Fresh out of travel school (Yes, they once existed), I was hired as a travel counselor working for a large business travel center. I was extremely excited and quickly began planning my FAM Trips and discounted travel arrangements. Back in 1989, business was good and the perks were enormous! I literally had an unlimited amount of free airline tickets at my disposal with hotels & resorts awaiting my arrival.

Many of my colleagues were impressed at my ease of obtaining complimentary or “Comped” travel and I even earned nicknames such as the “Comp King” and the “Fam Man”. It seemed I had gained a reputation as the person to see for FAM Trips & Travel Agent Discounts. Soon after, my office created a position for me as the FAM Coordinator. I was to be in charge of planning FAM trips and guiding my colleagues with their personal travel.

Word quickly spread among travel agent circles and I began getting requests from a whole host of agents: even outside of my office. Realizing I needed extra assistance, I enlisted the help of a few trusted friends in the travel industry and assembled my fam team. Over the years, we planned - we arranged - we traveled!

Unfortunately, things began to change in the mid-nineties with the “much-dreaded” Internet. With the click of a mouse, the role of the traditional travel agent seemed to be diminishing. Although many of my coworkers disagreed, I saw the writing on the wall; the Travel Industry was in for a huge change. Home-based agents were to be the new 21st century driving force of the industry.

I guess I was right, our office closed in 2000 and I found myself unemployed - wondering what my next step was. I decided to take my knowledge and experience one step further and created FAMrates.com. Again, I rounded up my FAM team and together we created one place where travel agents can turn to for travel agent discount information.

With thousands of travel agents visiting our site, I get to do what I love – help travel agents get traveling!