions. A $1,500 plane ticket that would have once earned a $150 commission earns just $50 - $25 one-way. A $39 fare earns $3.90.
Still, Corrigan kept going.
“She held us up and we held her up,” Ruple said.
When Benjamin opened the office May 6, she found Corrigan lying on the floor behind her desk. She was buried at St. Joseph’s in the Spokane Valley, with several customers attending.
Her family opted to close the business Aug. 31.
“I was just shocked,” said Ruby Erickson, who took 19 trips to Hawaii through Ruple and will go to Tasmania this fall.
“I’ve gotten so used to not having to worry about anything. Visas, reservations, cars, she took care of everything.”
She hopes Ruple, who’d like to retire next year, continues working. Myke Gaines is joining another agency, the other three employees are moving or taking a break.
“It is sad,” Ruple said. “We sent a lot of people on a lot of wonderful trips.”
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